This question raises the requirement of a landlord to have taken certain steps before serving a notice under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988) to bring an assured shorthold tenancy (AST) to an end. When HA 1988 was previously brought into force, a landlord simply needed to serve notice under HA 1988, s 21 to bring an AST to an end. Provided that two-months notice was given, any fixed term had come to an end and the notice expired on the last day of a period of the tenancy, the right was almost unfettered. Although in England, the need to ensure that notice expires on the last day of a period has now been removed (HA 1988, s 21(4ZA)),

We assume you are referring to (i) a draft expert report which has not been disclosed by a party who themselves have now withdrawn from the proceedings and (ii) whether one expert can act for one party who then withdraws from proceedings and the same expert then acts for another party in the same action. In conducting our research we have therefore focussed on disclosure of expert’s reports and conflicts of interest in relation to experts. Under Part 35.11 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (CPR), where a party has disclosed an expert's report, any party may use that expert's report as evidence at the trial. This will be applicable even where a disclosing party abandons its reliance on

Where a lay witness has provided a witness statement but has subsequently died before the hearing, the party relying on the evidence of that witness may, pursuant to CPR 33.2(1)(b) serve on other parties a ‘Civil Evidence Act notice’ complying with section 2(1)(a) of the Civil Evidence Act 1995, notifying them of the intention to adduce the deceased’s evidence as hearsay evidence. Provided that certain requirements are met, the court will permit the evidence to be adduced in the form of the statement as hearsay evidence. Does any similar provision apply to the position when a medical expert has died? CPR 32 and CPR 33 set out provisions relating to the evidence of witnesses as to fact. The relevant section in CPR 33 provides for the procedure whereby a party may, in certain circumstances (one of which is where a witness as to fact has died), adduce

The question does not specify whether the expert report has been disclosed. As a general rule, expert evidence will not be disclosable regardless of privilege. The issue of the status of an undisclosed report was considered in Odedra v Ball. It was held that there is no authority under the CPR or in case law relating to the status of such a report which is prepared by an expert at the same time as another report by the same expert which has been disclosed. In some cases, the spirit of openness

It is assumed for the purposes of this Q&A that the type of family proceedings within which the report was disclosed has not been specified. The question does not indicate whether the expert’s report in question was from a joint expert or from the client’s own expert, for which they might ordinarily be able to claim litigation privilege where the dominant purpose of obtaining the report

The question of the extent of a right of way (and in particular, whether the right of way allows for access at multiple points), will depend upon the precise wording of the right of way and, if necessary, its interpretation. Interpretation is the ascertainment of the meaning which the document would convey to a reasonable person having all the background knowledge which would reasonably have been available to the parties in the situation in which they were at the time of the execution of the document. In respect of such interpretation, Arnold v Britton establishes that the subjective evidence of any party’s intention is not relevant when construing a

In answering this Q&A, we have assumed that the landlord’s consent was required for the extension, the notice of change of ownership was served after the extension was built and the landlord had knowledge of the existence of the extension. It is necessary to determine whether or not a waiver of the contractual right to sue for breach of covenant has occurred. In the event that a waiver of the right to sue for the breach of covenant cannot be said to have occurred, it will follow that the landlord will remain able to sue for the breach of covenant. Waiver In general terms a waiver of a contractual right can occur in one of three ways: • by deed or by contract • by election. Some contractual

This Q&A assumes that the indemnity is found in a fully enforceable business to business contract, and which is not subject to specific industry or sector regulation. One of the advantages of an indemnity is that it gives rise to a contractual right to payment to compensate or reimburse the indemnified party without necessarily needing to bring a damages claim. This right is often reinforced by expressing that an indemnifying party is required to pay indemnified amounts ‘on demand’. In this regard, an indemnity is like a debt, particularly where the indemnified amount is in respect of ‘liquidated damages’ and so is fixed and ascertainable by the parties at the time of the agreement. However, the position is not so clear where indemnified amounts are ‘unliquidated’ and not so easily determined. There has been much discussion around whether an indemnity is a ‘debt’ or a ‘damages’ claim. A debt claim arises

A’s estate includes trust assets which do not benefit from the spouse exemption. Can A’s personal representatives (PRs) use C’s transferable nil rate band (TNRB) to reduce the inhertance tax (IHT) value of A’s estate? We refer you to Q&A: Is it possible to claim the transferable nil rate band for the first spouse to die even if it cannot be claimed for the second spouse's estate?, which states that: ‘As you will note, the TNRB is usually claimed on the death of the second spouse (B) to die. However, it may also be claimed on the death of the first spouse (A), if A had been married or in a civil partnership with C, who had predeceased A. In such a case, A’s personal

The limitation periods for a claim for possession of land are: • unregistered land (and registered land where squatter had been in possession for 12 years before 13 October 2003)—12 years. See Practice Note: Claiming title by adverse possession under the Limitation Act

Subject to any available exemptions and reliefs, inheritance tax (IHT) will generally be chargeable on individual’s (A) estate including when assets are left by them to a qualifying interest in possession (QIIP) trust. Again subject to any available exemptions and reliefs, IHT is generally then chargeable

In answering this Q&A, it has been assumed that: • W1 died before 6 April 2017 • W1 left her entire estate to H with the benefit of the spouse exemption and had the full NRB available to her estate • H is planning is on the basis that he will predecease W2 • none of W1’s, H’s nor W2’s estates exceed £2m, either individually or combined • there is no need to consider the downsizing provisions for the residence nil rate band as the value of the qualifying residential interest in question would exceed the maximum available residence nil rate band Basic nil rate band (NRB) and transferable NRB The