Lease Renewals and Other Business Renewals in the Current Market

With most commercial leases containing upwards only rent review clauses, the renewal of the lease is often the only opportunity available to a tenant to reduce the rent.

Unlike rent review clauses which are almost inevitably drafted on up an “upwards only” basis, a tenant who has a right to claim a new lease at the end of its contractual term, has a right to claim that the lease on the same terms as the existing lease except as to rent, which is to be a market rent.

The current state of the commercial property market means that many tenants are securing renewals at significantly reduced rents. How much a reduction will depend on the date of the last review, the location of the property and of course the relative bargaining skills of the landlord’s and the tenant’s surveyors instructed on the review.

When approaching a lease renewal, landlords and tenants should seek the advice of both their solicitors and surveyors at the earliest opportunity.

The landlord should consider whether it is in his interest to trigger renewal procedures or to leave these in the hands of the tenant and similarly the tenant will need to consider whether it should trigger renewal procedures or just let the lease continue. This decision is often difficult for a landlord who may have to consider whether he wants the security of income offered by a long lease, even if renewal means he suffers a substantial reduction in income.

The tenant will need to consider whether it is in his interest to commit himself to the costly process of renewing his lease or, particularly if he only has short term requirement to allow the lease to continue, albeit at an inflated rent.

When considering these issues, a tenant can be comforted by knowing that he is not committed to taking a new lease by either the landlord instigating or the tenant instigating the renewal procedures. On the other hand a landlord needs to be aware that if the tenant, who has a right to a new lease under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, requires such a new lease, then as long as that tenant meets all the statutory time limits he will obtain a new lease unless the landlord can prove one of the statute grounds of opposition.
If the landlord wishes to recover possession of premises and oppose the tenant’s claim to a new lease, the landlord should seek the early advice of his solicitor about the available grounds of opposition, and have the basis of his case prepared, before he triggers the renewal procedures.

At Adams Harrison we have had a considerable experience in advising both landlords and tenants on business lease renewals, both on a contested and an un-contested basis and if you require advice or guidance you should contact Rhodri Rees at Haverhill on r.rees@adams-harrison.co.uk or Richard Booth at Saffron Walden on r.booth@adams-harrison.co.uk

 

Inheritance Tax and The New Residential Allowance

The Inheritance Tax Allowance is still currently £325,000.00 per person. However in April 2017 a new allowance was introduced called the Residential Nil Rate Band. This allowance is currently £125,000.00 per person reaching the maximum allowance of £175,000.00 by the tax year 2020/2021.

If an estate is left to a spouse or civil partner then there is no inheritance tax payable because of spouse exemption. Therefore the allowance can transfer to the surviving spouse’s estate. On the death of the surviving spouse/civil partner his or her estate will benefit from an allowance of £325,000.00 plus £175,000.00 (if the death is after 2020) plus the transferable nil rate band and the transferable residential nil rate band which were not previously used of the same amount. This will give a combined allowance of £1,000,000.00 before inheritance tax is payable.

There are certain criteria required to be eligible for the Residential Nil Rate Band Allowance and Tapering Relief for estates of a certain value

For more information please contact our private client department.

Love is in the air at the Sawston office

Love is in the air at the Sawston office – two engagements in a matter of months:-

Paige Doran and Fiancé Aaron

Paige Doran and Fiancé Aaron

 

Paige Doran secretary to Lisa Thornhill got engaged on 27th December to fiancé Aaron in a surprise engagement on 27th December in Paris.

Cazz Rice and Fiancé Gary

Cazz Rice and Fiancé Gary

 

Cazz Rice, secretary to Rebecca Dedman got engaged to fiancé Gary on Tuesday 2nd April – again a complete surprise on their 2 year anniversary.

 

We wish them all the best for their future lives together

Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority Review Announced

At the end of last year the Justice Minister announced a review of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) together with a full consultation on the reform proposals.

A CICA claim allows persons who have been physically or mentally injured because they were the victim of a violent crime in England, Scotland or Wales. Compensation can offer a public acknowledgement of harm suffered by victims of violent crime who have been unable to seek compensation by other means.

In 2017/18 CICA made decisions on over 40,000 applications and paid out approximately £154 million in compensation. The review will consider the scope of the scheme, eligibility rules, decision making processes and the value of awards. The reform proposals are due to be published in 2019 and updates will appear once these have been announced.

If you have suffered an injury that was not your fault then please contact our Personal Injury department to discuss your accident.

Red Nose Day 2019

Thank you to everyone that took part either baking, providing or eating cakes and treats for Red Nose Day on Friday.

You raised £59.00 for Comic Relief.

Becky

Contentious Probate; 25 Years Not Too Late To Bring A Claim.

Chief Master Marsh has given judgment in the case of Bhusate v Patel & others permitting a widower to bring a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (“the Act”) 25 years and nine months after the deadline to do so.

Ordinarily a claim under the Act must be brought within six months from the Grant of Probate or Letter of Administration. However, the Act does state at section 4 that with permission of the court a claim can be brought out of time. Prior to this case permission had never been sought for pursuing a claim for anything like this period of 25 years.

It was very relevant to the application that the Claimant in this case could only speak basic and broken English, and could read very little, despite having lived in the UK for over 38 years. It is also relevant that as the family had been unable to agree matters in relation to the sale of the deceased’s property that by the time this matter was heard the property had increased substantially in value. Following Mr Bhusate’s death intestate (without a will) no one had properly administered the estate. It was successfully argued that it is open to a claimant to bring a claim out of time when there was no claim at an earlier date.

The Court was satisfied in this case that there were‘compelling reasons’ why it was right and proper that the court should exercise its discretion in her favour in allowing a claim significantly out of time.

It was relevant that if Mrs Bhusate had not been permitted to proceed with her claim she would have been left with no remedy at all and no benefit from her husband’s estate, and would effectively be left homeless.

Should you require advice about any claim you may have in relation to a deceased’s estate then please contact us for an appointment.

 

Jenny Carpenter
Partner
Contentious Probate Litigation Solicitor

Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA)

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document which allows for nominated people (attorneys) to make decisions and act on your behalf. There are two types of LPA: Health & Welfare and Property & Financial Affairs. These have to be separate documents and cannot be amalgamated even if you choose to have the same people act in both.

If you do not have an LPA and later lose the capacity to make decisions for yourself your family would have to use the expensive route of applying for a Deputyship Order at the Court of Protection to take control of your finances.

A Health & Welfare LPA allows for your attorneys to make decisions about what medical treatment you receive, where you live, your daily routine, but most importantly decisions about life sustaining treatment. You can include preferences in the LPA to guide your attorneys.

A Property & Financial Affairs LPA appoints attorneys to handle your finances and property. You can chose to have this particular type of LPA come into effect as soon as it has been registered so that you and your appointed attorneys can work together to organize your finances while you still have mental capacity and then once you have lost mental capacity to hand over complete control.

You are able to choose whoever you wish to act as your attorney as long as you believe that should you lose mental capacity and become unable to make decisions alone that the person you chose will act according to your wishes and in your best interest. You can also appoint replacement attorneys so that should your first choice of attorney be unable to act they can take over.

You do need a Certificate Provider who certifies that you have the relevant mental capacity to make the LPA and that no one is forcing you to do so.

An LPA is an incredibly important document as it enables someone to ensure that your health and welfare and property and financial affairs will always be taken care of even if you yourself are unable to do so.

If you require advice in relation to creating an LPA, contact a member of Adams Harrison’s Private Client Department for expert and professional advice.

Sawston Fun Run 2019

Adams Harrison are proud to be are one of the sponsors of the forthcoming 2019 Sawston Fun Run and Walk which will be taking place on Sunday 12th May 2019.

This event has been running every year since 1986 and we have supported and sponsored the event since taking over the Sawston office from Webb & Partners, who had supported and sponsored the event from its outset in 1986.

Over the years a total of £456,000 has been donated to local charities and organisations.

If you would like to register to take part please click on the image below.

Sawston Fun Run 2019

Paul Cammiss

 

Paul Cammiss

It is with deep regret that the partners have to announce Paul Cammiss a former partner in the firm for very many years passed away on 15th February. Our deepest condolences are sent to his wife Lin and family.

Paul was a founder member of Adams Harrison in 1989 and remained involved with the practice, even after his retirement in June 2014, performing a role as a consultant until last year when he finally decided to enjoy retirement fully.

He will be sadly missed by those of us that were lucky enough to work with him at Adams Harrison

Grounds For Divorce, “No Fault” A Step Closer?

“The Times They Are A-Changin” *

Family law has not kept pace with societal developments but as a result of a recent case, this may be changing.

In order to get divorced in England and Wales, one needs to show that the marriage has broken down irretrievably. There are only five grounds to “prove” that this is the case. Three grounds involve periods of living apart. The shortest period is to have lived apart for two years on the basis that both parties to the marriage agree to the divorce. If one party does not agree then parties must live separately for at least five years. The two immediate grounds for divorce are adultery and unreasonable behaviour (fault based grounds). For many years family lawyers (especially those of us who are members of Resolution) have campaigned for a more compassionate “no fault” system in England and Wales. Where appropriate, many family lawyers have tried to assist clients in taking the ‘fault’ out of unreasonable behaviour petitions (as far as possible) by encouraging clients to draft mild divorce petitions and in many cases assisting the parties in agreeing the examples of unreasonable behaviour that will be used.

Family lawyers recognise and statistics bear this out that helping families separate with dignity and as little animosity as possible is better for the mental health of the divorcing couple and for any children of the family.

Mr and Mrs Owens

The decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Mr and Mrs Owens may put pressure on Parliament to look again at the current grounds for divorce and debate the introduction of a ‘no fault divorce system’ in England and Wales.

Mr and Mrs Owens were married for 37 years when they separated in 2015 and Mrs Owens started divorce proceedings on the basis of Mr Owens unreasonable behaviour. Mrs Owens filed a divorce petition on the basis of Mr Owens unreasonable behaviour and initially tried to keep her allegations limited and mild. Things changed when Mr Owens decided to defend the divorce petition. Mrs Owens was given leave to amend her divorce petition which eventually contained 27 allegations of Mr Owens’ unreasonable behaviour.

Mr Owens continued to defend the divorce. The case became one of the 1% of defended divorces in the UK. This meant that the parties had to attend court and provide evidence before a Judge about why Mrs Owens was alleging that the marriage had broken down. The initial Judge found that although the marriage had broken down (at this stage Mr and Mrs Owens were living in separate households) he felt that the 27 examples of unreasonable behaviour were “at best flimsy” and Mrs Owens had failed to prove “the allegations of unreasonable behaviour” against Mr Owens. Mrs Owens went to the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal dismissed Mrs Owen’s appeal and did not overturn the decision of the original judge. Mrs Owens then appealed to the Supreme Court. Baroness Hale of the Supreme Court said that “I have found this a very troubling case….” It is not for us to change the law laid down by Parliament – our role is only to interpret and apply the law that Parliament has given us.” The Supreme Court “reluctantly” dismissed Mrs Owens’ appeal. The result is that Mrs Owens is forced to remain married to Mr Owens until 2020, although they have been living apart since March 2015.

One hopes that once Brexit has been resolved, Parliament will debate a much needed reform of divorce law and establish an effective no fault system in England and Wales.

Shoshana Goldhill
Partner
* Bob Dylan 1964