Insights

The judgment considered a wide range of important issues including the continued use of the Waldram method to assess interference with light and the interaction with section 203 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016.

One of the things I deal with on a regular basis are contracts that auto-renew. So for example an academy trust enters into a services contract that looks like it's set up to run for two years. However buried in the terms and conditions is some drafting that says unless the client takes some specified proactive actions, then rather than come to an end after those two years the contract will automatically roll-over and the term will be extended - sometimes by a year, sometimes by more. (The 'worst' example I've seen was a contact that was auto-extended by an additional five years).

Media headlines have dramatised the recent statutory government guidance, which allows local authorities flexibility to use capital receipts from qualifying asset sales to fund revenue costs. It has been confirmed that this could include funds generated by local authorities in disposing of school playing fields. 

From the early 1990s, PFI (or Private Finance Initiative) projects were used by the Government to help regenerate school estates across the country. 

This case arises against the backdrop of the Grenfell Tower disaster and the Government’s focus on improving building safety, culminating in the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA). The judgment provides clear guidance on how liability is allocated between developers and consultants and the retrospective application of the BSA.

Landlords can no longer slip inflated commissions into insurance rent without specific provision in the lease allowing them to do so.