Legal wrap: Sustainability, business rates reform and more on Covid rent arrears

Welcome to your weekly round-up of the pick of the content published on EG Legal over the past seven days. This week, we have a look around the globe at how pandemic rent arrears are being treated, and how it might influence the UK’s plans for a binding arbitration process. In addition, a comment piece written ahead of the Budget sets out the steps needed to address the “broken” business rates system. And we have the final part in our article series from lawyers at Charles Russell Speechlys based on their report Skyscraper vs Groundscraper – this time considering sustainability and environmental impact. As ever, there is even more below. Legal news Court finds official receiver sold London plot without authority Hilly Fields plot sold in 2014 for £20,000 was sold on five years later for £175,000 Barnet resident saddled with legal costs after ‘hopeless’ planning challenge Judge rules there are “exceptional reasons” to award costs in this case Legal features Skyscraper vs Groundscraper: the sustainability imperative Fiona Edmond and Kerry Stares address how sustainable design and development is evolving to improve environmental and social impact Pleas for business rates reform must not fall on deaf ears Martin Davenport presents his wish list for the chancellor Covid rent arrears: piecing together the comparative picture Joe Perry considers what the UK might learn from other jurisdictions’ approaches to implementing binding arbitration Enforcing keep-open covenants Guy Fetherstonhaugh QC and Imogen Dodds reflect on a Scots decision which shows that keep-open covenants north of the border are enforceable by injunction Nitrate pollution: where there’s muck there’s brass Taking agricultural land out of production can offset the impact of nitrate pollution from housing, writes Matthew Stimson Legal note: Let the decision be sidestepped Stuart Pemble considers the Supreme Court’s latest decision on liquidated damages Practice points Litigants-in-person and paper determinations Raja v Salford City Council Sportelli can only be challenged on the basis of persuasive authority Earl Cadogan and another v Sportelli The starting point for setting rent repayment orders Williams v Parmar The perils of unrestricted home security surveillance Fairhurst v Woodard Interim Code rights – no destructive works where site owner objects Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Ltd v St Martins Property Investments Ltd Case summaries Campbell v Purchasers of flats at 47 Clarence St and 44 Conduit St Leicester Real property – Insolvency – Relief Llangewydd Court Ground Rent Estate v Ralph and another Leasehold enfranchisement – Premium – Deferment rate Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Ltd v St Martins Property Ltd Telecommunications – Electronic Communications Code – Interim Code rights Tewkesbury Borough Council v SSHCLG Town and country planning – Planning permission – Housing supply Law reports Poule Securities Ltd v Howe and others Civil procedure – Unless order – Possession Rock Ferry Waterfront Trust v Pennistone Holdings Ltd Land registration – Overriding interest – Actual occupation   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