Our Practice Note: Merger of freehold and leasehold titles—law and land registration procedure covers the law and land registration procedure in relation to the merger of freehold and leasehold titles, including looking at charges, and the effect of merger on underleases, easements and restrictive covenants. A lease terminates as a result of merger when both the lease and the reversion on that lease become vested in the same person—see Rye v Rye. However,

Use of land for the purposes of agriculture A tenancy of land which is used as allotment land will be a farm business tenancy (FBT) under the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 (ATA 1995) if it is granted after 1 September 1995 and it satisfies both (a) the business condition and (b) either the agriculture condition or the notice condition. For more information about FBTs, see Practice Note: Identifying a farm business tenancy. Both the agriculture condition and the notice condition require (albeit at different stages of the tenancy) that the land should be used for 'wholly or primarily agricultural' purposes. ATA 1995, s 38(1) contains the following definition: ‘“agriculture” includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy farming and livestock breeding and keeping, the use of land as grazing land,

Pursuant to section 24 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954), tenants have an automatic right to extend their lease if it is for a fixed term of over one year. A tenancy to which LTA 1954, Pt II is applicable shall not come to an end unless terminated in accordance with the provisions of the LTA 1954 and, subject to specific terms of the LTA 1954 either the landlord or the tenant may apply to the court for

The Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) gave tenants of business premises security of tenure—in other words, the right to stay on in their premises after the expiry of the contractual term of the lease. LTA 1954, s 38 contains strict anti-avoidance provisions and provides that any agreement (whether contained in the tenancy agreement or not) relating to a tenancy to which LTA 1954 applies and which purports to prevent the tenant from claiming security of tenure, or penalises the tenant for doing so, will be void. The single exception to this is LTA 1954, s 38A which provides that the landlord

It is assumed that the tenants that served the section 6 notice comprise the requisite majority required to serve a notice of acceptance (the requisite majoring of qualifying tenants is more than 50% of the votes available to the qualifying tenants). There is no prescribed statutory process that applies if a qualifying tenant (who was not part of the requisite majority that served the acceptance notice) subsequently wishes to join in the claim. However, the identity of the participating tenants may alter from time to time, as long as there is always a requisite majority (section 18A(4) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987). We are not aware of any provision which would oblige qualifying

Where the original gift was in favour of a charity which has ceased to exist, the gift might be available to be redirected to another similar charity or made applicable for charitable purposes consistent with the purposes of the charity which has ceased to exist. If there is initial failure of a charitable gift but a general charitable intention is disclosed, you may find, where the gift is made under a trust of any kind, eg a gift to trustees on trust to pay the testator’s just debts, funeral and testamentary expenses and pay the residue to the named charity, that the best course is to apply to the Charity Commission for a cy-près scheme. See Practice Note: Charitable gifts by will—administering the estate which considers points to bear in mind and pitfalls to avoid when

Section 142 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 (IHTA 1984) gives inheritance tax (IHT) relief and section 62(6) of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 (TCGA 1992) gives capital gains tax (CGT) relief to a variation or a disclaimer of a legacy by a beneficiary which would otherwise be taxable as a transfer of value or a disposal, as the case may be. IHTA 1984, s 142(1), provides, subject to the subsequent provision of that section: ‘142 Alteration of dispositions taking effect on death (1) Where within the period of two years after a person's death— (a) any of the dispositions (whether effected by will, under the law relating to intestacy or otherwise) of the property comprised in his estate immediately before his death are varied, or (b) the benefit conferred by any of those dispositions is disclaimed, by an instrument in writing made by the persons or any of the

Our Practice Note: Payment of legacies defines legacies and sets out the issues the PRs need to consider before paying them, eg when to distribute, identifying beneficiaries’ identities, appropriation, entitlement to income/interest prior to payment and receipts. Under the heading contingent legacy it explains that a contingent legacy is a gift to which a beneficiary will not be entitled until the occurrence of a particular event. Is the gift contingent? If the gift is contingent, the grandchildren will only inherit if they reach 25 rather than inheriting on reaching 25. With the former, the grandchildren have not yet satisfied the contingency (reaching 25) and have not qualified to receive the gift so have not obtained an interest in the gift and thus, cannot consent to a variation or benefit from an advancement. With the former, the persons who would benefit if the grandchildren never satisfy the contingency (ie never reach 25)

Contracting-out provisions (such as those found in section 203(1) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996)) work by imposing a basic rule that any agreement reached between an employee and his employer that purports to prevent the employee from making, or proceeding with, a claim to an employment tribunal is void to that extent. However, all such contracting-out provisions provide exceptions to that basic rule (see, for example, ERA 1996, s 203(2)). Provided one of the exceptions applies, the claim (or potential claim) can validly be settled between the parties. The two exceptions are: • agreements reached following conciliation under the auspices of an Acas conciliation officer • agreements that satisfy the conditions regulating settlement agreements One of the conditions regulating settlement agreements is that the employee or worker must have received advice from a 'relevant independent adviser' as to the terms and effect of the proposed agreement and, in particular, as to its effect on his ability

The updated Home Office caseworker and current Gov.UK visa information tool does not specify that a UK based legal representative cannot complete a High Potential Individual (HPI) visa application on behalf of the applicant (see Practice Note: Applying under the High Potential Individual route). Only certain applications expressly prevent an adviser from actually submitting an online application on behalf of a client; the prime example being a sponsor licence application which must be submitted by the proposed Authorising Officer (see Practice Note: Applying for a Workers and Temporary Workers sponsor licence: procedure). As is usual across all regulated immigration work, the Home Office caseworker guidance does confirm that any representative who does assist with an application must be approved to provide

This question has significance given the consequences that may follow for your client. If your client lacks capacity or if your opponent lacks capacity the proceedings and any negotiated settlement is likely to be void if the person lacking capacity does not have the benefit of assistance from a ‘litigation friend’, someone who has full capacity that is able to make decisions for them. A legal representative is defined in CPR 2.3 and means a barrister, solicitor, solicitor’s employee, a manager of a body recognised under section 9 of the Administration of Justice Act 1985, or a person who for the purposes of the Legal Services Act 2007 (LSA 2007) is an authorised person in relation to an activity which constitutes the conduct of litigation (within the meaning of LSA 2007). CPR 57 defines probate claims. To be party to a probate claim, a person must have a ‘sufficient interest’. A sufficient interest includes (but is not

The Practice Note: Statements of truth states that under CPR PD 22, para 1.1–1.4 certain documents must be verified by a statement of truth. These include a schedule or counter schedule of expenses and losses in a personal injury claim, and any amendments to such a schedule or counter schedule, whether or not they are contained in a statement of case. Therefore it is the statement of truth, not the schedule of loss, that a legal representative would be seeking to sign. The Practice Note includes a section entitled: