2018

21 December 2018

Fire Safety update

Many of you will be familiar with the Hackitt Report, the final version of which was published in May of this year, which made various recommendations following the Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017.

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11 December 2018

The Tier 1 (Investor) Visa Scheme - Rumours of its suspension greatly exaggerated

We understand from media reports today that the Migration Policy team at the Home Office has indicated that the Tier 1 (Investor) visa “is not currently suspended”. The team apparently also explains that “the Government remains committed to reforming the route. A further announcement will be made in due course. Any suspension would be implemented through changes to the Immigration Rules.”

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29 November 2018

Top tips for a Good Divorce

Good Divorce Week aims to raise awareness of how separating or divorcing parents can limit the impact of conflict on their children. This year members of our Family team have contributed their own top tips for achieving a Good Divorce.

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26 November 2018

Retail and the High Street – Today and Tomorrow

On Thursday 22 November 2018, BPF Futures and Young Professionals in Real Estate Finance collaborated to facilitate intriguing panel discussions on retail and the high street.

Hosted by Aviva Investors at 1 Undershaft, the educational morning kicked off with a spirited update on the global economy by keynote speaker James Knightley (Chief International Economist, ING).

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19 November 2018

A debate on placemaking: 5 takeaways

On Thursday 15th November, White City Place was the venue for Cushman & Wakefield’s latest i-Suite event. A prestigious panel treated a large number of young professionals to a wide ranging and, at times, particularly thought provoking discussion on “Placemaking: Embracing Change in Tomorrow’s World”.

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19 November 2018

Common Land Q&A

“Part of a development site I am acquiring is Common Land. What does this mean and how could it impact on my plans for redevelopment?”

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13 November 2018

Lest We Forget

Armistice Day and Remembrance Day on 11 November 2018 not only prompts us to remember and honour those who sacrificed their lives in war but also provides us with an opportunity to look back on the impact that the end of the war had on the laws that were subsequently passed and which fundamentally changed the way that England and Wales were governed thereafter.

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12 November 2018

PLA Autumn Training Day

On Thursday 8th November, members of the Forsters’ Property Litigation team (plus one ringer) attended the Property Litigation Association’s Autumn Training Day. Held at the Royal Society of Medicine, there was a good turnout of the country’s finest property litigators gathered to hear talks on a wide range of topics.

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29 October 2018

Is the sky the limit? Commercial drones in a (very) modern world

On the 1st of December 2013, Amazon.com CEO, Jeff Bezos revealed his plans for Amazon Prime Air – an unmanned drone delivery service - in an interview on CBS news programme, 60 Minutes. The scoffs from the sceptical would surely have been audible, even among the most forward thinking in Silicon Valley’s coffee shops and break-out spaces.

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15 October 2018

Permitted Development Rights – Crystal Clear?

Permitted development rights (or “PD rights”, for short) have long been seen as extremely advantageous in expediting certain developments; even more so following the extension of these rights to permit the conversion of underutilised office and agricultural buildings to residential dwellings; a move thought to be key in solving the current “housing crisis”.

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8 October 2018

The Ground beneath your Feet

It has long been accepted that a freeholder (in theory) owns the subsoil beneath their land down to the centre of the earth and the airspace above their land up to the sky.

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8 August 2018

Contract Out Of Concurrent Confusion

Following the Court of Appeal's decision last week in North Midland Building Limited v Cyden Homes Limited, we thought it would be helpful to briefly summarise the position.

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25 July 2018

Gig Economy: Developments in the UK and France

The gig economy is categorised by individuals receiving payment for the “gigs” they do. Those working in the, gig economy do not have fixed shifts and have the flexibility to work as much or as little as they like.

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26 June 2018

Banking & Finance in a Crystal Daze

On 23 May Forsters' six-strong Banking & Finance team as well as a plucky second year trainee, Heather McDonald, were transported back to the world of nineties game-showing.

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29 May 2018

Fire safety in residential properties

This article looks at the current fire safety regulations in respect of residential property in England. There is no single item of legislation that applies but rather a myriad of regulations which have arisen over the years. Some apply to all dwellings where as others will apply only to certain parts of buildings or to certain types of occupation.

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2 May 2018

Section 21 Notice Validity Alert

Any landlord or agent worth their salt will be only too aware of potential pitfalls when serving Section 21 notices to end Assured Shorthold Tenancies (ASTs) in a post-Deregulation Act age.

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1 May 2018

Forsters and Montagu Evans host knowledge sharing event

On Thursday, 26 April, Montagu Evans hosted the “Next Episode” in the series of Forsters LLP/ Montagu Evans knowledge sharing events. Previously, Josh Myerson and Mark Higgin had shared their business rates insight and experience with Forsters’ real estate departments and it was Forsters’ turn to return the favour.

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1 May 2018

RICS family fortunes:- our survey says…

On 12 April 2018, the consultation on the 1st edition of the RICS professional statement: Code for leasing business premises (the “Revised Code”) closed. The Revised Code is set to replace the current voluntary 2007 Code for Leasing Business Premises in England and Wales (the “2007 Code”).

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23 April 2018

Gingering Up the End User Experience

In their Business Strategy report, 2017-2022, the Land Registry say that it is their ambition to become the world's leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data.

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27 March 2018

Endeavouring to understand - a brief guide to endeavours clauses

"Best endeavours", "reasonable endeavours" and "all reasonable endeavours" are terms often used in contracts but perhaps not fully understood.  Whilst most contractual obligations are expressed to be absolute, an endeavour is an agreement to try to fulfil an obligation.  They will be used where a party is unwilling to agree to something absolutely.   

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12 March 2018

Future Leaders in Property event

On Thursday 1 March circa 40 associates and senior associates from across Forsters came together to host the launch event for "FLIP" (Future Leaders in Property).

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5 March 2018

National Apprenticeship Week 2018

This year marks the 11th National Apprenticeship Week (NAW 2018) and Forsters are proud to be part of this fantastic initiative.  In September last year, the firm introduced its very first Apprenticeship Scheme.

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27 February 2018

How easy is it to amalgamate residential units in RBKC?

Housing and the need to build more homes is the name of the game for 2018. If the Department for Communities and Local Government’s recent name change to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is not enough of a clue, then there was the Chancellor’s 50% increase in annual housing targets in the Autumn Budget.

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20 February 2018

Right In My Way!

The existence of a private right of way over a development site can have a major impact on the site's potential and value.

The developer may have no legal right to terminate the right or vary its route. This can cause problems where, for either financial or practical reasons, a developer is not able or willing to design a scheme which will accommodate it.

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5 February 2018

Don't accept candy from a stranger

In the recent case of Holyoake v Candy the billionaire property developers Nick and Christian Candy were cleared of claims that they extorted money out of a former business associate, Mark Holyoake.

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29 January 2018

Leases in the spotlight

Leasehold tenure is currently in the spotlight.  In some cases over the years leasehold tenure has strayed away from the purpose for which it was first introduced, being the sensible use of buildings with a shared fabric and infrastructure, and become a real means of deriving additional investment value from an asset for developers.

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25 January 2018

LawWithoutWalls

I was enormously privileged to be invited by Janders Dean to join their group for 2018’s LawWithoutWalls programme.

LawWithoutWalls (LWOW) teams 100 students from 30+ law and business schools around the world with academic, business, entrepreneur, and legal mentors.

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"Everyone at the firm is very approachable and by being confident, approaching people for work and getting involved in the social life really helped me to get the most out my training contract."
Alexandra Treacy, Associate, Private Client
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