We refer you to Practice Note: The body and burial disputes, which explains the law around the disposal of a deceased's body and the legal principles that apply in the event of a dispute about the disposal of a body. The key points from this Practice Note of relevance to this Q&A are as follows. There can be no property in the dead body of a human being (Williams v Williams). Instead of rights analogous to proprietary rights to chattels, the entitlement to possession and disposal of a human body is determined by special rules. In

Under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE 2006), SI 2006/246, reg 4(2), on completion of a relevant transfer: • all the transferor’s rights, powers, duties and liabilities under or in connection with the contracts of employment of transferring employees transfer to the transferee • any act or omission before the transfer is completed, of or in relation to the transferor in respect of transferring employees or their contracts of employment, is deemed to have been an act or omission of or in relation to the transferee See generally Practice Note: TUPE—transfer of rights and liabilities. In Bernadone v Pall Mall Services Group; Martin

The statutory regime for fire prevention and fire safety in respect of commercial premises is set out in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRFSO 2005), SI 2005/1541. SI 2005/1541 places a duty upon the ‘responsible person’ for each premises to observe such general fire precautions as are reasonably required in the circumstances to ensure that the premises are safe. The 'responsible person' must carry out suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to which the 'relevant persons' are exposed in order to identify the precautions to be taken and must keep such assessments up to date. Who is responsible? The responsible person in a workplace is the employer and any other person who may have control of any part of the premises, eg the occupier or owner and in respect of all other premises is the person or people in control of the premises. If a landlord has

Section 1 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (LTA 1987) provides that a landlord shall not make a relevant disposal affecting any premises to which LTA 1987 applies unless the landlord has previously served notice pursuant to LTA 1987, s 5 with respect to the disposal on the qualifying tenants of the flats contained in those premises giving notice of their right of first refusal. LTA 1987, s 4 deals with relevant disposals and sets out which disposals are excluded. ‘Disposal’ under LTA 1987, s 4(3) means a disposal whether by the creation of

Overriding interests An overriding interest is an interest in property which amounts to an exception to the general rule that in respect of registered land, any interest or right must be registered in order to bind a purchaser. They are interests to which a registered title is subject, even though they do not appear on the register. The interest must be proprietary in nature. They are binding both on the registered proprietor and on a person who acquires an interest in the property. In the case of dispositions, an interest is overriding only if: • the occupier is in actual occupation of the land at the time of the disposition, and either ◦ the occupation is obvious on a reasonably careful inspection of the land, or ◦ the buyer/mortgagee knows about the interest. Actual knowledge is required and not mere suspicion There

The relevant special condition is as follows: ‘Each occupier identified below agrees with the seller and the buyer, in consideration of their entering into this contract, that the occupier concurs in the sale of the property on the terms of the contract, undertakes to vacate the property on or before the completion date and releases the property and any included fixtures and fittings and contents from any right or interest that the occupier may have.’ The occupiers being all those persons in occupation of the property other than the vendor(s) and anyone occupying under a lease or a tenancy to which the sale is subject sign the property in order to give the undertaking

Can a beneficial owner force the sale of a property? See Practice Note: Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996. A beneficiary under a trust can apply to the court under section 14 of the Trusts of Land and Appointment Act 1996 (TOLATA 1996, s 14) for an order for sale. The court has wide discretion in terms of what it may order. See also Practice Notes: Eligibility to apply under TOLATA 1996 and TOLATA 1996—when to issue in the County Court and when to issue in the High Court. Can a legal owner sell property without reference to a beneficial

By way of background, see Practice Note: Tenants' right of first refusal—Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. The right of first refusal in Part I of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (LTA 1987)

We have assumed that the claim is for a specified amount of money. The claimant will already have paid the court fee; the thrust of the Q&A is whether the claimant can recover that cost from the defendant. The only possible answer is: it depends entirely on the nature and terms of the settlement. • if it is a compromise, it depends on the terms of the compromise • if it is based on an admission, and the claimant accepts the amount admitted where a partial admission is made, the claimant is entitled to judgment for the sum admitted, plus costs. On the small claims track, those costs include the issue fee and the fixed recoverable costs in respect of legal representative’s fees When a claim form is issued, it should set out not only the sum actually claimed, but also the issue fee (unless the claimant is

In this Q&A, the sole beneficiary has agreed to pay a consideration for the transfer of the property such that the legal and equitable interests will be held by just the one person, rather than there being two trustees. This Q&A does not consider any issues of capital or income taxation which might arise from the transaction. If the beneficiary is absolutely entitled to the property which is the subject of the trust, it is unclear why any payment would be made. As the person solely and absolutely entitled, the beneficiary can require the trust to be brought to an end and have the property transferred: Saunders v Vautier

For the purpose of this Q&A, we have assumed that the Will was made on or after 1 January 1997. A minor cannot have a legal estate vested in them. The personal representatives (PRs) will hold the land on trust for the minor(s) as a trust of land in accordance with the terms of the Will. Any trust (express, implied, resulting or constructive) which includes land as part of the trust property is a trust of land; this includes a trust for

Burden of proof The claimant must prove that, on the balance of probabilities, the defendant has been negligent or has breached their statutory duties. Proof on the balance of probabilities means proof that it is more likely than not. If the claimant’s evidence is equally consistent with the presence or absence of negligence or breach of the duty then the claim will fail. If the defendant has been convicted of an offence arising out of the alleged negligent act, this will create a rebuttable presumption that they committed that offence. In these circumstances, the burden of proof is reversed. It is then for the defendant to prove that, on the balance of probabilities, there was no negligence. The court is able to draw reasonable inferences from the known facts. This is achieved