Upper Tribunal: Lands Chamber judgments, 2026

The right to propose an alteration to a rating list is limited to the persons and circumstances specified by the applicable regulations. A person is not…

Under paragraph 11(2)(b) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988, ancillary office use is not limited to uses typical of other offices. The question is…

An appeal from a case-management decision of the Valuation Tribunal for England (VTE) proceeds by review. It succeeds only if the VTE’s decision was not a…

Under section 251 of the Housing Act 2004, a director’s consent to a company offence requires proof that the director knew the facts constituting the offence.…

A claim under Part I of the Land Compensation Act 1973 requires evidence that depreciation was caused by an increase in a specified physical factor…

An application to modify a restrictive covenant under the Law of Property Act 1925 involves two stages: establishing a statutory ground, then deciding whether…

Repealing an enactment does not, without a contrary intention, extinguish rights and liabilities already accrued under it. A contrary intention may appear from…

Long acquiescence in a continuing lease breach may, in context, make later enforcement inequitable where the landlord’s conduct has altered the parties’…

For compensation for severance, the primary valuation of retained land is made as at the date of severance. Later events cannot change that valuation, but…

Where the principle of equivalence applies to a compulsory-purchase compensation reference, reasonable costs of obtaining compensation are part of the loss…

An application under Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 may cover more than one qualifying premise, including separate buildings, and an applicant…

Service-charge liability depends on the lease’s words. A tribunal must not enlarge a tenant’s liability to achieve a commercially convenient result or an equal…

Under section 84 of the Law of Property Act 1925, a restrictive covenant may be modified where it impedes reasonable use and the statutory conditions are met…

Under the Law of Property Act 1925, a restrictive covenant may be modified on the reasonable-use ground only if the statutory conditions are met. These include…

A tenant can be required to vacate during repairs only where vacating is essential to carry out the work. If it is not essential, the landlord cannot compel…

Section 17(3) of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 permits the First-tier Tribunal to postpone a banning order as a whole until a future date or event. The…

Whether an occupier who remains after a lease expires is a tenant at will or a periodic tenant depends on the parties’ objectively assessed intention in all…

A tribunal determining market rent must explain why it rejects evidence said to indicate a higher rent. It need not list every item of evidence, but must…

An appellate tribunal may interfere with a discretionary decision only where it cannot be justified; mere disagreement is insufficient. A refusal to extend…

A landlord’s obligation to repair does not, without authority in the lease, permit it to accumulate or collect a reserve fund. A term authorising such a fund…

Under Law of Property Act 1925, s 84, an unsupported concern about a possible future planning response does not establish injury from discharging a covenant…

A bundle of photographs appended to a Scott Schedule does not, by itself, establish what the photographs show or when and where they were taken. Where their…

Part 5 jurisdiction under the Electronic Communications Code turns on the statutory gateway in paragraph 33, not on proof that an operator has exercised Code…

Under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, a service charge is reasonable only where the relevant costs were reasonably incurred. On a rehearing, the tribunal…

Under Law of Property Act 1925, an application to modify a restrictive covenant proceeds through a jurisdictional stage and a discretionary stage. Ground (aa)…

A landlord may recover litigation costs through a service charge only where the lease, properly construed, covers them. A clause requiring a contribution to…

Compensation for a statutory necessary wayleave is assessed under the general principles of compulsory acquisition, subject to the statutory scheme. The…

Under section 84 of the Law of Property Act 1925, a covenant is not obsolete where its purpose remains achievable despite changes in the property or its use. A…

Under section 5 of the Mobile Homes Act 1983, a pitch-fee review notice must be served by a person entitled to possession of the site but for residents’ rights…

Under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, a purported claim notice given by a company that is not an RTM company has no statutory effect unless the…

Under the pre-2017 Electronic Communications Code, Code rights had to be granted for a statutory purpose for which the operator had an Ofcom direction when the…

For rating valuation, an adopted tone does not by itself show that the disadvantages of a particular property have already been reflected. The tribunal must…

A lease may be corrected by construction only where there is a clear drafting mistake and the intended correction is clear. A landlord’s obligation to pay…

For an application under section 27A of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, whether premises are dwellings is assessed for the period to which the service-charge…

Under the receipts and expenditure method, the tenant’s share of the divisible balance is a fact-sensitive valuation judgment; no single method governs. The…

A procedural irregularity alone does not justify setting aside a tribunal decision. The irregularity must have serious consequences and render the decision…

Under paragraph 3(a) of Schedule 5 to the Local Government Finance Act 1988, the same occupier’s use of a building and farming of land does not alone make them…

Each non-mandatory HMO licence condition must be justified as appropriate for the particular house. A council-wide standard policy may be practical, but…

For inheritance tax valuation, comparable evidence must be assessed in context. Applying a price per square metre without testing the result against the range…

Compensation for compulsory acquisition must reflect the claimant’s position had the land not been taken, including its special value to the owner and business…

On an appeal against an improvement notice under the Housing Act 2004, the FTT assesses whether the authority was entitled to serve the notice when it did.…

A registered-land transfer made pursuant to a Tomlin order cannot be treated as merely implementing that order where it contains terms beyond the settlement…

Whether a residential service charge is payable depends on the payment machinery agreed in the lease. A demand may be made at a different time where the lease…

A landlord’s reasonable excuse defence to managing an unlicensed HMO is not established merely because an occupier’s conduct made it difficult to secure their…

Where a lease requires an estimate by the landlord’s “Surveyor” but specifies no qualification or specialism, the landlord may appoint a person with relevant…

For the purposes of the Mobile Homes Act 1983, the holder of a site licence is not necessarily the “owner” entitled to serve a pitch fee review notice.…

In rating valuation, earlier tribunal propositions about the order of considering evidence are guidance, not rules to be applied mechanically. The valuation…

An expert tribunal may raise an issue on its own initiative, but only where it concerns jurisdiction, a matter which legislation requires the tribunal to…

Under section 84 of the Law of Property Act 1925, establishing a statutory ground gives the Tribunal jurisdiction, but does not require it to discharge or…

When assessing a litigant in person’s recoverable costs, the tribunal must assess the evidence actually adduced to prove financial loss, including unchallenged…

A building may be both a house and an HMO for different purposes under the Housing Act 2004. The fact that a building is an HMO under section 254(4) does not…

For the purposes of identifying a person having control of an unlicensed HMO, “rack-rent” under Housing Act 2004, s.263, is assessed by reference to the HMO as…

Under section 44 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016, a tenant cannot recover by rent repayment order the rent paid through universal credit. If only part of…

A tribunal hearing is unfair where a tribunal gives a party materially incorrect information about the availability of remote evidence, the party complies with…

For the purposes of section 23(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, “premises” may include an easement which, when exercised, is occupied for business…

On acquiring the right to manage, an RTM company is entitled under Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, section 94, to accrued uncommitted service…

For rating purposes, the valuation of office premises must reflect their actual physical state on the material day, including a tenant’s Category B fit-out.…

A restrictive covenant may be discharged where its original purpose has been fulfilled and substantial changes have made it obsolete. A use supported by…

For a reasonable-excuse defence to the offence of managing an unlicensed property, the tribunal must assess the circumstances preventing licensing and must not…

In a service-charge challenge, leaseholders need only raise a prima facie case that a cost was unreasonable. The landlord must then explain why the cost was…

When deciding whether to extend time for a late rating appeal, the tribunal must apply the three-stage Denton approach carefully and proportionately. A missed…

Under section 72(4)(b) of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, services may be capable of independent provision even where they are initially shared…

Orders under section 20C of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and paragraph 5A of Schedule 11 to the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 are discretionary.…

Under Law of Property Act 1925, s.84(1)(aa), a restriction may be modified where it impedes a reasonable use and secures no practical benefits of substantial…

A tribunal may proceed in a party’s absence where the party was notified of the hearing and proceeding is in the interests of justice. Although the tribunal…

When assessing a rent repayment order, a landlord’s inexperience or ownership of a single property may mitigate an inadvertent breach, but it cannot mitigate a…

Where a lease requires the landlord to notify the tenant of estimated interim service charges before the financial year begins, the court must construe the…

A registered leasehold estate does not require a notice on the individual register of another registered estate in the same land to preserve its priority.…

When exercising discretion under section 20C of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 or paragraph 5A of Schedule 11 to the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act…

A lease requirement for accounts to be audited before a balancing service charge is demanded requires scrutiny by an independent external auditor. The…

In determining whether service charges were reasonably incurred, a tribunal must consider relevant material in the bundle, including explanations contained in…

For adverse possession, factual possession requires effective physical custody or control of the land. An assertion that members of the public may use land…

For adverse possession, the acts required to establish factual possession and an intention to possess depend on the nature and use of the land. On an open…

For paragraph 21(5) of the Electronic Communications Code, a site owner must establish a firm and settled intention to redevelop, a reasonable prospect of…

In proceedings before the First-tier Tribunal, procedural flexibility and proportionality are substantive requirements of fair adjudication. A party’s failure…

In valuing a composite hereditament for non-domestic rating, layout and physical separation may justify distinct end allowances. The court should examine those…

In the statutory “cancelled scheme world”, the Tribunal must apply the real-world facts, policies and planning permissions at the valuation date, subject only…

For a certificate of appropriate alternative development, the cancellation assumption does not exclude real-world facts which were unknown at the valuation…

In valuing a hereditament, the actual rent is ordinarily a starting point, but its weight depends on how closely its timing, terms and subject matter…

Interim service charges are assessed when demanded. The likelihood that the proposed expenditure will be incurred is relevant to whether an advance demand is…

For the purposes of Law of Property Act 1925, s.84(7), a disposition is not gratuitous where the recipient assumes substantial positive obligations, even if…

On an application under section 84 of the Law of Property Act 1925, planning permission is a persuasive indicator that the proposed use is reasonable, but it…

After expiry of a telecommunications lease, continued occupation and payment of rent do not create a periodic tenancy automatically. The court must assess…

A site-licence condition requiring consent for layout changes must be clear, workable and proportionate. Where consent is not unreasonably to be withheld, an…

A tribunal determining whether service charges are recoverable must consider relevant documents relied on by a party, particularly where those documents bear…

Permission to occupy land from a person who does not own it does not prevent possession being adverse to the true owner. The occupier may hold possession as…

A repairing covenant must be interpreted by reference to the physical subject-matter, its condition, the standard contemplated by the parties, the work…

Section 124 of the Building Safety Act 2022 permits the First-tier Tribunal to make remediation contribution orders against multiple respondents on a joint and…

Leaseholders remain liable under their leases for properly incurred service-charge costs of repairing common parts, even where the need for the work arose from…

An issue estoppel arising from an earlier service-charge determination does not prevent a tribunal from making findings about later service-charge years where…

Under section 84 of the Law of Property Act 1925, planning permission does not itself establish that a restrictive covenant should be modified. The Tribunal…

In determining a Certificate of Appropriate Alternative Development, the acceptability of a single or dominant use is site-specific. Development-plan policies…

In determining a certificate of appropriate alternative development, the Tribunal must assess a defined hypothetical planning application on its own merits…

For the purposes of a rent repayment order, where a continuing housing offence ceases during a day, fractions of that day are disregarded in the landlord’s…

For the purpose of a rent repayment order, the statutory period of 12 months ending on the application date includes the whole of that date and therefore…

In a costs appeal, a tribunal must give proper weight to unreasonable conduct that causes a party to incur costs in litigation which could have been avoided.…

Failure to comply with section 47 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 has a suspensory effect. It does not invalidate a service charge demand or prevent a…