Whether a particular part of demised property falls within the definition of 'structure' in the lease, or is subject to repairing obligations, is always a question of construction of the specific lease concerned, in the circumstances known to both parties when it was created. In the case of external steps to a garden, those circumstances will include, for example, the method of construction of the property, and the nature of the steps and how they are affixed to, or form part of, the building itself. Subject to that caveat the following points may be of assistance. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 imposes repairing obligations on private landlords of short term residential properties. The landlord is required to 'keep in repair the structure and exterior of the dwelling house including drains, gutters and external pipes'. This was held

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has established a network of 11 centralised divorce centres within England and Wales to be the main point of entry across the single Family Court for the issue of divorce petitions and financial remedy applications. See Practice Note: Divorce centres. The key change in relation to issuing applications is that all petitions for divorce, judicial separation, nullity and dissolution of civil partnerships and financial remedy applications should be sent by post to one of the centres rather than a local court, with the exception of urgent applications that require immediate issue. The immediate past President

As set out in Practice Note: IHT—agricultural property relief, relief is available where the property is tenanted and the transferor cannot obtain vacant possession within 12 (or 24) months when the tenancy began on or after 1 September 1995. This was introduced to allow 100% relief where farm business tenancies were entered into but relief is available in other cases as well. However, note that the property

The service of documents in family proceedings out of the jurisdiction is governed by the Family Procedure Rules 2010 (FPR 2010), SI 2010/2955, Pt 6, Ch IV and FPR 2010, PD 6B. Chapter IV applies to the service of both application forms and other documents (eg Form A) (FPR 2010, SI 2010/2955, 6.40(1)(a)). Permission to serve a document for the purposes of FPR 2010 out of the jurisdiction is not required (FPR 2010, SI 2010/2955, 6.41). The general provisions as to the methods of service out of the jurisdiction are to be found in FPR 2010, SI 2010/2955, 6.43. These provisions are permissive rather than mandatory.

No order principle and ambiguity Section 1(5) of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989) directs that a court when it is considering whether or not to make one or more orders under ChA 1989 with respect to a child, shall not make the order or any of the orders unless it considers that doing so would be better for the child than making no order at all. Making 'no order' is a positive decision taken on welfare grounds (Re I (a child) (contact application: jurisdiction)). According to the Department of Health's The Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations, s 1(5) has two

There is an ongoing duty of disclosure in financial remedy proceedings and the court must have regard to all the circumstances of the case when exercising its discretion under section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. It follows that if there had been a significant change of circumstances between close of evidence and judgment, it would be the duty of the parties to bring it to the attention of the court. The authorities are tolerably clear that the power to admit fresh evidence exists not only prior to judgment, but even after judgment prior to ‘perfection’ or sealing of its order:

Where a tenant stays on at a property after expiry of their lease, the landlord is entitled to ‘mesne profits’. The usual measure is the letting value of the premises for the period of holding over, whether or not the landlord would have let them to someone else. The previous passing rent is often taken to reflect the letting value, but if that is not appropriate the landlord may seek an up to date valuation. Mesne profits are payable on a daily basis for the period from

We are not aware of any provision under English taxation law which would determine the owner of income in the circumstances described. However, the rules of English private international law (PIL) may be relevant in ascertaining to which spouse the income belongs. Broadly, the general PIL principles governing the rights of the parties under matrimonial property regimes as follows: Parties are not subject to a matrimonial contract or settlement In the absence of any marriage contract or settlement and in the absence of any subsequent change of domicile, the rights of a husband and wife to each other's

The Child Support Act 1991 (CSA 1991) does not preclude parents from entering into a maintenance agreement, although the making of an agreement does not prevent an application being made for child support to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). Parties may confer jurisdiction for the court to make an agreed order for child periodical payments by written agreement (The Child Maintenance (Written Agreements) Order 1993, SI 1993/620). Such an agreement will only prevent the involvement of the CMS for a year after the making of the order. See also Practice Note: Child support—respective jurisdictions of the Child Maintenance Service and the court. Therefore, any agreement as to maintenance in a separation deed entered into by cohabitants will not preclude a subsequent application to the CMS, unless it is embodied

As this Q&A does not specify whether the payment is to be made under the terms of an agreement (in effect a contract) between the parties, or in the context of proceedings, this reply will primarily address contractual issues. Agreements between cohabitants should conform to the ordinary requirements of a contract, ie offer, acceptance, consideration and intention to create legal relations. Particular attention should be paid to the following: • the parties should execute the agreement as a deed to avoid the problem of showing that consideration was given • the agreement should not impose obligations on a third party without their express agreement • it should state that the parties intend to create legal relations • any

There are two different types of tenancy which could apply if two people have joint beneficial ownership of a property: joint tenancy and tenancy in common. When two parties own a property under a joint tenancy, the starting point under the Law of Property Act 1925 will be that both parties own the property in its entirety, rather than shares of it, and so were the property to be sold, the starting point would be that the proceeds would be split equally between the parties. If one party was to die, the property would automatically go to the other owner. If the parties were tenants in common, then each party would own a share of the property rather than both owning it in its entirety. Unless there is a declaration of trust, the starting point is that the parties legally own the property in equal shares. If there is a declaration of trust, this

The Regulation (EU) 1215/2012, Brussels I (recast) and the Lugano Convention each provide for territorial scope based on the same criteria but it is not easy to determine which applies in a dispute. The regimes apply as follows: Country Jurisdictional regime 1 Jurisdictional regime 2 Jurisdictional regime 3 Denmark EC– Denmark Agreement implements Regulation (EU) 1215/2012, Brussels I (recast) between Demark and EU Member states Lugano Convention Norway Lugano Convention UK Regulation(EU) 1215/2012, Brussels I (recast) EC—Denmark Agreement Lugano Convention See also Practice Note: Jurisdiction rules. Whether