In an article covered by Property Law Journal, News On The Block and ALEP, Mark Chick, Partner in our Landlord & Tenant team discusses the Upper Tribunal’s recent decision in Queen Court.
What is the impact of the Upper Tribunal’s recent decision in Queen Court?
The Upper Tribunal has handed tenants an important victory concerning ‘common parts’ including roof spaces and airspace leases in leasehold enfranchisement.
The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has held that a lease of the airspace above, and the subsoil below a leasehold block of flats must be classed as “common parts” of the building when deciding if they were to be acquired, in a decision that could potentially have a profound impact on the property sector.
For the full reference see LM Homes (and others) v Queen Court Freehold Company Limited [2018] UKUT 0367 (LRA/16/2018) and at: http://landschamber.decisions.tribunals.gov.uk//Aspx/view.aspx?id=1470
In urban areas space is always at a premium and property owners are always looking for room to expand into. Often, “the only way is up.”
In a block of flats the freeholder may want to create or reserve value for the future, and one way of doing this is with the grant of a lease of the airspace above the property.
Why is the decision in Queen Court so Important?
In the case of Queen Court the freeholder had sold off leases of the airspace above the property and also separate leases of the subsoil, and a part of the boiler room.
Investors had paid fairly significant sums for these in the hope of future development. The fact that the leases can be acquired as part of an enfranchisement will …
You can continue reading the full article on News On The Block here … or alternatively on ALEP’s site.
For more information, please contact our expert Landlord & Tenant team on leasehold@bishopandsewell.co.uk or call 020 7631 4141.
