Upper Tribunal: Lands Chamber judgments, 2022

A tribunal may raise a new point of law arising from uncontested facts, but it must consider carefully whether doing so threatens actual or apparent procedural…

Under section 84(1)(aa) of the Law of Property Act 1925, an applicant for discharge of a restrictive covenant must establish that any practical benefit secured…

For site-licensing purposes, an “occupier” must occupy land by virtue of a legal or equitable estate or interest. A licensee or manager under a management…

In determining a certificate of appropriate alternative development, the decision-maker must apply ordinary planning principles and determine the matter…

A building scheme will not be inferred merely because a developer imposed similar restrictive covenants across a residential development. The scheme must apply…

The First-tier Tribunal’s jurisdiction under section 4 of the Mobile Homes Act 1983 is broad, but it is confined to questions arising under the Act or the…

An RTM company which has acquired the right to manage does not thereby become a landlord. It therefore cannot apply under section 168(4) of the Commonhold and…

Under paragraph 2(3) of Schedule 12 to the Water Industry Act 1991, injurious affection bears its established meaning in compulsory-purchase compensation law.…

Rating valuation of racing stables requires assessment of the hypothetical annual rent at the antecedent valuation date, applied to the physical circumstances…

A rating appeal is confined by the proposal made to the valuation officer. The 2017 Non-Domestic Rating (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) (England) Regulations…

Without prejudice privilege applies to genuine settlement negotiations concerning a dispute, even where a proposed commercial arrangement would resolve only…

An application for dispensation from statutory service-charge consultation requirements may be made after a determination of payability under section 27A of…

Under Law of Property Act 1925, s.84(1)(aa), restrictive covenants may be modified where they impede a reasonable use of land and, in doing so, secure no…

A leaseholder must identify why a variable service charge is unreasonable before the tribunal may reject it as unsubstantiated. Consultation under section 20…

Under section 19(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, reasonably incurred costs require both a reasonable decision-making process and a reasonable outcome.…

In assessing a rent repayment order, the tribunal must not treat the whole rent, less utilities, as the default award. It must first identify the relevant rent…

A lease of part of a horizontally divided building ordinarily includes the external walls and, absent an express reservation, the horizontal structure between…

The extended window for proposals to alter the 2010 rating list applied only to proposals made by ratepayers whose legal position was changed by the amending…

A lease requiring a lessee to pay a proportion, fraction or percentage of the Annual Service Charge requires that proportion to be applied to the global…

A tenant’s covenant to permit a landlord to enter residential premises requires more than passive consent or an absence of obstruction. The tenant must take…

Contractual interpretation requires the court to identify the objective meaning of the language used, read in the context of the agreement as a whole, its…

For the sole use condition in Housing Act 2004, section 254(2)(d), the relevant use is the objective use of the occupiers’ living accommodation. A licensor’s…

Exchange of contracts requires a formal delivery by each party of its signed part, either physically or through clear words producing constructive delivery.…

In quantifying a rent repayment order, the tribunal must not treat the whole rent as the starting point and make deductions only for landlord or tenant…

An appellate tribunal should interfere with a case-management decision only where it was irrational, plainly wrong or involved an error of law. The assessment…

When fixing a rent repayment order under the Housing and Planning Act 2016, the tribunal must not presume that the full rent is payable subject only to…

For the purposes of the Housing Act 2004, a person having control of an HMO must actually receive the rack-rent. Indirect receipt through an agent is…

The duty to ensure specified fire-safety measures and repairs in an HMO requires the manager to achieve the required state of affairs. Under regulations 4(1)…

In valuing a seasonal attraction forming part of a partially exempt hereditament, the receipts and expenditure method requires a realistic assessment of the…

To establish an unlicensed HMO offence for the purposes of a rent repayment order, the applicant must prove every element beyond reasonable doubt, including…

Part 1 compensation is confined to depreciation in the value of an interest in land caused by a prescribed physical factor arising from the use of public…

An auction price shortly before a valuation date is evidence of open-market value, but it does not set a legally binding minimum valuation. Valuation is a…

Under the Electronic Communications Code, only the occupier of land, or the person who would be occupier if the operator’s presence were ignored, can confer…

A defect in a right-to-manage claim notice invalidates it only if, on the proper construction of the statutory scheme, the omitted information is of critical…

Under Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, a tribunal determining service-charge reasonableness has jurisdiction only over the amount genuinely challenged or not…

A demand for a service charge under section 20B(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 must be contractually valid. Where a lease makes certification and a…

When imposing interim electronic communications rights, the Tribunal must determine appropriate terms by reference to the Electronic Communications Code…

Under section 84 of the Law of Property Act 1925, establishing a ground for discharge or modification does not require the Tribunal to exercise its discretion.…

The power to appoint a manager under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 may be exercised only where a statutory threshold condition is satisfied and it is just…

For rating purposes, a museum’s rateable value is the rent which the hypothetical tenant would be willing to pay for its occupation. Quantified socio-economic…

In a rent repayment order application, an agreed fact need not be proved unless the admission is withdrawn. Whether accommodation is a licensable HMO depends…

For rating purposes, whether buildings are an appurtenance enjoyed with living accommodation under section 66(1)(b) depends on their nature and function…

Under Part 3 of the Housing Act 2004, a “house” may be a building, part of a building, or an individual flat consisting of a dwelling. A licence may relate to…

Under the Electronic Communications Code, consideration for a new agreement must be assessed on the statutory no-network assumption. Evidence of real-world…

Under section 84(1)(aa) of the Law of Property Act 1925, a restrictive covenant may be modified where it impedes a reasonable use and any practical benefit it…

Costs in a reference for interim electronic communications rights are discretionary. Where an operator requires an order imposing survey rights, the usual…

Lease provisions requiring a landlord to provide particulars of insurance premiums are not, without clear wording, conditions precedent to the tenant’s…

A party seeking payment of service charges must prove that the relevant demands were served. A tribunal must not reverse that burden by requiring leaseholders…

Service charge clauses are construed by identifying the parties’ objective intention from the words used, the lease as a whole, its purpose, relevant…

In fixing a rent repayment order under Housing and Planning Act 2016, the tribunal must evaluate all relevant circumstances. It must not begin with a…

When assessing a rent repayment order under section 44 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016, the First-tier Tribunal must consider the conduct of both landlord…

Permission to appeal should be refused where the proposed appeal raises neither an important point of principle or practice nor any other compelling reason for…

For rating purposes, the statutory hypothesis requires a willing tenant, even where the market is weak or saturated. General demand may be assessed from…

Where a code right to keep electronic communications apparatus on land has ended, the landowner has a right to require its removal. Once that right has…

A leasehold user covenant is not obsolete merely because the premises are difficult to let for the permitted use or the character of the surrounding area has…

Where a Code agreement gives the operator exclusive possession and no operational control is reserved to the site provider, responsibility for the safety of…

Compulsory-purchase compensation is assessed by reference to an open-market sale in the no-scheme world. Hope value may be allowed where a prudent purchaser…

When considering an application to modify a restrictive covenant, the Tribunal must compare the proposed use with what could realistically be done if…

Reasons in a civil penalty notice must identify clearly and accurately the particular breach of the relevant licence condition. They are particulars of the…

For rating valuation, a shopping-centre car park is not a separate mode or category of occupation merely because it serves the centre and its customers. The…

An application for interim rights under paragraph 26 of the Electronic Communications Code requires a good arguable case that the conditions for conferring…

A restrictive covenant may be discharged as obsolete under section 84(1)(a) where changes in the neighbourhood have made its original protective purpose…

A landlord cannot recover ground rent under a long residential lease unless it has given a valid notice under section 166 of the Commonhold and Leasehold…

Concurrent deployment of a judge does not merge the jurisdictions of the county court and the First-tier Tribunal. A tribunal judge may make a county court…

A late proposal to alter the 2010 rating list is invalid unless it falls within the retrospective regime introduced by the Rating (Property in Common…

Case-management powers must be exercised consistently with the overriding objective of dealing with proceedings fairly and justly. Tribunals should accommodate…

A restrictive covenant limiting a property to use as a private dwelling may confer practical benefits of substantial advantage by preserving the character…

In determining a registered boundary, the court must begin with the deed or transfer that created it. An unambiguous deed governs. Where it is ambiguous or…

An appellate tribunal may permit a new point of law to be raised, including one described as jurisdictional, but permission is not automatic. The tribunal must…

Dispensation from statutory consultation requirements for qualifying works must be assessed by reference to prejudice to leaseholders, not merely the urgency…

A lease must be construed as a whole and in its commercial and textual context. Where reading a defined singular term literally produces contradictions that…

A tenant’s reference of a rent-increase notice to the First-tier Tribunal may satisfy the statutory procedure through substantial compliance. A minor error in…

A leaseholder’s conditional obligation to contribute to the cost of maintaining a right of way extends only to the parts of the route over which the lease…

Modification under section 84(1)(aa) of the Law of Property Act 1925 requires more than a reasonable proposed use which is impeded by a restriction. The…

A covenant permitting recovery of the landlord’s deemed costs for collecting rents does not, without more, permit a separate charge for serving a notice under…

In compulsory-acquisition compensation proceedings, an acquiring authority may make an offer addressing only a properly particularised part of the claim and…

For the sole-use condition in section 254(2)(d) of the Housing Act 2004, the relevant question is the actual use of the living accommodation, rather than the…

Whether an advance service charge is reasonable under section 19(2) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 is a fact-sensitive evaluative question, not a purely…

A landlord which retains a roof and the airspace above it need not have expressly reserved a right to develop them. It may develop retained property, subject…

The primary geographical test for identifying a hereditament requires an assessment of the physical premises as a whole. Visual or cartographic unity and…

For the six-month limit in paragraph 2(2) of Schedule 13A to the Housing Act 2004, “sufficient evidence” means evidence sufficient to prove the relevant…

On an appeal against financial penalties for housing offences, the First-tier Tribunal must make its own assessment of the appropriate penalty while giving due…

A tribunal must determine an application under section 20C fairly. Where it proposes to grant relief on reasons not ventilated at the hearing, it must give the…

Under Rule 2 of section 5 of the Land Compensation Act 1961, compulsorily acquired land must be valued at the price which a willing seller could expect in the…

Compensation for compulsory acquisition is assessed in the statutory no-scheme world, disregarding the scheme and its underlying assumptions. Hope value may…

Joint owners of the whole of an HMO who are collectively entitled to receive its rack rent are each a person having control for the purposes of section 263 of…

Where the maximum-rent provisions in section 46 do not apply, a rent repayment order is not presumed to equal all rent paid during the relevant period. The…

In valuing a short leasehold interest for leasehold enfranchisement, the tribunal must consider all available evidence and then assess how the evidence fits…

For a valuation of consideration under paragraph 24 of the Electronic Communications Code, the statutory assumption of an arm’s-length transaction between…

A rent repayment order under Chapter 4 of Part 2 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 may be made only against the tenant’s landlord. Section 40(2) both…

A tribunal may admit fresh evidence on appeal where it was unavailable for the first-instance hearing, would probably have an important influence on the…