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11 March 2020 / Veronica Cowan
Issue: 7878 / Categories: Features , Profession , Property
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Leasehold languor & divine intervention

17370
A cathedral close: heavenly or very worldly, asks Veronica Cowan
  • Leasehold languor: dissatisfaction with the leasehold market.
  • Law Commission to the rescue: reviewing the law of leasehold enfranchisement.
  • Balance and fairness: complex valuations.
  • Freeing flat owners: collective right to buy?

Property surrounding many of the cathedrals in England and Wales have ‘another worldliness’ which can be captivating, although property buyers in such hallowed places might need divine intervention to help them remain phlegmatic about some of the conveyancing idiosyncrasies they could encounter. Many such properties are leasehold and some of relatively short duration. The ground rent in some has some old fashioned conditions, remarks Paul Cadge, partner in residential sales at the Salisbury branch of Myddleton and Major, who explains that the Church hangs onto rack rentals, which represent the full open market value of a holding.

God forbid that any unsavoury types should aspire to acquire property in such venerable places, but the system checks them out. For example, potential buyers of property in Salisbury Cathedral Close, the largest in Britain, must prove their suitability

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Gateley Legal—Jack Kelly

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NEWS
A series of recent decisions has clarified important principles across property law, from perpetuities to lease renewals and public rights over land
Employers cannot rely on wellbeing services alone to defend workplace stress claims after a High Court decision awarding almost £1m to an overworked employee
Andy Burnham's brand of 'Manchesterism' could offer fresh thinking on legal aid and access to justice if it reaches Westminster, according to Roger Smith, NLJ columnist and former director of JUSTICE
The constitutional fallout from a change of prime minister, rather than the politics, is under scrutiny as questions arise over the limits of executive authority in a leadership transition
The legal profession is undergoing a fundamental shift from selling services to creating technology-enabled products, according to Professor Luke Mason, Head of School of Law at Regent's University London
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