<p>Filter Knowledge</p>

In Phones 4U Ltd (In Administration) –v- EE Ltd [2018] EWHC 49 (Comm), the High Court ruled that EE's counterclaim for damages for loss of bargain had no real prospect of success on the basis that the terms of a termination letter sent by EE were effective in terminating the relevant contract only in exercise of its right under a contractual provision and not in the acceptance of an alleged repudiatory breach by Phones 4U under common law.

In July 2017 the Department for Communities and Local Government issued a consultation paper seeking views from the real estate industry on various proposals to deal with public concerns regarding the sale of leasehold houses. Yesterday it responded, announcing that it will legislate to ban the grant of new residential long leases on houses.

The Government and the Mayor of London have been at their most creative in finding space for new housing, both within and outside London. Some of the emerging policies and strategies certainly offer effective potential for increasing housing, but are not without their problems.

Businesses need to progress their approaches to, and governance of, human rights. In particular, organisations should track current developments relating to corporate transparency and benchmarking initiatives.

As you will be aware, last week the FRC published its awaited proposals for a revised UK Corporate Governance Code: a "comprehensive review to ensure that the Code remains fit for purpose". This is the biggest shake-up of the Code in recent years, and the changes will affect all companies on the premium segment of the Official List and others who voluntarily agreed to comply with the Code.

Under section 3 of the Prescription Act 1832, tenants as well as freeholders can acquire rights to light. A recent case, Metropolitan Housing Trust Ltd v RMC FH Co Ltd [2017] EWHC 2609, illuminates what happens when a landlord and tenant disagree over whether the tenant can release the right to a developer without the landlord's consent.

Can landlords recover any loss at lease expiry on change of use from offices to flats? What is the dilapidations position in the context of residential conversions?

What if the main body of a contract appears to say one thing, but the detailed wording of a technical schedule appears to be at odds with that? You might have thought that the main body of the contract would take precedence – but a recent Supreme Court ruling suggests otherwise.

In VB Football Assets -v- Blackpool Football Club (Properties) Limited (formerly Segesta Limited) & Others [2017] EWHC 2767 (Ch), the High Court ordered that the majority shareholder of Blackpool Football Club Limited (Blackpool FC) purchase the minority shareholder's entire interest in the company, following the minority shareholder's successful petition alleging unfair prejudice.

How confidential information exchanged at a single meeting can infringe competition law

The decision in Franses v the Cavendish Hotel [2017] EWHC 1670 has attracted a lot of concern as to whether a landlord's motive is relevant to its ability to utilise section 30(1)(f) ("Ground (f)") of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (the "LTA 1954"). Tenants and their representatives are concerned that Ground (f) is being used openly to defeat the purpose of the LTA: 1954 to protect tenants' business tenancies.

The provision of heating from combined heat and power ("CHP") plants through a network of underground and internal heating pipelines has become a fairly common aspect of the utilities infrastructure in modern residential and mixed-use development schemes. They are also an increasingly popular investment asset class in their own right, attracting a diverse range of investors into the infrastructure sector.

All too often, businesses believe that they have secured a valuable commitment to exclusivity – only to discover that, when they come to enforce it, the relevant contractual provisions aren't watertight. In this briefing, we look at how to avoid the most common pitfalls and ensure that your exclusivity provisions achieve your commercial objectives.

Landlords are responsible for the buildings they own. But increasingly this responsibility is being extended to encompass the behaviour of their tenants.

Battery storage is the way ahead for renewable energy. However, there are various practical, legal and technological hurdles to overcome before this solution can be fully implemented.