In the recent case of Granton Central Developments Ltd v Len Lothian Ltd, a commercial landlord appealed successfully against a Sheriff’s decision that it was obliged to provide, and that its tenant was entitled to receive, a supply of water to leased subjects. Background to the utilities dispute Granton Central Developments Ltd and Len Lothian Ltd were the landlord and tenant respectively in terms of a lease of commercial premises in Granton, Edinburgh ...
In summary, this note includes information in relation to: the UK REIT regime; advantages of using a Jersey company as the REIT vehicle; TISE listing process and listing document requirements; TISE’s continuing obligations requirements; and Carey Olsen and our REIT experience. We trust that the above will be of assistance ...
When negotiating a complex change order or preparing to litigate a claim, calculating actual recoverable costs incurred can be a difficult exercise. You will want to first review your contract to determine what kinds of costs are compensable. For example, the change order provision of your contract may provide a specific markup that can be included in a change request or limit the recovery of indirect costs and overhead associated with a change ...
As most people are undoubtedly aware, the construction industry has seen material prices escalate astronomically over the past few months. Some specialty lumber prices have soared upwards of 6,000 percent. The cost of a sheet of plywood is double what it was even six months ago. Generally, contractors assume the risk of material prices when they sign a lump sum or GMP contract unless there is a material escalation clause included in the contract terms ...
Utility bills can bring unwelcome surprises: a water bill that reminds you of the extra irrigation costs incurred during a heat wave, an electric bill that makes you realize how much extra power is used when working from home or gaming nonstop, an embarrassing cable bill documenting how many shows you binge-watched last month ...
On Dec. 29, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a final rule amending Regulation Z’s Ability-to-Repay/Qualified Mortgage (QM) requirements (the New Rule). Regulation Z requires creditors to make a reasonable, good-faith determination of a consumer’s ability to repay their residential mortgage loan. Loans that comply with Regulation Z’s requirements qualify for certain protections from liability ...
The Building Safety Bill was finally introduced into Parliament on 30 June 2021 with the aim of delivering fundamental reform to the building safety system. The Bill’s progress through Parliament will be closely monitored as the construction industry looks to prepare for the potentially wide-ranging impact of this complex piece of legislation. The Bill was published in draft form in 2020 to enable pre-legislative scrutiny ...
COVID-19 came upon us all like a tsunami, leveling life as we knew it and causing an entirely new paradigm of behavior to be necessary. No segment of the population was hit harder than seniors, both in our communities and in senior care facilities. Long-term care facilities were on the frontlines of the battle, being one of the first industries to be required to wholly alter traditional behaviors to try to stop the inevitable spread of this deadly virus ...
Chapter 53 of the Texas Property Code just received major updates for the first time in years. On June 15, 2021, Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law HB 2237. This bill makes many notable changes to Texas’s lien laws. The construction industry and construction lawyers should take note of these changes to the complex and often confusing world of mechanic’s, contractor’s, and materialman’s liens in Texas ...
Key Points Eviction protections that were set to expire June 30, 2021, have been extended to September 30, 2021. New notice requirements took effect on July 1, 2021; additional notice requirements take effect on October 1, 2021. Governmental rental assistance is now available to pay 100 percent of a qualified tenant's rent. On June 28, 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 832 into law, effective immediately ...
As we emerge from lockdown, the pace of change in the real estate world is increasing once again. Michael Callaghan looks at what the legal landscape looks like in the coming months. Climate change The Government is planning significant changes to the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) and the provisions that apply to Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) to drive down carbon emissions from buildings ...
Bob McIntosh, the Tenant Farming Commissioner, spoke at a conference on agricultural law at the beginning of June and gave a useful update of his activities and a range of issues surrounding agricultural tenancies. He had received 139 inquiries from agricultural landlords and tenants and their agents during the course of 2020 – a marked increase on the previous two years. The majority were from tenants (47 per cent) or their representatives (27 per cent) ...
A party making a claim bears the burden of proof, meaning that it is responsible for proving its claim. In civil disputes (as opposed to criminal matters) a claim generally must be proven ‘on the balance of probabilities’ if it is to be successful. How is this achieved? The answer is that the claimant must present sufficient evidence to persuade the decision maker that its case is more probable than not ...
Following the latest government announcements, where do landlords and tenants stand in relation to the recovery of rent unpaid during the Coronavirus pandemic? The simple answer is there is a significant degree of uncertainty, and an awful lot of detail around the government’s proposals and that has yet to be resolved ...
Wednesday June 30 2021 is when the Stamp Duty ‘holiday’ in its current form at least will end. The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, introduced the temporary Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) in July 2020 to boost the housing market following the first national lockdown. The aim was to save buyers from paying stamp duty on any properties valued at up to £500,000 – a saving worth up to £15,000 ...
The Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021 is being expedited through the legislative process. It will provide for extensions to a number of time limits, including for the passing of development plans. Importantly however it will also allow for extensions, or additional extensions, to existing planning permissions to allow projects be completed. Planning permissions have a fixed duration, usually five years ...
Free movement of workers from the European Economic Area (EEA) was ended by Brexit and the UK Government introduced the EU Settlement Scheme to bridge the gap between the UK’s two immigrations systems of those coming from the EEA, and those coming to the UK from outwith the EEEA. The EU Settlement Scheme is a mechanism for any EEA citizen who lived in the UK before 31 December 2020 to remain lawfully in the UK ...
Agricultural rent reviews have been a source of controversy within the industry for many years. After a period of 15 years or so where there was little rent review activity in the agricultural tenanted sector between the early 1990s and the mid-2000s, a sharp spike in commodity prices during the course of 2007 led to a large number of rent review notices being served ...
There are a plethora of issues that parties need to work through to make a strategic land project viable; not least, the UK tax system which has a number of potential pitfalls that can materially impact returns. At present, there is no single tax efficient model catered for in UK legislation to enable parties to come together ...
The COVID pandemic has catalysed the decline of traditional retail as the dominant offer in our town centres. There is a growing consensus that a significant part of most town centres needs to have a greater focus on the local community, be experimental and better address local needs. Alongside this, we have the government agenda to ‘level up’ and to ‘build back better’ ...
On 22 May 2021, SPV77 Co. Ltd., a special purpose entity set up to issue and offer Siri Hub Investment Digital Tokens (“SIRIHUB”) to investors secured approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for the country’s first Initial Coin Offering (“ICO”). The first ICO approval by the SEC follows three years of legal changes starting with the passage of the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Business Operation B.E. 2561 (2018) ...
As we emerge from the pandemic, UK cities have a positive future – from the growth of digital broadcasting in Manchester to the positive future for inward investment; from what is needed to preserve our high streets to excitement around the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. The UK Cities Investor Guide is a bi-annual publication produced in partnership with EG, and tackles some of the key challenges and opportunities facing the real estate investment market ...
Commercial landlords have, in the past year and a half, dealt with many novel issues in relation to COVID-19, often on an emergency basis. Few landlords have had to deal with both public health order violations and gang crime relating to the same tenant, as in a recent decision of the B.C. Supreme Court, Ivy Lounge West Georgia Limited Partnership v. TA F&B Limited Partnership, 2021 BCSC 997 ...
The final phase of the Esterra Park development in Redmond, Washington, is a carbon-neutral development. Schwabe client JTM Construction is the general contractor for that project. As attorneys, we are interested in staying up to date on market trends, so we asked JTM to put together a panel to brief Schwabe’s Real Estate and Construction industry group on the carbon-neutral aspects of the project ...
