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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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NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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