Legal wrap: Dilapidations, acquiring your office and biodiversity net gain

Welcome to your weekly round-up of the pick of the content published on EG Legal over the past seven days. This week, Nick Dowding QC offers his expertise, exploring the distinction between aesthetics and disrepair when it comes to dilapidations. Meanwhile, Guy Fetherstonhaugh QC and Martin Dray give their views on the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022. Other topics include occupier acquisitions of office freeholds, biodiversity net gain on brownfield land and the potential benefits for landlords of click-and-collect services. Legal news Developer seeks appeal in £200m Canary Wharf hotel complex case Rockwell argues restriction allows it to block the project from continuing NatWest wins claim over swaps sold to Glasgow property investors Partnership alleged Global Restructuring Group had mis-sold them swaps and pushed them into insolvency Law firms race for space in the City Legal practices have taken more than a quarter of all office space let in the City of London in the past year Legal features The importance of appearance in dilapidations Nick Dowding QC uses a colourful example to explore the question of aesthetics in dilapidations Hard work begins as Economic Crime proposals finally become law Guy Fetherstonhaugh QC and Martin Dray offer their perspective on the new register requiring those behind foreign firms that own UK property to reveal their identities Try before you buy: acquiring your existing office Stefanie Price addresses the potential issues arising when occupiers acquire the reversion to their existing premises Biodiversity net gain: the opportunity and risk on brownfield land With BNG becoming a mandatory planning requirement from 2023, Stefano D’Ambrosio explains how it works on brownfield land Landlords could benefit from a tenant’s click-and-collect service The additional revenue stream could make click-and-collect pay, says Sophie Harwood Legal note: The curious case of the unpaid builder A recent decision reminds Stuart Pemble that facts tend to win more cases than clever legal arguments Practice points A material change in circumstances imposes a positive duty to seek discharge Ineos Upstream Ltd and others v Persons unknown and others Service charges: offsetting of overpaid interim service charges Brett and another v Harlow Court Ltd Administration charges: recoverability of costs of serving a section 166 notice Stampfer v Avon Ground Rents Ltd Detrimental reliance in common intention constructive trusts Hudson v Hathway Service charges: use of the contra proferentem rule frowned upon Two Rivers Housing v Sanders Listed buildings: false narrative on returns from slavery fails to move memorial The Rustat Memorial, Jesus College, Cambridge Adverse possession: acting as an owner sufficient to establish claim Milton Keynes Council v Wilsher and others Case summaries Marshall v Northumberland & Durham Property Trust Ltd Landlord and tenant – Service charges – Failure to consult Farrar v Candey Ltd and another Solicitor – Assignment of claim – Champerty Milton Keynes Council v Wilsher and others Land – Adverse possession – Proprietary estoppel Hudson v Hathway Real property – Constructive trust – Detrimental reliance G & A Gorrara Ltd and others v Kenilworth Court Block E RTM Co Ltd Landlord and tenant – Right to manage – Service charge Law report Northwood (Solihull) Ltd v Fearne and others Landlord and tenant – Assured shorthold tenancy – Possession order   For more legal articles and to search our extensive archive, visit EG Legal    To send feedback, e-mail jess.harrold@eg.co.uk or tweet @EGPropertyNews