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17/02/2023
Our second building safety update this month. The Department of Levelling Up has released a series of guidance notes for residents living in higher-risk buildings. The first relates to information on the Building Safety Fund (see here). The second relates to information on fire safety and remediation of historic defects (see here). The last is a factsheet on the developer remediation contract (see here).
16/02/2023
Congratulations to Mari for winning a “Property Litigation Lawyer of the Year” award for 2023. This prestigious award was presented following a peer-led voting system and a six-month process. The full article together with a list of other winners is available here.
08/02/2023
Matt Lewis was delighted to attend the Bournemouth District Law Society lunch earlier today. The lunch was well attended by local lawyers and it was great to catch up with contacts. Matt is a keen supporter of the BDLS and will be speaking to their residential conveyancing members on the “need to knows” of lease extensions and enfranchisement for sale and purchases on 04 May 2023. Tickets for the event can be booked here.
02/02/2023
This week has seen a flurry of activity on the ongoing building safety reforms. In addition to an announcement on 30 January 2023 from the Secretary of State that developers have six weeks to sign contracts to fix unsafe buildings (see here), two consultations have been released. The first relates to “service charge transparency requirements” (see here) and the second relates to “alterative cost recovery for remediation works” (see here). Both consultations close on 31 March 2023.
30/01/2023
We will be closing our office for a week from 21 to 25 August to allow our team some time out before the Autumn. We will provide updated details on emergency contact details nearer the time. We thank you for your understanding.
23/01/2023
Leasehold Management Professionals, of which Matt Lewis is a director, have now released their dates for their Spring conferences. LMP has invited a range of high profile speakers to present on an interesting array of topics. The events will be taking place in Bristol, Brighton and Bournemouth throughout March. Tickets are available here.
13/12/2022
CLE Limited will be closing their offices from noon on 23 December 2022 reopening on 03 January 2023. We thank all of our clients and contacts for your assistance throughout the last year. We look forward to working with you again next year!
25/11/2022
Last night heralded the annual Property Management Awards held in central London. Matt Lewis was delighted to attend as a guest which was a glamorous, well-attended affair.
24/11/2022
The Federation of Private Residents Association hosted their annual AGM yesterday. Matt Lewis, honorary consultant of FPRA, chaired a round table on the contentious topic of leasehold reforms. The discussion placed specific emphasis on the impact for resident associations. For information on FPRA, please see here.
16/11/2022
Matt Lewis, our expert solicitor in Bournemouth, hosted an onlne session on the benefits of commonhold for members of the Federation of Private Residents' Associations today. The session took a look at the key differences between leasehold and commonhold, why commonhold has not worked so far and the proposed reforms. Matt also answered some tricky questions from participants, who were mainly leaseholders who had acquired either management or bought the freehold of thier buildings. Details of the Federation of Private Residents' Associations, of which Matt is an honorary consultant, can be found here.
14/10/2022
Mari has been invited to speak to surveyors and valuers on behalf of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. The session will consider at commonhold: what is it, how has leasehold reform impacted the viability of commonhold and what to think about. The session is available to non-members of RICs. Tickets can be booked here.
12/10/2022
Following a successful session on 05 October, MBL Seminars Limited has invited Mari to speak on further subjects. This includes Enfranchisement on Estates and Mixed-Use Buildings, non-contentious enfranchisement, and right to manage. Mari will be joined by James Fieldsend from Tanfield Chambers for the contentious sessions and Matthew Lewis for the non-contentious sessions. The booking form can be found here.
07/10/2022
The CLE enfranchisement team was delighted to attend The Association of Enfranchisement Practitioners 15th anniversary gala dinner last night. The gala was held at Stationer’s Hall close to St Paul’s Cathedral in London and attended by many members of ALEP. As proud members of ALEP, the team congratulates them on hosting a wonderful evening.
05/10/2022
Mari Knowles was joined by barrister James Fieldsend, of Tanfield Chambers, to host a 3 hour webinar for industry professionals on behalf of MBL Seminars Limited today. The webinar took an in depth look at the challenges faced by enfranchisement lawyers in the current landscape. It included a look at the implications of the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 and the Building Safety Act 2022 on enfranchisement, together with complex valuation issues. The session will be rerun on 05 December 2022 and 01 February 2023. The booking form can be found here.
03/10/2022
Mari Knowles was joined by barrister Rebecca Cattermole, of Tanfield Chambers to host a debate on “commonhold versus leasehold” at News on the Block’s Annual property conference in Manchester. The session involved a healthy debate with managing agents and other professionals on which tenure is the better system for multi-unit buildings. Further information on the event can be found here.
30/09/2022
Matt Lewis, founder and director of Leasehold Management Professionals has confirmed details of three new property management events. The events will be hosted in Bristol, Brighton and Bournemouth throughout November. The events are always very well attended and include high profile speakers. Whilst the conference topics are management focused, they are also a useful source of information for lawyers, surveyors, valuers and other professionals. Tickets can be found here.
21/09/2022
Following the release of an interim report in June (see below), the FCA has now released their full report. The investigation looked at insurance products for multi-occupancy buildings, which led to the FCA making various findings in their final report. The full report can be found here. The Secretary of State of Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities has formally responded to this report. The letter can be found here.
01/09/2022
We are delighted to be joined by Charlotte Clarke who joins us from a firm in Brighton and Hove. Charlotte specialises in enfranchisement claims where leaseholders are simultaneously buying and selling, using Charlotte’s extensive background in residential conveyancing. Charlotte and Mari previously worked together at a firm in Brighton and are thrilled to be joining forces once again.
22/08/2022
The Building Safety Act 2022 set out detailed changes to the safety aspects of high-rise buildings. The Government has now launched a call for evidence relating specifically to in-scope buildings which are leaseholder-owned. The call for evidence closes on 14 November 2022 and the link to it can be found here.
26/07/2022
The team welcomes Declan, who joins as an assistant in the residential conveyancing department. Declan is keen to become a solicitor and looks forward to training with the team as he moves towards his goal. Declan will be based in our head office in Wales.
15/07/2022
Following the success of last year's August closure, we have decided to do the same this year. The week allows our team to reset before the busy Autumn season. Our office will be shut from 9am on Monday 22 August and will re-open after the Bank Holiday at 10am on Tuesday 30 August. We thank you in advance for your understanding.
04/07/2022
Dona was invited to speak on the various leasehold reforms by the BBC for their Saturday editiion of Moneybox. Dona's segment runs from around the 20-minute mark, and the link to the programme can be found here. Dona is a regular speaker and we look forward to the next one!
30/06/2022
Matt Lewis was invited to the summer's APPG for leasehold and commonhold reforms, which included speeches from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Lord Greenhalgh. The event was very well attended, with many interesting questions about the Government's plans for leasehold and commonhold reforms.
30/06/2022
We are very proud to announce that Matt Hollamby has won the prestige "Young Lawyer of the Year" at the Enfranchisement and Right to Manage Awards. The awards ceremony was hosted in Park Lane, and attended by many of our fellow professionals. The award is well-deserved, following a string of successful cases by Matt. A full list of winners can be found here.
10/06/2022
It has been quite the week (and month) for Building Safety. It started on 01 June 2022 with the release of various updated guidance notes, including updated "fire safety guidance" for new build high-rise buildings (here). This was followed by the release of the draft statutory instrument: The Building Safety (Leaseholder Protections)(Information etc)(England) Regulations 2022 (here), which purports to strengthen leaseholder rights in affected buildings. We then heard from both Boris Johnson and Michael Gove on Thursday with various commitments to leasehold reform (albeit not specific to building safety). The week ended with the launch of a public consultation, which seeks views on the definition of buildings which will fall into scope of the new building regulations. The consultation can be found here and closes on 21 July 2022. By way of reminder, the timings for implementation of the Building Safety Act can be found here. For those keen to know more on the Act itself, helpful notes on interpretation can be found here.
