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04 April 2019 / Rawdon Crozier
Issue: 7835 / Categories: Features , Property
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Notes on a scandal: freeholders & medieval robber barons (Pt 2)

Summing up his series on the unfairness of escalating ground rent, Rawdon Crozier proposes a way out of the dungeon

  • Could the Housing Act Trap render escalating ground rent a derogation from grant?

Part 1 of this speculative article explained the Housing Act Trap. Part 2 explores whether the trap might render escalating ground rent a derogation from grant and thus, as a matter of law, capable of being struck down.

Rule of law

Megarry & Wade (Law of Real Property, 5th edition) described derogation from grant as a free-standing and independent rule of law, an analysis endorsed by the Court of Appeal in Johnston & Sons Ltd v Holland [1988] 1 EGLR 264. It applies to all forms of grant and, while commonly associated with leases and other contracts relating to land, it is also encountered in contracts concerning:

  • Intellectual property, eg Gloucester Place Music Ltd v Le Bon [2016] EWHC 3091 (Ch) where the serving of notices by members of
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    MOVERS & SHAKERS

    Harneys—Maggie Kwok & George Weston

    Harneys—Maggie Kwok & George Weston

    Harneys senior leadership appointments

    Freeths—Keith Browne & Jim Jordan

    Freeths—Keith Browne & Jim Jordan

    Freeths strengthens London Construction and Engineering practice with two strategic senior hires

    Anthony Collins—Laura Moss

    Anthony Collins—Laura Moss

    Anthony Collins announces strategic hire to deepen skills base in the social business sector

    NEWS
    More than 100 teams from the legal and financial services sectors competed in five sports at the 51st Law Society RFC Festival of Sport earlier this month
    Part-time status need only be an effective cause of less favourable treatment, rather than the sole cause, the Supreme Court has held in Augustine v Data Cars
    Britain’s new acknowledgement that Israel’s occupation is unlawful, and accompanying settlement-goods ban and sanctions, is significant but overdue, argue Danny Friedman KC and Victor Kattan in NLJ this week
    New planning fee rises, wider trade union access rights and a service-by-email trap feature in Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way
    Existing defamation law can respond to AI ‘hallucinations’, but allocating responsibility will prove harder where outputs reach users without human intervention
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