Please sign in with your existing account details.
Register to access exclusive content, sign up to receive our updates and personalise your experience on brownejacobson.com.
Privacy statement - Terms and conditions
Forgotten your password?
You have exceeded the maximum number of login attempts for this email address and your account has been locked. An email has been sent to member of Browne Jacobson's web team and some one will be contacting you over the next two working days with details of how to change your password.
Are you sure you want to remove this item from you pinned content?
Time was of the essence for the purposes of a landlord’s notice to increase a tenant’s interim service charge contribution.
The tenant (B) held a 125 year lease of a flat. Under the lease, B was obliged to pay an interim service charge of £360 per annum by equal half yearly payments on 1 April and 1 October in each year. The lease went on to provide that this sum could be revised by the landlord: “to such amount as it shall deem necessary in the light of expenditure reasonably anticipated for that year notice of such revision and adjustment to be served on the Lessee not less than one month prior to the commencement of that financial year.” The financial year started on 1 April. The landlord (K) sent a letter to B in August 2019 requesting payment of half yearly instalments in excess of £180 per half year for periods running from 1 April 2018, 1 October 2018, and 1 April 2019.
Was time of the essence in relation to the letter sent by K to B revising the amount of the interim service charge payable by B (meaning that K was out of time to increase the amount payable by B)?
The presumption against time being of the essence was displaced in this case. The language clearly stipulated that notice was to be given “not less than one month” before the start of a financial year, the notice was in respect of “expenditure reasonably anticipated” for the year ahead and once notice was given, the revised sum would be payable half yearly during the financial year. It was therefore likely that the parties intended the advance notice requirement to be strictly adhered to.
The new regime introduced by the Act will take shape over the next 18 months, but those who design, build or manage high rise buildings are being urged to get ready for the changes to be introduced through the act.
View
On 14 February 2022, Secretary of State of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove, announced proposals designed to pressure building developers and materials manufacturers to fund the remediation of unsafe properties.
A tenant in Scotland had validly exercised a break option even though it failed to pay VAT on the break premium.
The court provides some useful guidance on the different types of endeavours obligations and good faith clauses.
The content on this page is provided for the purposes of general interest and information. It contains only brief summaries of aspects of the subject matter and does not provide comprehensive statements of the law. It does not constitute legal advice and does not provide a substitute for it.
Professional Development Lawyer
Select which mailings you would like to receive from us.
Sign up