The section 21 procedure Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988) provides a mechanism by which a landlord can obtain possession of a property let on an assured shorthold tenancy (AST) without the tenant being at fault (eg by having accrued rent arrears or caused nuisance/annoyance). Although HA 1988, s 21 procedure (referred to in court as ‘the accelerated procedure’) can be used in respect of a tenancy which was initially granted for a fixed term or a tenancy which was initially granted as a periodic tenancy, it can only be used in respect of a fixed-term tenancy once the fixed term has come to an end. An HA 1988, s 21 notice must be served

There have been a number of recent cases relating to the obligations and scope of duty of care owed by the solicitor acting for a vendor to the purchaser. In Patel v Freddy’s Ltd, the High Court considered, among other things, the duties of a conveyancer in the context of a fraudulent property transfer. In that case the claimant, the owner of the relevant property, found that his title had been registered first to an individual and then to a third party purchaser. The individual had obtained title to the property following a fraudulent transfer by a person purporting to be the claimant. The court decided that there was no lack of proper care by a buyer or its solicitor in the purchase of a ‘distressed property’. It was not standard conveyancing practice for them to seek

A legal challenge against a decision of a Planning Inspector or Secretary of State in relation to a planning appeal is made by way of statutory challenge pursuant to section 288 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) (TCPA 1990), rather than by way of judicial review. Further information about statutory challenges can be found in Practice Note: Statutory planning review—s 287, s 288, s 63, s 73, s 183, s 22 and s 113 challenges. Unfortunately, there is no option for extending the six-week time limit for submitting a TCPA 1990, s 288 statutory

This Q&A assumes that: • the owner of the house has the requisite mental capacity to make a general power of attorney • the owner of the house is the sole beneficial owner, as well as being the sole owner of the legal title A general power of attorney enables the donor to give authority to the appointed attorneys to do anything on the donor's behalf which they can lawfully do. Section 10 of the Powers of Attorney Act 1971 (PAA 1971) provides for the creation of a general power of attorney and PAA 1971, Sch 1 includes an example form of power of attorney. PAA 1971, s 10 specifies that if two or more attorneys are appointed, they may be appointed

As detailed in Practice Notes: Stamp duty on transfers—consideration and calculation and Stamp duty and SDRT on the sale of certificated registered UK shares (see the main section ‘Cash consideration determined by reference to completion accounts’): • for stamp duty, consideration must be ascertainable (ie capable of being calculated) at the date that the instrument of transfer is executed—if the consideration is truly unascertainable (which is very rare), there is no value by reference to which stamp duty can be charged • the contingency principle extends the meaning of what is ascertainable for stamp duty purposes • the contingency principle applies where, at the date of the instrument, the amount of consideration is uncertain because it depends on a future event occurring • the contingency principle calculates stamp duty by reference to any maximum sum (this includes where a definite maximum consideration is stated or can be calculated from the document), even if that sum is variable or may never

The General Data Protection Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (the GDPR) will apply from 25 May 2018 and will repeal the Data Protection Directive. Article 25 of the current Data Protection Directive, Directive 95/46/EC prohibits controllers in EU Member States: • from transferring personal data to any territory outside the European Economic Area (EEA) (being the member states of the EU and Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) • unless an ‘adequate’ level of privacy protection is ensured for the data transferred As further explained in Practice Note: International transfers of personal data under the DPA 1998 [Archived], the use of model clauses is one of the possible ‘adequacy solutions’ to make a transfer outside the EEA lawful under the Data Protection Directive. Article 26(2) of Directive 95/46/EC provides that: ‘Without prejudice to paragraph 1,

UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) guidance confirms that the super priority service is available for a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) application for settlement, on both the standard five-year or accelerated three-year route. The super priority service ensures your application is decided within one working day for an additional £800 fee per applicant. UKVI confirms this information via Gov.uk though their ‘Settle in the UK’ information portal. This provides information regarding settlement across various categories. In the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) category, UKVI confirms in the ‘How to Apply’ section: ‘How to apply You must apply online. You’ll be told whether your application has been successful within 6 months. You

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA 2015) covers consumer rights and remedies for the sale of goods and supply of digital goods and services, and reform of the law on unfair terms in consumer contracts. Section 1 of the CRA 2015 provides: ‘This Part applies where there is an agreement between a trader and a consumer for the trader to supply goods, digital content or services, if the agreement is a contract.’ Parties Section 2 of the CRA 2015 provides definitions for key terms. ‘Consumer’ means an individual acting for purposes that are wholly or mainly outside that individual’s trade, business, craft or profession. The trader bears the burden of showing that an individual is not a consumer. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published guidance on the CRA 2015 which says that it considers that the words ‘wholly or mainly’ clearly invite consideration of transactions that are entered into for a mixture of personal

When is an energy performance certificate (EPC) required to be displayed? Regulation 10 of the Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012, SI 2012/3118 (EPC Regs 2012), provides: 10 Display of energy performance certificates • (1) This regulation applies to a building, other than a dwelling, which satisfies all the following requirements— (a) it has a total useful floor area of more than 500m²; (b) it is frequently visited by the public; and (c) an energy performance certificate has been made available in accordance with— (i) regulation 6 [or 7A], or (ii) [in the case of certificate entered on the register before 6th April 2016,] regulation 29(2) of the Building Regulations 2010. • (2) In a building to which this regulation applies, the energy performance certificate must

Shared ownership leases and the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 Normally, shared ownership leases are excluded from the operation of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 (LRA 1967) since otherwise the tenant may be entitled to enfranchise at the lower price than that provided for under the terms of his/her lease. That said, on the facts of this question, the lease may be a long lease under LRA 1967 and not excluded. LRA 1967, s 33A and LRA 1967, Sch 4 sets out the conditions which exclude most shared ownership leases from the operation of LRA 1967. Originally, these provisions were introduced on 8 August 1980 by virtue of section 140 of the Housing Act 1980 (HA 1980). These

Absent any right for a tenant to terminate a fixed term lease early (for example a break clause), the tenant will be liable for the rent throughout the term. If the tenant stops paying the rent the landlord is not obliged to seek a new tenant to mitigate its

Where a family relationship involving children breaks down, there are some cases in which extreme, negative behaviour may be displayed by one parent with the aim of undermining the child's relationship with the other. Parental alienation is a concept that is often referred to in the English courts in cases involving intractable hostility or implacable hostility to contact, but the terms largely cover the same situation: a parent is so opposed to contact between a child and the other parent that any form of contact may be frustrated. Implacable hostility can result in parental alienation. Parental alienation is generally taken to describe a situation where a child has been deliberately manipulated, coerced or otherwise pressured to align themselves to one parent by