It is commonly the case that a local authority will seek to negotiate with landowners while a compulsory purchase order is being sought. The general compensatory principle is that the forced seller should be put in an equivalent position meaning that they are no worse off in financial terms after the acquisition than they were before, but also should be no better off. The heads of claim are usually the value of the

The Academies Act 2010 (AcA 2010) and regulations made thereunder makes provision for the transfer of land from the local authority to the Academy Trust. While there is power in AcA 2010, Sch 1 to provide for outright transfer, the guidance from the Department for Education in its document, Land Transfer Advice (April 2013), is that in the vast majority of cases the transfer will be by way of a 125-year lease to the Academy Trust, thus preserving the public land. It is usually only in those cases where a school already owns their own land prior to conversion to

An 'environmental corridor' is not a known national or statutory planning designation but it may be the subject of, or a term used as part of, a local planning designation or planning policy in a local plan (LP), a neighbourhood development plan (NDP) or a supplementary planning document (SPD) and may make it difficult to obtain planning permission for certain types of development. LPs and NDPs are part of the statutory development plan while SPDs are a material consideration to planning determinations. Section

Under the Housing Act 1985 (HA 1985) the right to buy (RTB) scheme gives eligible secure tenants the statutory right to buy their property at a discount. Subject to conditions a secure tenant in England has the right to buy the freehold of their house or the lease of their flat (or leasehold house). The Abolition of the Right to Buy and Associated Rights (Wales) Act 2018 abolished the right to buy and the right to acquire in Wales from 26 January 2019. HA 1985, s 120 provides that the right to buy does not arise unless the landlord owns the freehold or has an interest sufficient to grant a lease in pursuance of this Part for: • where the dwelling-house is a house, a term exceeding 21 years, or

A mortgage by demise is an unusual form of mortgage which provides for the demise of property to a lender from a borrower in order to secure a loan of money. The structure of a mortgage by demise is akin to a lease, but for an extremely long period of time (normally 3000 years). The mortgage will include provision for its redemption. Ordinarily, upon payment of the principal sum and interest the mortgage will determine. However, in order to terminate the term of the lease demised, the premises must then be assigned to a trustee for the owner or to the owner themselves

When a mortgagor dies, the mortgage is not extinguished. The monthly mortgage repayments are still due to the mortgagee, and the mortgagee is entitled to demand the repayment of the full sum outstanding on the mortgage. It is unclear from the scenario of this Q&A whether ‘the borrower’ and his wife were co-mortgagors, or whether it was in the sole name of ‘the borrower’. If the mortgage was in joint names, the mortgage would not automatically have passed to the wife’s sole name. She would have needed to apply for the mortgage to be transferred into her sole name and to have met the affordability criteria for such a transfer. The mortgagee should therefore be aware whether the last mortgagor was ‘the borrower’, the borrower and his wife as joint-mortgagors,

It is not clear whether the couple are married or cohabitees, but we are told that the property in question is their home and is jointly owned. It is possible that when it was transferred to them that an express declaration of trust was included in the transfer to the effect that they were to held upon trust for themselves as beneficial joint tenants or, alternatively, as tenants in common in some agreed shares which need not be equal. If there was an express declaration of trust, it would be conclusive of their interests. If it provided that

We have assumed that the children of A and B are executors of B's estate/trustees of B's Will trust and attorneys for A under a registered lasting

The courts in England and Wales have jurisdiction in relation to proceedings for divorce and judicial separation under Council Regulation EC 2201/2003 (commonly called Brussels II bis). Under Article 3 of Council Regulation EC 2201/2003, Brussels II bis, in matters relating to divorce, judicial separation and marriage annulment, jurisdiction lies with the courts of the contracting state in whose territory: • the spouses are habitually resident, or • the spouses were last habitually resident, and one of them still resides there • the respondent is habitually resident • in the event of a joint application, either of the spouses is habitually resident—note that this basis of jurisdiction is not relevant to England and Wales due to the repeal of Part II of the Family Law Act 1996 by

Legal ownership of a property in England and Wales as joint tenants means that each owner owns the indivisible whole and if one dies, the other seamlessly becomes the sole owner (or if there are more than two legal owners, each diminishing number of owners does, until there is only one left). This is known as the doctrine of survivorship. There is no transfer and the interest of the co-owner does not fall into their

The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (M(SSC)A 2013) provides that the marriage of same-sex couples is lawful. M(SSC)A 2013, s 9 provides that the parties to a civil partnership in England and Wales may convert their civil partnership into a marriage. This has the effect of ending the civil partnership, with the marriage being treated as having subsisted from the date the civil partnership was formed. Prior to the coming into force of M(SSC)A 2013, overseas same-sex marriages were recognised in England as civil partnerships, coming under the category of ‘overseas relationships’ in the Civil Partnership Act 2004. However, M(SSC)A 2013, s 10(1) provides that marriage under the law of any country or

Beneficial interest Regarding whether or not there is any argument that any sort of trust has arisen, where property is held in the name of one party only, that person is presumed to be the owner of the entire beneficial interest as well, unless (in the absence of an express declaration of trust) another party can establish an interest under an implied, ie a resulting or ‘common intention’ constructive trust or by the operation of a proprietary estoppel. The party alleging an interest has the burden of proving it. Claims are made under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees