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

Prohibition on underletting generally An absolute prohibition on underletting is a clause contained within the headlease that prevents the headlessee from allowing the premises to be underlet (often referred to as a sublease), meaning that the headlessee cannot create an interest in its lease which is then let by it to a subtenant. Some leases will contain conditional or qualified prohibitions against underletting, requiring the consent of the superior landlord. In such circumstances, section 1(3) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1988 (LTA 1988) imports

Where a husband and wife are living together, that is they are not they are separated under a court order, a deed of separation or are otherwise separated in circumstances where it is likely to be permanent (see section 288(3)of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 (TCGA 1992)), any disposals made between them will be made for deemed consideration

The higher rates will apply to the purchase of a major interest in a single dwelling by an individual, if at the end of the day of purchase, Conditions A to D are met: • Condition A—the chargeable consideration is £40,000 or more • Condition B—the dwelling is not subject to a lease which has more than 21 years to run on the date of purchase • Condition C—the purchaser owns an interest in another dwelling which has a market value of £40,000 or more and is not subject

In this scenario, a property was held by a sole proprietor (following the death of their co-owner), and the sole owner then became bankrupt. As the legal title to the property can only be held as joint tenants, the legal title will have passed to the surviving owner on the death of the co-owner so that they held the legal title alone. On bankruptcy, the bankrupt’s estate vests in the trustee in bankruptcy by virtue of section 306 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986) ‘without any conveyance,

This Q&A assumes that: • the reference in the question to the 'ex wife' is a reference to the separated wife, as there is no mention of a divorce in the question and the question refers to the no gain/no loss treatment for capital gains tax, which does not apply to transfers between persons who are not married • the transfer of beneficial interest from husband to wife was made after the last day of the third tax year after the tax year in which the husband and wife