Monthly Archives: September 2018

Judgment has now been handed down in the appeal by the Appellant, Stoffel and Co, in the case of Stoffel & Co v Grondona [2018] EWCA Civ 2031 (13 September 2018). This case concerns what some see as the more juicy bits of property law and others see as a nightmare; that being negligence, illegality and mortgage fraud.A claim was originally brought by Ms Grondona as her solicitors negligently failed to register the transfer of her property together with the discharge of the existing charge and registering a new legal charge. All fairly standard things to be done in a conveyancing transaction.When the case was brought to appeal by the Appellant, they sought to use a defence of illegality – as Ms Grondona had been a participant in a mortgage fraud to deceive the mortgagee.It seems harsh on first glance that this defence was not successful. However, the Appellant had no knowledge of the deception, they were not party to it and they could not therefore seek to use this to escape their negligence. The judgment is therefore a clear reminder that the question to be considered is whether relief should be granted and not whether a transaction is tainted with illegality (as per Lord Toulson in Patel v Mirza [2016] UKSC 42 at [107])

Planning law is known to be a complex area of law and is often difficult to interpret. A recent decision by the Planning Inspectorate (reference: APP/B9506/C/17/3187537) has shown just how important it is to pay attention to the details when considering planning matters.The case concerned permitted development rights under The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (SI 2015/596) (“GDPO”). This Order effectively grants planning permission in respect of certain developments, which are known as permitted development rights.  One such permitted development is for “buildings within the curtilage of the dwellinghouse” although there are limitations and conditions on what can be built.The owner of the property in this case erected a a steel framed Garden Room which only had a finger width gap between it and the main property. It was originally held that this was in breach of the GDPO.  On appeal however, it was held that there was no breach of the GDPO as:”The GPDO makes a clear distinction between extensions to a dwelling and buildings, etc that are constructed within the curtilage of a dwelling and this is a distinction that would be evident in most circumstances. It does not indicate whether such Class E structures should be a minimum distance from the dwelling although the Technical Guidance refers to buildings attached to a dwelling falling within Class A.”The clear distinction of the Garden Room being constructed as a separate structure (and not therefore an extension to the main property) meant that it could not be in breach of the GDPO and that it was not required to be a minimum distance away from the property, even though a casual observer might perceive the garden room as an extension to the dwelling and not as a free-standing structure and the original enforcement notice for was quashed.

Previously where a Local Land Charges search was required by a purchaser of residential property, it was requested from the relevant Local Authority as part of a Local Authority search.Depending on the Local Authority, this can take weeks to arrive and the Land Registry is therefore looking to modernise and use technology to provide quicker and simpler services for home-buyers.  As part of this, anyone requiring a Local Land Charges search will soon need to head to the Land Registry’s online portal to obtain this information – although the bulk of the search (being the Local Authority Search) will still need to be done by the Local Authority.This week Liverpool City Council has been migrated over to the Land Registry, alongside Warwick District Council (who migrated on 11 July 2018).Next up is the City of London Corporation who are due to migrate on 8 October 2018.  Seeing how well the Land Registry deals with requests from this particular area may well determine whether or not this scheme is being considered a success.