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Restrictive covenants often date back many years and a delicate balance sometimes has to be struck between their enforcement and the public interest in efficient use of the increasingly scarce supply of suitable land. In a recent case, the Upper Tribunal...

Owning a long leasehold, particularly one in a block of flats or which is part of a larger development, can be very different from owning a freehold. Typically the obligations of tenants are more proscriptive, being based on an acknowledgement that parts of...

A recent case in which web searches for a pioneering psychologist led to a website selling shoes and clothes shows the extent to which Nominet, the Internet watchdog, will act to protect the rights that people have in their own names. The psychologist had a...

An argument that assets which HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said belonged to a deceased man (and were thus subject to Inheritance Tax) were actually owned in whole or in part by his son was rejected by the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) recently . After the son...

In the Internet era, it is wholly acceptable to use Facebook or other social media to make contact with those who have to be notified of family proceedings. The High Court made that point after being forced to abandon an adoption hearing due to a failure...

Disputes about the validity of wills frequently centre on allegations that the deceased lacked 'mental capacity' when they created a will. In a recent case, the court had to consider whether a man who died less than two months after writing a will was...

Contract arbitrators' decisions are meant to be final and challenging them is always an uphill struggle. This point was illustrated by one case in which the High Court upheld a six-figure award to a local authority in respect of a defectively designed...

There is no statutory requirement for local authorities to give reasons for granting planning consent. However, an important Court of Appeal case concerning a football club's controversial plans to build a new stadium in the Green Belt showed that there is...

Disturbance can take many forms and noise is just one of them. Planners made that point in heeding the concerns of residents of a quiet cul-de-sac and scotching plans for a 30-flat supported living development on the edge of a seaside town. The would-be...

On the rare occasion that a professional adviser makes a mistake or behaves improperly, clients should be able to be confident of being compensated in full. A recent case shows how a client's potential loss at the hands of identity fraudsters was met by...