We refer you to our Lexis+® UK Dispute Resolution Practice Note: Pre-action costs—recovery. Costs cannot be claimed as damages by a party as part of their claim or their counterclaim, see Ross v Caunters. Costs are only recoverable if costs liability is provided for in the settlement agreement between the parties or if the court exercises its discretion to award costs. In relation to the court’s discretion, the court has no discretion to make an order for costs unless the costs are 'of and incidental to all proceedings' (section 51(1) of the Senior Courts Act 1981 (SCA 1981). For

If a section 25 notice is served by the head landlord can the tenant serve their response by way of a section 26 notice once they have completed their assignment? Between completion of the assignment and completion of registration of the subtenant as the tenant under the lease is what is known as a registration gap. The case of Brown & Root Technology Ltd v Sun Alliance Assurance Co Ltd concerned the validity of a break notice served during the registration gap on the assignor rather than the assignee. The Court of Appeal held that because the assignment had not been completed by registration, the legal estate remained with the assignor and therefore the notice had been validly served. This has confirmed that the legal title will not transfer

This Q&A deals with the issue of inheritance tax (IHT) payable when a proprietary estoppel claim is made against an estate. There has been an increase in such claims in recent years. The issue arises when a successful claim has been made against the estate of a deceased person. Is the IHT payable on the estate of the deceased or will the property form part of the estate of the person claiming proprietary estoppel? Inheritance tax Firstly, the principles regarding liability to IHT need to be examined. IHT is charged on the transfer of property passing on death subject to the various exemptions and reliefs. See generally: Inheritance tax (IHT)—overview for further information. Section 4(1) of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 (IHTA 1984) provides that ‘on the death of any person tax shall be charged as if,

We have assumed that this is an above-threshold procurement exercise that has followed a fully compliant public procurement procedure in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015), SI 2015/102 and that standstill notices have been issued under PCR 2015, SI 2015/102, reg 86—to the successful tenderer and all unsuccessful tenderers. Additionally, we have assumed that the original contractor ceased trading (and did not go into insolvency). We have therefore not considered the safe harbours permitting modification/replacement of a contractor under PCR 2015, SI 2015/102, reg 72(1)(d). Where a public contract has failed due to the fact that the contractor has ceased trading (with no evidence of insolvency), and the contracting authority is considering replacing the supplier, there are a number of considerations to bear in mind. Some examples are set out here. Following the issue of contract award notices to all tenderers

A patent can be infringed by: • direct infringement under section 60(1) of the Patents Act 1977 (PA 1977)—this applies to acts done in relation to patented products or processes, eg making, using or importing • statutory indirect (or contributory) infringement under PA 1977, s 60(2)—which covers the situation where the defendant is not supplying a patented product etc, but is supplying items which are so-called ‘essential means’ for putting the invention into effect (ie the infringement is one step removed from direct infringement in terms of commercial activities that are done which trespass on the patent rights) • common law-based contributory infringement or joint tortfeasorship—where a person’s actions are such that they would

Surrogacy occurs where a woman carries a child with the intention that that child will be given to other parents. Surrogacy can either be total (where the surrogate carries a fertilised egg) or partial, where the surrogate is the genetic mother but the father is the partner of the intended mother. The surrogate mother is the legal mother of the child and is named on the birth certificate. She has parental responsibility for the child. If the surrogate mother is married at the time of implantation, her husband automatically becomes a legal parent and acquires parental responsibility unless it can be demonstrated that he did not consent to the surrogacy (per section 35 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (HFEA 2008)). HFEA 2008, s 33 makes it clear that no other

We refer you to Accruer clauses: Williams on Wills [90,1]–[90.6], which states at paragraph [90.6]: ‘Although the original shares may not be equal shares, an accruing share

How can an occupier be evicted from the property? A tenancy agreement is merely a written expression of a contractual relationship between the parties. The lack of one does not mean that there is no tenancy and the courts will infer a lot of the content of an agreement from various cases as well as statutory elements, such as the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988) and section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. Therefore, the lack of an agreement is not a bar to a tenancy existing and its terms being enforced, albeit that it is more difficult to do so as the existence of specific terms will need to be proved as opposed to being obvious from the face of the agreement. However, in a case such as this,

The main issue raised is whether a tenancy at will shall give rise to an implied periodic Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) protected tenancy on the terms of the headlease. The key issue in that regard is to ensure that the terms of the tenancy at will are consistent with a tenancy at will. Many of the terms of the headlease presumably will not be consistent with a tenancy at will, for example a forfeiture clause, or a break option, and the rental provisions providing for rent payable in advance.

Fittings (also known as chattels) do not form part of the land and will not be included in a sale, unless it has been expressly agreed otherwise. In the absence of such an express provision, and assuming that any sale was subject to vacant possession being given, the fittings should have been removed by the former landlord. The general rule with regard to fittings that have not been removed at completion is, subject to the de minimis rule, that the seller must ensure that goods and rubbish are removed from the property. The test as to whether vacant possession has been given as set out by the Court of Appeal, is whether the items left substantially interfere with the

Case study A client owns a freehold property. A predecessor permitted an individual, ‘X’, to erect and use a shed on the land. No rent or fee was ever paid for the use of the shed. X died over 10 years ago and his son, ‘Y’, now claims a right to use the shed. He stores logs in it. • If a tenancy has been created (either oral or written) could Y inherit this and, if so, how should the client terminate it? • If no tenancy has been created, could Y claim any other right to use the shed and, if so, how could this be terminated? Determining whether a tenancy has arisen in a particular situation is highly dependent upon the specific facts of your particular scenario and the rights

If the tenant is paying rent via a third party company then it is highly likely that the third party company is paying on behalf of the tenant rather than as tenant. The wording of your query also suggests that the tenant is aware that the third party company is paying the rent and that the means of payment is deliberate. In that case the likelihood is that the third party company is acting as agent for the tenant and is satisfying the tenant’s liability. This would not result in any meritorious argument that there has been a subletting or assignment. It would just be payment by an agent with the authority of the principal in the same way as if a solicitor paid the rent from a fund held by it on behalf of the tenant company this