It needs to be ascertained so far as possible whether there is a licence or a tenancy, and if so the nature of the tenancy. It cannot be a tenancy at will because it has been granted for a 12–month term, rather than ‘at will’. Licence The court will determine whether an agreement is a lease or a licence by looking at its substance, not the label attached to it by the parties. In Street v Mountford, the House of Lords identified the hallmarks of a tenancy. They are: • exclusive possession • of defined premises Payment

A fiat Will is a reproduction of a Will in the state it was in at the time of execution. The purpose of a fiat copy is either to ensure that a Will can be proven in the form it was in upon execution, by removing inadmissible alterations, or to remove offensive or libelous words included by the testator. The Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987 (NCPR 1987), SI 1987/2024, r 11(1) provides that where the registrar considers that a facsimile copy of the original Will would not be satisfactory, he may require an engrossment suitable for facsimile production to be lodged. NCPR 1987, SI 1987/2024, r 11(2)(b) provides

The query concerns how a Will should be interpreted, including, whether the specific legacies to the testator's daughter extend to any residuary estate. This will depend partly on what is meant by 'my property'. If the estate contains assets which cannot be said to fall within the gift to the daughter, those assets will form part of the residue and devolve according to the rules of intestacy. With respect to the gift of 'money on the bank',

If two people are married or in a civil partnership, and a property is owned solely in one spouse’s name, the other spouse can apply for a home rights notice to ensure that their rights in the matrimonial/civil partnership property are protected. This is done by filling in Form HR1—Application for registration of a notice of home rights (PDF Format) and sending it to the Land Registry who can then register a notice. Section 30 of the Family Law Act 1996 (FLA 1996) sets out the law in relation to home rights, including who can make an application and the type of property that falls within the scope of the section. It also sets out how long the home rights continue. Within FLA 1996, s 30, it states that: ‘(1) This section applies

The hotel manager is likely to have been occupying the hotel under a service occupancy (also known as service licence) or a service tenancy. Service occupancy A service occupancy is a form of licence which will arise where: • it is essential that the employee lives in particular accommodation or in a particular vicinity for the better performance of their duties, or • it is an express term of the employee's contract of employment that they live in a particular residence from where they can better perform their duties Depending on the express terms of the service occupancy, the right to occupy will either cease automatically on termination of employment, without the

We have assumed that the legal structure consists of the freehold of the house (and any grounds), out of which is granted a lease of one flat, occupied by the tenant. The other flat is occupied by the freeholder. Part I of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (LTA 1987) gives

The arrangement you describe is commonly referred to as a ‘criss-cross or crossover’ scheme. For more information, see Practice Note: Residential flat schemes—alternative schemes. Neither of the tenants will have a right of first refusal

The mortgagor has two types of right to redeem the mortgage. First, the legal right to redeem: the contractual right recognised at law to redeem the mortgage (ie pay back the mortgagee and bring the mortgage to an end) on a certain date. Secondly, the equitable right to redeem: the important right conferred by equity on the mortgagor to redeem the mortgage at any time after the stipulated contractual date (this right is part of the mortgagor’s composite equity of redemption which arises as soon as the mortgage is made. Given its importance, the questions therefore arise: when can the equitable right to redeem be exercised? And, when is it extinguished? Generally, as stated, there is no right to redeem until the contractual date for redemption has passed. However,

Planning permission is required if the work being carried out meets the statutory definition of ‘development’, set out in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, s 55 (TCPA 1990). The making of 'any material change in the use of any buildings or other land’ is development. TCPA 1990, s 55(3) specifically states that: '(3) For the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that for the purposes of this section— (a)the use as two or more

The Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (LTA 1987) makes provision for the right of first refusal to certain qualifying tenants to acquire the interest of their landlord where the latter intends to make a disposal of that interest. LTA 1987, s 1 provides that the right applies where premises consist of the whole or part of a building, they contain two or more flats held by qualifying tenants, and the number of flats held by such tenant exceeds 50% of the total number of flats. However, the right does not apply to any such premises at a time when the interest of the landlord in the premises is held by an

In this Q&A, a landlord has entered into a common law tenancy which allowed the tenant to sublet the property. The property has been duly sublet, but the landlord is not aware of the identities of the individual subtenants. The landlord now wishes to forfeit the tenancy and the Q&A states that they are entitled to do so, as a right to re-entry has

At the moment, the freehold interest in a property is owned by a company. There are leases of each of two flats which comprise that property. The leasehold interest in each flat is held by the person who owns the entirety of the shares of the company. It is not unusual for the lessees of residential leases in a block to own the shares of the company which owns the freehold interest in that block. There is no conceptual problem. The company is a separate entity from its shareholders. The lessees can owe obligations to that company under the lease as lessor. There is no question of merger. Lessee and lessor are different entities: even though the former