Month: October 2016

It has been some seven years since the last edition of the popular A Practical Approach to Commercial Conveyancing and Property was published in 2009.  This fifth edition of A Practical Approach to Commercial Conveyancing and Property has been thoroughly updated to take account of a number of important developments including changes to taxation and Land Registry practice, the RICS 2014 Code of Practice on Service Charges in Commercial Property and the significant changes to the law on distress.  It also includes the latest case-law and legislative developments.

Written by two experienced practitioners, A Practical Approach to Commercial Conveyancing and Property is expertly split into eleven chapters: an introduction to commercial conveyancing and property; rent and rent reviews; commercial lease covenants I; commercial lease covenants II; miscellaneous lease concerns: enforceability of lease covenants, insolvency and disclaimer, surrender and merger; remedies; the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954: security of tenure for business tenants and termination and renewal of business tenancies; property development: land acquisition, planning, construction and finance; selling and buying tenanted properties; revenue law and commercial conveyancing; and your practice.

The first thing which strikes you when you start reading A Practical Approach to Commercial Conveyancing and Property is its written style; both practical and commercial focussed.  There are a number of important hints and tips throughout the text.  For example, the authors remind practitioners of the importance of including a right to forfeit a commercial lease (and the potential negligence claim if you fail to do so).  There are also a number of useful precedents including, for example, a sample notice under Section 27(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 and an alienation precedent example.

A Practical Approach to Commercial Conveyancing and Property is an indispensable guidance to commercial conveyancing.  If you are a commercial property practitioner, or a property litigation lawyer, you should seriously consider having a copy close to hand.  If you do so, you will avoid the need to undertake research from a number of sources.  This text provides excellent and digestible summarises of the law in a clear and accessible way.  It also very usefully refers to the proposed changes of law (including numerous references to Law Commission consultations).  It also includes a number of additional materials (including eighteen appendices) which will be a vital resource for any serious commercial property practitioner.

Reviewed on 10 October 2016