It is possible to contract out of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) regardless of whether the tenant has been in prior occupation of the premises to be demised. The procedure for contracting out must be followed, as explained in Practice Note: Contracting

The timing for making a request or application for a default judgment is that it can be made as soon as the deadline for filing the defence has passed.  There is however, no deadline provided for in the CPR or in case law for making such a request of application. If the claimant makes an application for default judgment and the defendant seeks to file a defence before that default judgment application is heard, the defendant cannot simply serve the defence. The defendant would need to obtain a court order allowing an extension of time to serve the

In many cases, ‘damage’ will be defined in the policy. In other cases, where damage is not defined, the question falls to be determined by reference to previous cases. Blue Circle v Ministry of Defence concerned a pond that had been contaminated by water containing radioactive material. The Court of Appeal held that this did constitute damage to the insured property (the land) on the basis that there was an alteration in its physical characteristics that rendered it less useful or valuable. This was because the radioactive material had intermingled with the land and could not be removed, short of excavating the contaminated soil. The Court of Appeal in Hunter v Canary Wharf considered dust ingrained in carpet to be physical damage for similar reasons,

Section 41 of the Local Government Act 2003 (LGA 2003), provides for the introduction of BIDs. This allows a billing authority to place an additional levy on NNDR in the BID area to fund projects providing additional services or improvements for the benefit to the local community (defined broadly as ‘those who live, work or carry’ on any activity in the district. Two or more billing authorities may agree to establish BIDs (known as joint arrangements) in respect of a BID which spans authority boundaries. Implementation of BIDs is through the Business Improvement Districts (England) Regulations 2004, SI 2004/2443, or the Business Improvement Districts (Wales) Regulations 2005, SI 2005/1312. Those authorised to propose BIDs are: • NNDR ratepayer in respect of a hereditament in the proposed area • person or body with a legal interest in land in the proposed area

Termination A termination clause in a contract allows for the agreement to be terminated on the grounds and in the manner specified in the clause. There are four broad grounds: • termination by notice or agreement. See: Contract termination—overview and Practice Note: Ending a contract by agreement • breach of the agreement. See Practice Note: Termination for breach of contract • a party ceasing to conduct business or becoming insolvent. For restrictions on the enforceability of such clauses, see Practice Note: Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020—restrictions on ipso facto clauses • an force majeure event. See Practice Note: Force majeure—consequences and contract discharge Exit assistance The contract may also have an exit or termination assistance clause. This might

As noted in Practice Note: Workers and Temporary Workers sponsor duties and adapting human resources systems, para C7.27 of the Sponsor Guidance, under the heading ‘Sanctions for employing illegal workers’ was changed on 8 August 2022 to say (our emphasis): ‘Note: where the worker is not your direct employee (for example, if they’re self-employed), you are not required to establish a statutory excuse but you must still carry out these checks (and retain evidence you have done so) to comply with your record-keeping duties, as set out in Appendix D to the sponsor guidance.’ In Appendix D: guidance for sponsors on keeping documents (our emphasis) ‘Part 1: for each sponsored worker’ of that Appendix previously changed in April 2022 to say (as it still says): ‘a. Evidence you have checked that each of your sponsored workers has the legal right to work in the UK and do the work in question

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 (RRA 2025) creates various new duties and offences. Section 16E(1)(e) of the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988) contains a duty on a 'relevant person' not to ‘rely on a ground in Schedule 2 where the person does not reasonably believe that the landlord is, will or may be able to obtain an order for possession on that ground’. There is a related offence at HA 1988, s 16J(1): ‘A relevant person is guilty of an offence if, in relation to an assured tenancy— (a) the person relies on a ground

Claims for value of services In claims involving a fatality, a claim for past expenses and losses may include the value of the services that the deceased would have provided to dependents, had they survived. This is discussed in Practice Note: Quantifying damages for dependants—past losses—services. The types of services that can form the basis of a claim includes childcare. The value of the lost dependency can be calculated with reference to the actual cost of replacing the services that the deceased provided prior to their death. Where the need for the replacement services is likely to change over time (for example, where the deceased was previously responsible for childcare and the children will require progressively less care as they get older), the court should take that into account. Where services have been provided gratuitously and the service provider gave up work in

An appointment of an executor is a personal one. Only the executor named in the Will is entitled to take a grant. The mere fact that the business of an executor’s former firm has been taken over by a new firm is not sufficient to amount to an appointment. And the mere fact that the named professional executor renounces probate would not permit a solicitor of the new firm to assume that position instead. See Re Rogers (deceased) on the extent to which the court is prepared to be pragmatic about giving effect to the testator’s intentions—it is doubtful that this would extend to appointing partners of an entirely different firm from that

The starting point is always that a professional attorney has no power to charge for their services unless this is expressly provided for in the lasting powers of attorney (LPA) form. It is also important to note that, when acting as an LPA attorney, there is no equivalent to the fixed costs laid down by the Court of Protection for certain types of deputyship work or the guideline hourly rates that will be followed by the Supreme Courts Costs Office when carrying out a summary assessment of deputy fees. The fees charged by a professional attorney under an LPA are therefore likely to vary considerably depending on the location of the law firm and the seniority of the practitioner. It is therefore very important that, where a professional attorney wishes to charge for their services for acting under the LPA, they

Assent of a legal interest to a personal representative Once a personal representative of an estate has ‘cleared’ an estate by meeting the necessary liabilities, he becomes a trustee of the net residue. If that residue includes land, he must then make an assent in his favour (Re King's Will Trusts, Assheton v Boyne). Note that the assentee is only entitled to receive the title held by the deceased. Ordinarily, a transfer of land must be made by deed: section 52(1) of the Law of Property Act 1925. However, where: • the estate of a deceased person includes a legal or equitable interest in freehold

In this Q&A, capacity is taken as meaning that under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA 2005). It is also assumed that the person lacking capacity is not under 18. A person will lack capacity if they are unable to make certain decisions for themselves due to an impairment of or a disturbance in the functioning of the mind or brain (MCA 2005, s 2). The test for decision-making and the guidance to be applied in determining capacity are set out within MCA 2005, Pt 1. A central principle under MCA 2005 is the general presumption of capacity. The test of contractual capacity is whether or not the person is capable of understanding the nature of the contract being entered into; this will include the decision to enter into a tenancy agreement. Where someone is held to lack contractual capacity then the contract