LATEST NEWS

Allowing people to occupy your property on the basis of a handshake is an invitation to misunderstandings and costly dispute. The point was proved by a case in which the trustee of an agricultural estate found himself in court after he informally permitted a family to live in a farmhouse at a low rent for 25 years. The trustee orally agreed with the family that they could occupy the farmhouse for a rent of £155 per month – which never increased – on the basis that they would repair and...

If you have been deceived by a salesman into paying too much for dodgy goods, you should see a lawyer right away. The disappointed buyer of a crash-damaged Ferrari sports car who did just that was awarded his money back by a judge. The buyer was attracted by a magazine advertisement which described the car as 'very rare', a 'real head-turner' and 'in great condition inside and out'. That glowing description was backed up orally by the director of a car dealership from which he bought the car for £43,400....

Can a purchaser of a property be said to 'own' it after contracts are exchanged but before the transaction is completed? The Court of Appeal's answer to that fundamental question delivered a substantial Capital Gains Tax (CGT) saving to an off-plan flat buyer. In 2006, the buyer entered into a contract to take a 125-year lease of a flat at a price of £575,000, paying a 10 per cent deposit. It was at that time no more than an empty space. The development was delayed by the credit crunch and...

Has Notting Hill Genesis Housing ignored your Housing Disrepair? We act regularly for client’s who have suffered serious housing disrepair in and around Notting Hill and Kensington. Recently, our Kensington solicitors acted for a young mother (with a 3 year-old) who’s ceiling had collapsed after several years of saturation from water ingress due to a leak from another flat above also owned by Notting Hill Genesis. Notting Hill Genesis were slow and did not want to accept liability i.e. that the damp, water ingress, mould and squalid conditions of the property...