Where a lease is required to be registered pursuant to section 27 of the Land Registration Act 2002 (LRA 2002) and is not so registered, the lease does not take effect at law but instead subsists as an equitable lease. This can have various consequences, including with respect to any mortgage sought or granted over the lease, or in regard to assignment or subletting. The right of the tenant is an equitable right arising out of the contract for lease and no legal interest in the land will pass unless and until the lease is registered.

Section 30 of the Family Law Act 1996 (FLA 1996) provides that where spouse A is entitled to occupy a dwelling house through a beneficial interest in it, or where an enactment gives a right to A to remain in occupation, and spouse B is not so entitled, B is given home rights. These home rights, as set out in FLA 1996, s 30(2) are the rights not to be evicted or excluded by A save with the

When the mother and father of a child are married there is a legal presumption that the husband is the biological father of the child. For this reason, a married mother may register both herself and her husband on the child’s birth certificate without the father attending the registration. If the parents are unmarried, however, then the father needs either to attend the registration of the child’s birth in order to be entered on the birth certificate, or to complete a statutory declaration of parentage. In the scenario of this Q&A where the

EU law analysis: Verena Kirchmair, Quentin Fontaine and Elisabeth Gschösser associates; Lutz Riede, Theresa Ehlen, Satya Staes Polet and Christoph Wekmeister, partners and Davide Borelli, counsel of Freshfields LLP, consider the three chapters of the final General-Purpose AI Code of Practice and their legal and practical implications for AI providers.

What is the final account? The expression 'final account' refers to the consolidated financial summary which is presented by the contractor to the employer after all work has been completed. This summary will demonstrate the total sum the contractor considers due to it for the works that it has actually carried out, as distinct from the works that were set out in the contract when it was originally executed. Prior to the final account stage, most building contracts will provide for interim payments to be made to the contractor as the works progress—see Practice Note: Interim payments in construction contracts. In its final account, the contractor includes all of its valid contractual claims for additional payment. Under some forms of contract, the contractor’s obligation is only to provide the documents which are necessary for the employer to calculate the final account. The final account wraps up all that has gone on, in respect of payment to the contractor, over the term of the contract. While it may be possible for the parties to agree

Pensions analysis: The court struck out as an abuse of process the claimant’s claim for a declaration as to the true construction of the rules (‘the Rules’) of the Port of Felixstowe Pension Plan (‘the Plan’) on the basis that the Pensions Ombudsman (‘the PO’) had already made a final and binding determination (‘the PO’s Determination’) against the complaint of the claimant, which he had not appealed, in respect of the same issues raised in the claim. Written by Oliver Hilton, barrister at Radcliffe Chambers, Lincoln’s Inn.

This is a question about the proper interpretation of a Will. It is a cardinal rule of interpretation of any document not to try to interpret individual words and/or phrases in isolation, but only in the context of the document as a whole, and in the context of the whole factual circumstances. In Will interpretation, the factual circumstances are sometimes referred to as the ‘armchair rule’—take into account all the information the testator had when sitting in their armchair. As held in Marley v Rawlings: '[19] When interpreting a contract, the court is concerned to find the intention of the party or parties, and it does this by identifying the meaning of the relevant words,

This Practice Note considers the key finance parties involved in a syndicated loan arrangement or syndicated loan facility. It looks at the roles and duties of the arranging bank, facility agent, security agent (also known as the security trustee), the syndicate lenders and the issuing bank(s) with reference to the Loan Market Association (LMA) forms of loan documentation. Loan Market Association documentation The LMA is the key organisation in the European, Middle Eastern and African (EMEA) syndicated loan market. Its objective is improving liquidity, efficiency and transparency in the primary and secondary syndicated loan markets. LMA documentation is produced after extensive consultation with leading loan practitioners and law firms so as to represent an agreed common view of documentation structures. Where relevant, this Practice Note highlights relevant provisions dealing with the roles and duties of the finance parties in a syndicated loan transaction (defined in the LMA facility documentation as the ‘Finance Parties’) in: • the LMA investment grade multicurrency term and revolving facilities agreement without observation shift (the LMA investment grade facility agreement), and

Scope of this Practice Note This Practice Note outlines the provisions contained in section 21 and related sections of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000), the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, SI 2005/1529 (FPO) and the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Promotion of Collective Investment Schemes) (Exemptions) Order 2001, SI 2001/1060 (the Promotion of CIS Order) (as have been amended from time to time and which, taken together constitute the UK’s financial promotion regime), as well as related materials produced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). What is the financial promotion regime? The term ‘financial promotion’ is not used in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000) other than in the title of section 21. Under FSMA 2000, s 21(1), a person (A) must not, in the course of business, communicate an invitation or inducement (communicate includes causing a communication to be made) to engage in investment activity, subject to the circumstance set out in Circumstances in which the financial promotion restriction does not apply below. Engaging

Construction analysis: Part 2 of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (HGCRA 1996), which provides for parties’ rights and obligations in relation to payment and adjudication in construction contracts, came into force 25 years ago, in May 1998. To mark this anniversary, Michael Hopkins, partner at Pinsent Masons, and Nicholas Gould, partner at Fenwick Elliot, reflect on 25 years of this milestone legislation, and recap some of the lessons learned from key cases. In the first of two articles, Michael Hopkins looks at the origins of the legislation, and how the courts’ approach to its payment provisions has changed over time.

EU Law analysis: For the first time in history, the Czech courts have directly dealt with the issue of copyright protection for content created with the help of generative AI. Tomáš Ščerba and Jaroslav Fořt, partner and associate at DLA Piper respectively, consider the first Czech case on copyright protection for content created with the help of generative artificial intelligence (AI).

This Practice Note sets out the procedure for the first appointment on a financial application under the standard procedure. It covers issues commonly raised at a first appointment including estimates of costs in Form H, the filing of replies to questionnaires, joining third parties, permission to adduce expert evidence, filing statements and listing the financial dispute resolution (FDR) appointment. Family Procedure Rules 2010 (FPR 2010), SI 2010/2955, Pt 9, together with the supporting FPR 2010, PD 9A, apply to financial remedy proceedings, but regard should also be had to the Financial remedies guide (March 2026) (the FRG), together with guidance issued by the President of the Family Division on, inter alia, witness statements and expert evidence. Accelerated first appointment procedure Where directions are agreed in advance, the parties are encouraged to use the accelerated first appointment procedure rather than attend an in-person first appointment. Note that requirements as to timing and document filing apply and there are certain other restrictions. See Practice Note: Accelerated first appointment procedure—financial remedy proceedings and Precedent: Standard order 1.3—consent order under the accelerated