January Newletter 2024

January 25, 2024

Welcome to the New Year edition of our property litigation update designed to help you keep up to date with the most recent developments in this fast-moving area of law, as well as with news from Tanfield.

Awards

We were delighted to win Property & Housing Set of the Year at the Legal 500 Bar Awards in October, and to see Chris Heather KC listed in the ‘Top 10 most influential Real Estate Litigation Lawyers in London 2023’ by Business Today.

Tanfield has once again been recognised in the directories as a leading property set by both Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500, with two junior members (Sam Madge-Wyld and Katie Gray) featuring in Chambers and Partners for the first time this year.

We could not have achieved these fantastic results without the support and recommendations of our clients, and we are very grateful.

The Building Safety Act

Content

The Building Safety Act 2022 has continued to provide fertile ground for discussion and debate in the last quarter of 2023.

Tanfield is a leading set in relation to BSA work and all our BSA-related content is always available and regularly updated on our dedicated BSA Hub. For example:

In November, Robert Bowker examined the decision in Adriatic Land 5 Limited v The Long Leaseholders at Hippersley Point [2023] UKUT 271 (LC) in which the Upper Tribunal approved dicta of the FTT that the provisions of the BSA relating to remediation orders form a self-contained code.

Andrew Butler KC wrote a reflective article on the effect of the 2022 Act and its idiosyncrasies.

Events

Last year’s very successful BSA conference is followed on 7 February 2024 with our Follow Up Day with the BSA, to be held at The View Royal College of Surgeons. Our follow up conference will cover issues such as:

Qualifying leases – problem cases
The consequences of non-certification
Commercial/mixed-use premises: the interaction of the BSA with other legislation
Identifying the Principal Accountable Person
Elephant traps for the unwary

You can find all the details and how to book here.

Leasehold & Freehold Reform

Leasehold and freehold reform is a hot topic as a result of the Government’s draft bill, published in November 2023.

You can keep up to date with developments on our new Leasehold & Freehold Reform Hub where you will find links to the draft legislation and Government papers as well as our analysis of the proposed reforms.

To get us started, Mark Loveday has published a short introduction to the Bill as well as legislation briefs on service charges and rights to manage.

Business premises: possession & lease renewal

Daniel Dovar and Gary Webber released the 7^th edition of Business Premises: Possession and Lease Renewal, published by Sweet & Maxwell. Written from the litigator’s point of view, their guide covers a comprehensive range of areas including termination, non-payment of rent, licenses, forfeiture, proceedings for possession and applications for new tenancies.