Collapsed retailer British Home Stores cannot challenge its own company voluntary arrangement as an unenforceable contractual penalty and must repay rental discounts to its landlords, the High Court in England and Wales decided yesterday. The case, in which Hogan Lovells represented the successful landlord, provides important guidance on the operation of company voluntary arrangements (CVAs), particularly after termination, and the payment of rent as an expense of a company’s administration in priority to other debts.…

When you hear the term “boundary dispute”, you probably imagine the following familiar set of circumstances: Two parties at loggerheads over a small strip of land. Entrenched positions holding sway over the legal and surveying considerations actually needed to resolve the dispute. A complex, chaotic and protracted dispute, even though there should be a well-worn path for resolving such arguments. Legal and other costs quickly getting out of all proportion to what is at stake.…

Following on from the successful Alienation Protocol, a new protocol for applications for consent to carry out alterations to leasehold property (the Alterations Protocol) has been launched. It applies where a tenant wishes to carry out alterations but the lease restricts its ability to do so. Compliance with this protocol should help landlords and tenants focus on what they need to do to avoid costly and unnecessary squabbles, identify the issues and resolve…

A revolution is taking place in the way that litigants are charged for using the court system and it is shaping up to be a noisy one. Historically, government’s aim has to been to charge court fees on a “cost” basis, designed to cover the cost to the Ministry of Justice of providing the court service.  From today, in a radical departure from that practice, fees for starting proceedings at court to recover a sum…

The High Court of England and Wales handed down judgment last week in the case of Christine Mary Laverty and others as Joint Liquidators of PGL Realisations PLC and others v British Gas Trading Limited [2014] EWHC 2721.  In an important decision for the insolvency industry, it was held that the statutory deemed contracts regime for gas and electricity supply could not be used by utilities companies to gain priority over other creditors. The case…

Landlords often ask for a rent deposit when they grant a new lease, or consent to an assignment, especially if the incoming tenant is of shaky covenant strength.  This provides security against possible future default. If a tenant becomes insolvent then this is exactly the sort of situation where a landlord would want to make use of a deposit.  Where it is in the “commingling” form (i.e. paid to the landlord so that it becomes…

The UK government has finally taken its second legislative step towards reforming the law of distress and replacing it with the snappily named Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery (CRAR) which it originally mooted six years ago in the Tribunals Courts and Enforcement Act 2007.  Despite uncertainty over the future of CRAR, the new regime is likely to take effect from April 2014 following the publication yesterday of the Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013. The Regulations…