The Supreme Court has rejected an application for leave to appeal in virtual assignment case Clarence House v National Westminster Bank plc [2009] EWCA Civ 1311; [2010] 08 EG 106.
In December, the Court of Appeal gave unanimous backing to the use of virtual assignments following an earlier High Court decision by HH Judge David Hodge QC, which had thrown the practice into doubt.
The process, first established by Lovells a decade ago to facilitate an outsourcing transaction for the Department of Social Security, provides a mechanism that avoids the need to obtain a landlord’s consent to an assignment of a lease. It has since been widely used to facilitate large portfolio transactions.
