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PPS3: a change of emphasis
The new planning policy statement on housing came into effect in early April. Susan Hawker provides a reminder of its contents Read more...
What are the options?
Landowners should be fully advised of the intricacies of options before entering into arrangements with a short-term financial gain, warns Sheonagh... Read more...
Mental illness and tenants
MODERN HEALTH POLICY IS THAT THOSE WHO suffer from mental illness should take such part as they can in society, rather than being institutionalised... Read more...
Rich Cleaners
L&T: residential
Deposit - schemes
Ls letting properties on assured shorthold have to protect any deposit taken by using one of the approved tenancy deposit schemes.
Extension lease - redevelopment
Ts of flats held on long leases, once they have owned their flats for two years, have a right to claim an extended lease of 90 years (Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993).
Tolerated trespasser - abolition
The government has made it clear that it intends to abolish the status of ‘tolerated trespasser’, and to restore tenancy status to all existing tolerated trespassers. This will be done via the Housing and Regeneration Bill.
Service charges - holiday homes
There are many developments that involve the grant of long leases (typically of chalets or static caravans) with occupation being limited to use as a ‘holiday home’. In practice, many such units are used all year round, often in defiance of lease terms (which have frequently been imposed as a result of planning restrictions).
New penthouse - right of first refusal
What can the lessees in a block of flats do if L wants to build new flats or penthouses on top of the existing building? A partial answer may well lie in LTA 1987 which gives long lessees a right of first refusal.
Collective enfranchisement - 25% requirement
Long lessees of residential flats can collectively acquire the freehold of their block (Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993). As originally drafted, buildings with less than 10% commercial use were excluded; that figure was increased to 25% by Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002.
Shared ownership - major problem
Apparently, nearly 1 in 100 households in England has a shared ownership lease. It therefore follows that 1 in 100 households are in for a very nasty shock, when they discover that they do not necessarily own a share of the property!
Enfranchisement - 80-year rule
Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 introduced important changes to the enfranchisement legislation. In particular, greater certainty resulted from the ‘fixed valuation date’ and the ‘80-year rule’.
Service charges - Ts' rights
This is a summary of the various statutory rights now given to Ts in relation to service charges:
Leasehold enfranchisement: a special price
authorTo what extent can knowledge of a ‘special purchaser’ be imputed to the landlord, when determining the price payable for the freehold? Simon Serota analyses the Lands Tribunal’s latest findings.
Mental illness and tenants

Modern health policy is that those who suffer from mental illness should take such part as they can in society, rather than being institutionalised. Achieving this, of course, is not without problems. For landlords, the concern is often the tenant whose illness causes them to behave towards other tenants in a manner that may be abusive, annoying or intimidating.

Assured T – tolerated trespasser
A suspended possession order against an assured T will mean that the T becomes a tolerated trespasser (and so loses the status of an assured T).
Assured T – offence
If an assured T under a fixed-term tenancy commits a criminal offence, that may be a ground for possession (Ground 14) under HA 1988. This applies if T has been:
Enfranchisement - deferment rate
The reason why leasehold enfranchisement is much more common than it used to be lies in Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, which says that Ts no longer have to occupy the property as their residence to qualify. So, a developer can now buy a lease of a house or a flat, and then claim the freehold (or a 90-year lease extension) even though he has no intention of ever living in the property.
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