Commercial property law update

Course Overview

Even experienced property investors and managers can make mistakes in acquiring and managing their property, especially given the wealth of legislation and case-law which affects these processes. Not only can these mistakes damage the value of a landlord’s interest, but they can have other financial consequences for the landlord as well.

This conference focuses on topics of which no property investor or adviser dare be ignorant…

• Dealing with restrictive covenants
• The latest thinking on rights of light
• Minimising tax on property transactions
• Working within the new energy regulations
• How far lease terms can be changed in a 1954 Act renewal
• Handling applications for consent to alienation
• Recovering arrears and the new Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery system

These and other topical issues will be examined by our team of renowned experts in this very popular programme.

Audience

• In-house lawyers
• Lawyers in private practice
• Property directors and managers (in both the private and public sectors)
• Property fund managers
• Property company executives and their professional advisers

This conference is aimed at those who have a good working knowledge of the basics and are looking for the special bonuses available in current thinking on the topics. Guidance on disaster areas to avoid is incorporated in the carefully selected programme.

Course Outline

Restrictive covenants

• Technical problems with enforcing covenants; do I have the benefit?
• Whose consent should be given? Are the cases right? (City Inn vs Ten Trinity Square considered)
• What about the Lands Tribunal?
• Will I get an injunction or can I get away with damages in lieu?
• Recent cases since July 2007

Rights of light

• Technical legal problems with the law of light
• The effect of RHJ vs Patten (Holdings) Ltd
• Remedies post Regan vs Paul Properties and Tamares vs Fairpoint
• Legal tips and traps for developers and their advisers
• Reform of the law

Property tax issues

• Capital Allowances - the new landscape:
• changes to the existing rules;
• proposals for reform;
• The New Construction Industry Scheme
• VAT – current issues

Case Law update

• Do I really need a written contract? Equity and the imprudent developer
• Will I be bound by the terms of a side letter to a lease?
• Can I keep the service charge fund when my tenant leaves?
• Will my tenant lose his right to break if he does not comply with all of his covenants?
• Will time be of the essence for my rent review?

Wasting energy? EPCs, DECs and commercial premises

• When will an EPC be required?
• When will a DEC be required?
• Will the new requirements delay marketing of premises?
• Access rights and the duty to cooperate
• Who will pay?
• Service charge – will the costs be recoverable?
• Issues at the end of the term – yielding up, dilapidations and the costs of improvement

1954 Act renewals

• What deadlines do the parties now have to meet?
• How does the new process work in practice?
• Are there still tactical considerations in an unopposed renewal?
• What about PACT?
• How far can parties seek to change the existing lease terms?

Consent to alienation

• What are the key distinctions in the drafting of consent clauses?
• What are the often (overlooked) implications of those distinctions?
• What should a (durable) request for consent contain?
• Where should a (durable) request for consent be served?
• How long is a reasonable time to consider a request?
• After how much delay in giving a decision can the tenant go ahead anyway?
• What reasons are reasonable reasons to refuse consent in relation to assignments and sub-lets?
• Is the position different in relation to requests for consent for alterations to leasehold property?
• Is the position different in relation to requests for consent for change of use?
• What do I need to know about the litigation process?

Recovery of arrears by commercial landlords

• Forfeiture
• Pursuing subtenants
• Pursuing former tenants
• Levying distress/Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery
• Using a rent deposit
• Issuing court proceedings
• Initiating an insolvency process