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New lease of life

21 February 2014 / James Driscoll
Issue: 7595 / Categories: Features , Property
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James Driscoll summarises the key developments in the law relating to residential long leases in the past year

For the two million or so households who own leasehold flats, disputes over service charges and other criticisms of the general quality of management of a block of flats are all too common. These days, almost all such disputes are resolved in what is commonly known as the leasehold valuation tribunal. A key development this year was the merger of the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT), the rent assessment committee, the residential property tribunal, the Adjudicator for the Land Registry and the Agricultural Tribunal into a new First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) with new procedural rules, the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Property Chamber) Rules 2013 (with appeals to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber)).

 

Service charges

As always, there have been several decisions of the courts and the tribunal to consider. The most significant decision this year was that of the Supreme Court in Daejan Investments v Benson [2013] UKSC 14, [2013] 2 All ER 375. In a

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
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