Restrictive covenants & freehold land: is now the time to wake up to the challenges to validity, asks Andrew Francis
It is over three and half years since the removal of the exemption of land agreements from Chapters I and II of the Competition Act 1998 (CA 1998) on 6 April 2011. Given the publicity surrounding the decision in December 2013 in Martin Retail Group Ltd v Crawley Borough Council [2014] L&TR 17, [2014] 1 EGLR 42 and the decision of Mr Justice Henderson in July 2014 in Carewatch Care Services Ltd v Focus Caring Services Ltd & Ors [2014] EWHC 2313 (Ch), [2014] All ER (D) 163 (Jul) property lawyers with an eye on competition issues are probably thinking that enough has been said on the subject. This article attempts to show by reference to an even more recent decision that the price of security is eternal vigilance and that even after the passage of time since April 2011, there is a continuing need to assess the validity of restrictive covenants which may fall foul of competition law rules.
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