The number of village green applications has risen dramatically over recent years and this has caused concern for developers as anything which injures the green or interrupts its use as a recreational site brings possible criminal sanctions. An application to register land as a village green can be made if a significant number of local [...]

In November 2010 Westfield, the owner of the Broadmarsh Centre in Nottingham, revealed plans to sell it’s stake in the shopping precinct to Capital Shopping Centres (“CSC”), the present owners of Nottingham’s Victoria Centre. The move has prompted the Office of Fair Trading (“OFT”) to announce that it is to investigate the matter. In a statement, the [...]

In what has possibly been and continues to be one of the longest intellectual property disputes the world has ever seen, Motorola has won the battle with the US International Trade Commission. The dispute between these two companies involves the working of their smart phones. Apple has patented 1000′s of ideas relating to its market [...]

Global real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle has today published their predictions for the UK real estate market in 2012. Speaking of this year’s prospects, Executive Chairman UK Richard Batten believes that this year will “see a slow start, but hopefully a strong final burst to lift hopes for 2013”. Mr Batten continued; “Growth is [...]

A cross-party committee of MPs have heavily criticized government plans to rewrite planning rules in England to include the controversial presumption in favour of sustainable development.  With ministers arguing that a simplified planning system is needed to boost growth and encourage sustainable development, the Commons Communities Committee has said that the simplification process, which sees [...]

Increasingly, insolvency is an issue which both landlords and tenants have to address. The following is a brief overview of issues: Tenant Bankruptcy On the making of a bankruptcy order, the Official Receiver assumes control of the bankrupt tenant’s property pending the appointment of a trustee-in-bankruptcy who, once appointed, has the bankrupt’s leasehold property vested in him. As [...]

 Christmas comes but once a year and for the Land Registry Christmas starts on 24 December with offices, including customer information centres and customer support, closing until 28 December. The Land Registry Find a property pages and business e-services will also not be available. From 28 to 30 December all Land Registry will be open from [...]

Although it is common practice under a lease to oblige the Tenant to remove its possessions at the end of the contractual term, it is often the case that this is ignored where the costs of removal outweigh the cost of the goods left. Under the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977 a landlord must [...]

A new report entitled ‘Cities for Growth’, which has been published by think-tank Policy Exchange, has put the cat amongst the pigeons on matters concerning the Green Belt and the Governments planning proposals. It is the contention of the authors that there is insufficient brownfield sites to meet demand for housing, with restrictions on greenfield [...]

Successful Dragons’ Den pitcher Levi Roots has been branded a ‘barefaced liar’ by the barrister for his former best friend. Tony Bailey, along with financial advisor Sylvester Williams, is suing Levi Roots for £600,000 for breach of confidence and breach of contract. Bailey claims Roots stole the Reggae Reggae Sauce recipe from him after they [...]