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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
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.
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.
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.
07/06/2022
Our very own Matt Hollamby has been shortlisted for "Young Lawyer of the Year" at this year's Enfranchisement and Right to Manage Awards. Matt has been a huge asset to our team since joining us in 2020, and being shortlisted is very much deserved. We wish Matt the best of luck at the awards ceremony, which takes place in London on 30 June 2022. Details can be found here.
06/06/2022
We are delighted to welcome Zaiba to our team. Zaiba joins us from a firm in Worthing, and will be working alongside Emily and Dona. Zaiba is keen to learn more about landlord and tenant, and we are very pleased that she agreed to join us. Zaiba's profile can be found here.
17/05/2022
The FCA has been reviewing insurance products for multiple occupancy residentiai buildings and released an interim report. The Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has issued an initial response, which references high premiums paid by leaseholders in blocks of flats. The full report is to follow. In the meantime, the Department's response to the FCA's initial review can be found here.
11/05/2022
The Queen's Speech is used to announce proposed bills which the current government plans to introduce during that parliamentary session. Last year's speech included proposals to ban ground rents, which then led to the (now) Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022. Officials had previously indicated a third session bill for the leasehold and commonhold reform work - 2022 to 2023 being the third session. Whilst mention has been made of the reforms on pages 69 and 70 of the notes, this is not a committment to a full bill. The full document can be reviewed here.
29/04/2022
We are delighted to launch our new commonhold library. The new library complements our established leasehold library, which contains a range of advice notes from service charge disputes, major works, and finance, to funding non-participant shares on a collective enfranchisement. Our commonhold advice notes are designed for all - prospective commonholders, managing agents, and landlords. The topics range from buying and selling, commonhold finance, the basics and dispute resolution. Please contact us for more information.
28/04/2022
The much-debated and controversial Building Safety Bill received Royal Assent today. The Bill follows the voluntary pledge which seeks to address some of the historic remediation issues. We have yet to see some of the detail regarding implementation of the Bill, which will follow in secondary legilsation. The Bill can be found here. The Government also has a series of useful factsheets which can be found here. At the time of writing, these were last updated on 05 April 2022, so may not incorporate some of the final amendments, but which we assume will be updated in due course.
