One way of selling a property during a recession is to make it the prize in a raffle draw. But, such house competitions run the risk of falling foul of Gambling Act 2005. As we noted in our February 2009 issue (p4) a lottery will be illegal if winning depends on ‘chance’. Accordingly, there must be some question posed of entrants that requires some skill to answer.

Remember that an easement will normally be a negative obligation – and, therefore, will not normally include a positive obligation. This is well illustrated by a recent case involving a right to lay electrical services across a plot of land.

Under CA 1985 a company must include the usual residential addresses of each director in its register of directors, which is open to public inspection. The company must also give the directors’ usual residential address to Companies House, where it forms part of the publicly available information about the company.

Since April 2008, unoccupied business premises no longer get the empty rates benefits that they previously enjoyed. Now, unoccupied commercial premises (eg retail or office) get a three-month exemption and then have to pay 100% rates (previously it was a three-month exemption, and then 50%).

The Court of Appeal decision in Salvage Wharf Ltd & anor v G & S Brough Ltd [2009] provides further illumination on how the courts will approach rights to light disputes. As with the recent appeal in RHJ Ltd v FT Patt en (Holdings) Ltd & anor [2008], the Court examined whether or not a document constituted a ‘consent or agreement’ of the kind referred to in the proviso to s3 of the Prescription Act (PA) 1832.

The three or six-month period of rates relief for empty properties begins to run from the moment the property becomes unoccupied – even if there is a T in administration or liquidation in occupation (who is, in any case, exempt from rates liability).

A tenancy cannot be an assured shorthold if the rent exceeds £25,000 (a maximum sum that was fixed in 1990). The logic at the time was to exclude luxury lets. However, if the £25,000 threshold had been indexed to RPI since 1990 then it would now be in the region of £52,500.

The total demolition of a building will be construed as ‘development’, and it is also specifically defined as a ‘building operation’ within the definition of development (s55(1A)(a)TCPA 1990).

The partial demolition of a building will be ‘development’ (s55 TCPA 1990). It is regarded as a structural alteration, and thus falls within the definition of ‘building operation’. Accordingly, the general rule is that planning permission will be required for the partial demolition of a building.

The Homelessness (Priority Need) Order 2002 conferred priority need status on the overwhelming majority of children aged 16 and 17, who are eligible for assistance from the HA. Accordingly, an increasing number of tenancies have been granted to minors since 2002.

Few developers may be commencing major new schemes at this point in the market, but clearly some schemes are already committed, and as such are exposed to various risks as a result of the current economic situation. Events such as the insolvency of a key member of the construction team can have a potentially catastrophic impact on the delivery of a project, and while this risk cannot be avoided, steps can be taken, both at the time of contracting and afterwards, to mitigate the potential effects of such an event, to limit exposure and to keep some control over the situation.

We all know that if you give a costs estimate that proves to be wildly inaccurate, then you cannot expect to recover your full costs.

An LDP ‘manager’ is the new name for a partner in a partnership (or a member in an LLP, or a director in a company).

Following the arrival of LDPs, the next stage in opening up the ‘business of law’ under the Legal Services Act will be permitting private equity into law firms (in 2011 or 2012).

In the construction sector, collateral warranties arose in the 1980s as a way of overcoming the legal difficulties of a claimant recovering economic loss resulting from third-party negligence.

The ‘early completion’ procedures will apply to all applications received on or after 3 August.

Tolerated trespass has been abolished as from 20 May for the vast majority of tenants.

If land is subject to a right of way, can the landowner grant an alternative route, and then close the original route?

The property downturn has seen a renewed focus on the detailed wording of AGAs. For instance, in a recent CA case the terms of the AGA limited the guarantor’s liability to the period during which the assignee was ‘bound by the tenant’s covenants of the lease’.

Twin tracking is a tactic that has been used by developers to force through a planning decision as quickly as possible. What happens is that a developer submits two identical planning applications to the council, paying a fee for each.

The Lands Tribunal will become the Lands Chamber of the Upper Tribunal on 1 June (although it will continue to use the name Lands Tribunal for the time being).

The SRA acquired important new regulatory powers on 31 March. Whilst the details are still being worked out, these powers will impact enormously on all law firms since they give the SRA powers to regulate firms (and not just individuals).