David Richards

The Financial Times has published an article which sets out the significant increase in probate disputes that has occurred between 2016 and 2023. In the first nine months of 2023 there were almost 390 probate disputes which is more than double than in the...

You may have seen the recent £200,000 legal battle that saw a dream home become a nightmare when Japanese Knotweed was discovered growing behind the garden shed. Mr Downing had purchased the south-west London home in 2018 for £700,000 with plans...

One of the fundamental principles of English law is that a person is free to draw up a Will that sets out how they wish to distribute their property. How and to whom that distribution is made is their choice alone and should be free from the interference of...

Imagine the following situation. Your mother and father divorced and some years later your father remarries a woman who has two children from her first marriage. You all get on well, celebrating Christmas and other holidays together. Suddenly, your father,...

One of the ways in which sellers can protect their business against buyers that do not pay for goods, is to incorporate a Retention of Title (ROT) clause in their Terms and Conditions of sale. The purpose of this blog is to highlight some of the pitfalls of...

Landlords need to be aware that when they have a Surety Guaranteeing, for example, a tenants obligation in a Lease, that it is possible to undermine that protection by reaching further agreements with the Tenant. If there is any variation to the terms...

Break Option Pitfall It is an established legal principle that when a lease comes to an end any under lease will automatically terminate. Under The Act a tenancy created by an under lease will continue against the landlord due to security of tenure. In...

The case of Shaw –v – Grouby & Another [2017] EWCA CIV233 Among other issues this case considered what was “necessary” for access under a right of way. The article explores this issue. Background...

The case - McDonald v McDonald [2016] UKSC28. The Supreme Court was asked to reinterpret Section 21(4) of the Housing Act 1988, which provides that a Court shall make a Possession Order where proper Notice has been served, to be subject to a...

Relief from Forfeiture can be successful after 14 months delay Forfeiture of commercial properties can seem far more straightforward than those of residential. In particular, the ability to use peaceable re-entry means that...