Search: Residential property disputes

Failure to follow agreed schedule not ground for damages

Many people have experienced the frustration of having builders who turn up, partially complete the work they have been contracted to do and then seemingly lose interest, with the result that the original expectations as regards timing of the work go out of the window.

Obligation on seller sets boundary

When a plan is attached to a conveyance, it is often marked ‘for identification purposes only’ in order to ensure that the plan is not considered to be the definitive record of the property being conveyed.

Tenant fails in claim for three times his deposit

A former tenant has failed in a claim for damages over and above the return of his deposit, in a ruling that has demonstrated the limitations placed on tenants’ rights under Section 214 of the Housing Act 2004. This legislation gives a tenant the right to redress if a landlord fails to pay the tenant’s deposit into an approved tenancy deposit protection scheme.

Failure to register renders property inaccessible

When the owner of a property failed to register a right of access, trouble was in store.

Protecting the assets of the bank of Mum and Dad

With the average age of first time home buyers increasing all the time and the difficulty of saving enough money for a deposit, let alone obtaining and funding a mortgage, many are having to find other ways to take their first step on the housing ladder.

Late registration of title means battle

A recent case dealt with the thankfully rare circumstance of someone buying a property without knowing that the vendor is a bankrupt (Pick v Chief Land Registrar).

Government to outlaw squatting in residential premises

Failure to establish right prevents enfranchisement claim

The law relating to the enfranchisement of leaseholds (the name for the process by which tenants exercise the right to buy) is complex.

Conduct determines legal ownership of property

When a property is owned by two people as joint tenants (where the title to the property is owned by each of them, so that if one dies, the other inherits the property by survivorship), each of them is considered to be the legal owner of the property.

Local authority successful in multi-million pound claim

Complex set of consultation procedures that must be negotiated if the cost of the works is to be passed on to the tenants