Heads Up

August meanders on, and to keep things ticking over here’s another random round-up of property-related flotsam.

On 13 August the government launched a consultation on the voluntary renegotiation of planning obligations known as Section 106 Agreements to make them more reflective of the current market and to “help unlock stalled development”.

Currently applications to modify these agreements can only be made five years after the obligations became effective.

The proposals would remove that restriction and enable planning contributions to be tested against current local plan policies.

This would only apply however to planning obligations agreed before 6 April 2010. The consultation ends on 8 October 2012.

The British Property Federation (BPF) reports that foreign investors are set to become the largest owners of UK commercial property in 2012, overtaking UK institutions according to a report by the Property Industry Alliance.

Foreign investors already own more than half of the offices in the City of London.

Overseas demand is expected to continue for at least the next five years.

The report also reveals the average length of lease terms continues to get shorter and in 2011 fell to below five years compared to 8.7 in 1999.

As we look forward to the Paralympics, there’s a piece on Pillsbury’s construction law blog on the green credentials of the Olympic park.

Venues constructed for the games include a number of innovative green features – the roof of Olympic Stadium, for example, was constructed from unwanted gas pipes from the North Sea and over 40% of the concrete used for construction is made of recycled materials.

There’s also now a global standard for sustainable event management, known as ISO 20121:2012.

Moving on to housing, Ian Birrell, a former speech writer for David Cameron, argued in the Guardian yesterday that it’s time to confront our “myopic nostalgia” and start building on the green belt; just 1% of “this misnamed land that is constricting our economic – and often environmental – needs”, he argues, could provide 300,000 homes.

The Guardian also reports that businesses are increasingly resorting to company voluntary arrangements (CVAs) to stave off insolvency.

CVAs increased by 32% in the last year to 924 from 699 in the previous year.

CVAs allow companies to continue trading and prevent creditors from taking action to recover debts until the agreement ends – either through completion or failure.

Landlords complain the process often leaves them out of pocket. 

After the recent announcement of the Travelodge CVA, Liz Peace, the chief executive for the BPF, said: 

"Once again landlords are being asked to play a significant part in rescuing a business, and a minority at that, who are being asked to take a 'hit' to keep a far bigger business afloat."

Retailers and hotel operators blame inflexible rents for the rise in CVAs.

Finally, back in the realm of landlord and tenant law, Eversheds report on a recent case highlighting the need to take care when applying for landlord’s consent to assign a lease.

Check the notice provisions in the lease and make sure you comply with them.

In this case, service of the tenant’s request by e-mail to the landlord’s managing agents wasn’t sufficient to trigger the landlord’s statutory duty to consider the application.