header-logo header-logo

09 June 2023
Issue: 8028 / Categories: Legal News , Property , Covid-19 , Employment
printer mail-detail

NLJ this week: Beware the covenant if you have an office in the shed

125550
Home-working has created legal conundrums for property practitioners—what to do about covenants preventing business use? In this week’s NLJ, Michael Ranson and Taylor Briggs, barristers at Falcon Chambers, explore the recent case of Hodgson v Cook in which a home owner sought modification of a covenant prohibiting home-working.

Ranson and Briggs cover the ‘relatively well-known but often little-understood’ discretionary jurisdiction to discharge or modify covenants. They look in detail at Hodgson and share their views on the implications of the case for home workers (partial and main). There may be more such cases to come—the authors predict ‘an increase in attempts to enforce such covenants’. 

Read more on covenants and home-working here.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Private wealth and tax team welcomes cross-border specialist as consultant

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

International hospitality and leisure specialist joins corporate team as partner

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Firm appoints head of intellectual property to drive northern growth

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
back-to-top-scroll