Jonathan Upton looks at a landmark decision that has consequences for flat owners going for right to manage in multi-block development.
Browsing: Case Law
A case lw update re Johnson v County Bideford [2012] UKUT 457 (LC).
In these cases HHJ Gerald makes it clear that FTTs do not have jurisdiction to determine issues not identified by the parties (in their statements of case).
The property at the centre of the dispute was a freehold building comprising five flats, each of which was held by a qualifying tenant.
By a majority (3:2) the Supreme Court overruled the decisions of all lower Courts and tribunals and granted the landlord dispensation on terms.
The First-tier Tribunal (FTT) is an independent body who review varying leasehold disputes and problems.
The FTT had erred in failing to consider whether the tenants’ ability to afford the works when determining that the works were reasonably incurred.
The freeholder had threatened to forfeit the intermediate landlord’s headlease if, in breach of covenant, no full time resident caretaker was employed.
A stage 2 consultation notice which notified the tenants of the landlord’s intention to instruct its preferred contractor was merely notice of a provisional intention so that the lessees were not put off from making observations.
Summary: In a claim for rectification by construction, the trial judge (Roth J) accepted the landlord’s…