High Court Ruling on Right of Way Dispute

In resolving right of way disputes, judges’ first port of call is to the precise wording of relevant property deeds, as illustrated by any plans attached to them. However, as a High Court ruling showed, topography and a common sense approach to enable full use of the right of way can also have a crucial part to play.

Tribunal Ruling on Restrictive Covenants and Holiday Lets

The case concerned a house in a leafy cul-de-sac in one of Cornwall’s most popular seaside locations. Its owner wished to use it for holiday lets but encountered fierce objections from a couple who lived nearby. They pointed to a restrictive covenant contained in the property’s title deeds that confined its use to that of a private dwelling house.

The Importance of Correct Answers on Property Information Forms

A woman bought a leasehold flat from a property development company which had recently refurbished it. Prior to the sale, the company’s sole director signed a Law Society information form which confirmed that the vendor was unaware of any unresolved planning issues in respect of the property. The form also confirmed that the vendor was unaware of any breaches of planning conditions or of any works carried out that did not have all the necessary consents.

Court of Appeal Ruling on When a Binding Contract Exists

In the context of a commercial property dispute concerning the proposed erection of an anaerobic digestion plant, the Court of Appeal has given important guidance on how to distinguish a binding contract from a non-binding agreement to agree.

A landowner entered into negotiations with an energy company that wished to site the plant on its land. Heads of terms were signed whereby it was agreed that a 25-year lease, at a rent of £150,000 a year, would be drawn up within one month of planning permission for the development being granted.

Disproportionate Dispute over the Width of a Right of Way

A landowner asserted that his neighbours’ right of way over a track that crossed his land was limited to a width of 2.15 metres. The neighbours, however, asserted that the correct figure was 2.5 metres. The dispute blew up into full-scale litigation after the landowner erected steel bollards at each end of the track that only permitted vehicles the width of a quad bike to pass by.

Commercial Property Owner Recovers Wrongly Paid Drainage Charges

A commercial property owner who for years shelled out for drainage bills that it was never obliged to pay must be reimbursed every penny. That was the effect of an important High Court ruling in which utility companies were found to have been unjustly enriched by charging for services that were never provided.

High Court Case on Diminution in Value of Leaseholder’s Flat

When the use of commercial premises beneath a leaseholder’s flat was changed from an estate agency to a bar / restaurant, a court has ruled that the leaseholder is entitled to compensation of £105,000.

After planning permission was granted in respect of the change of use, works were carried out, some of them structural, to prepare the commercial premises for their new purpose. The flat tenant was unhappy with the change, complaining of noise and fumes, and eventually sold his property for £470,000.

Court of Appeal Ruling on Japanese Knotweed

Landowners should sit up and take notice of the Court of Appeal’s ground-breaking decision to award compensation to a property investor, the value of whose land was blighted by notoriously invasive Japanese knotweed.

The case concerned an investment property that adjoined local authority-owned land on which the pernicious weed had apparently been growing for over 50 years. Its owner sought damages from the council on the basis that the plant’s relentless encroachment onto his land amounted to a nuisance.

Tribunal Refuses Application to Discharge Restrictive Covenant Because of Practical Benefits

The case concerned a proposal to demolish four suburban houses and replace them with a block of 33 flats, standing up to five storeys high. Given the acute need for more new homes, planning permission was granted for the project.

Standing in the developer’s way, however, were restrictive covenants enshrined in the title deeds of three of the houses. One of them, dated 1963, forbade construction of more than one detached house on one of the plots. Another, dated 1993, required that two of the properties only be occupied by single households.

High Court Awards Compensation for Damage Caused by Wayleave Contractors

Farmers are often required to give contractors access to their fields so that they can work on utilities pipes or cables that run beneath them. However, as a High Court case showed, they do not have to put up with unreasonable damage to their land.

The case concerned a field crossed by an underground high-voltage cable. Pursuant to wayleave rights, a utility company’s contractors entered onto the land in order to replace the cable. Work was carried out in wet weather and the field’s tenant said that it was left in a complete and utter mess, looking like a bomb site.