Property Ownership and Planning Requirements

01 Feb 2018

Local Government, Property

In Mohamed v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (2018), Steven Gasztowicz QC acted for the long leaseholders of all the flats in a block of flats who applied for leasehold enfranchisement following which the freehold owner made a planning application to add further flats on top of the block.

Permission was granted by a planning inspector on appeal. However, notice had not been given by the freeholder to the leaseholders as it should have been so that the application and appeal process were alleged to be flawed.

Permission to challenge the Inspector’s decision was granted by the High Court which observed that it was not necessarily a question of whether the planning decision would have been the same in any event but whether the whole process was a nullity as being out with the statutory powers. The Secretary of State, Council, and freeholder subsequently submitted to a consent order quashing the Inspector’s decision.