Posts by colin

The last few weeks have provided the people of Wales with much to think about in respect of decisions made by the Welsh Government. The scrapping of the M4 relief road around Newport was regarded as a major decision for the Welsh Government and its approach to life in Wales post-Brexit. On the same day…

Planning permissions predominantly take two forms: An outline permission. This is best thought of as an application that seeks to establish the principle of a proposed development, in terms of its general structure. Once granted, approval of “reserved matters” will follow. These usually relate to access, appearance, landscaping, layout and scale. Full planning permission. This…

Have you ever thought about what happens to your digital assets on death? We do more and more on-line, and assets and personal information are often stored in digital format. Personal representatives who deal with a person’s estate after death face difficulties in accessing the deceased’s on-line accounts, information and assets and the companies who…

A planning agreement is a document that contains planning obligations, which bind land. It is usually entered into between a landowner and a local planning authority and takes one of two forms: A unilateral agreement. This is a document within which the landowner covenants to comply with planning obligations in the event that planning is…

On 10 July, the Welsh Government launched a consultation seeking views on their proposals for a post Brexit land management programme for Wales called ‘Brexit and our Land’ consultation.The Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths, wants Welsh farmers to have their say on “…one of the most important consultations for the…

In a recent ruling, a son appointed as attorney under his elderly mother’s Lasting Power of Attorney successfully applied to the Court of Protection for authority to make gifts totalling some £7 million from his mother’s estate, including a gift of £6 million to the attorney himself. The court heard that the donor, a wealthy…

Following a recent Court of Appeal decision originating from a decision handed down at the Cardiff County Court, some clarity has been provided on the question of liability in respect of Japanese Knotweed and its spread to adjoining land or even allowing knotweed to grow near properties. Japanese knotweed or Fallopia Japonica is a large,…

How do I know if my property is registered? The Land Registry hold an online database of all properties that are registered. This is something that can be checked online with the Land Registry for a small fee. If the property isn’t registered with the Land Registry, then it is known as ‘unregistered’. In this…

The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) came into effect in England and Wales on 1st April 2018. This makes it illegal to rent either commercial or domestic premises that have an EPC rating of less than “E” unless the landlord has registered an exemption. Around half of the UK’s commercial property is owned within investment…

The Welsh Assembly Government has launched a consultation into the temporary disapplication of paragraph 6.2 of its Technical Advice Note 1 (“TAN”), the document that sets out advice to local authorities in structuring and implementing their development plans. Paragraph 6.2 provides that local authorities should attach “considerable” weight to the lack of a five-year housing…