Vacancy in UK Law

Leading Cases
  • Arbuckle Smith & Company Ltd v Greenock Corporation
    • House of Lords
    • 18 Febrero 1960

    Yet activity carried on in relation to premises, the sole object of which is to make the premises fit for the only use which is contemplated, does not amount to the kind of actual user as is essential to rateable occupation. So long as the activities were confined to making the premises fit for a contemplated purpose, the premises were not serving the Appellants' purposes as warehousemen.

    It is evident, therefore, that there will not be occupation in the context of rating unless some use is made of the hereditament in the course of the relevant year. "Use" is not a word of precise meaning, but in general it conveys the idea of enjoyment derived by the user from the corpus of the object enjoyed.

    Now, the Appellants never used the warehouse in question here as a warehouse during 1957-58. This is not a case of a warehouse being kept empty in one year by its owner after it had been used as such by him in the previous year: nor is it one of those cases of "stand-by" premises such as were the subject of decision in Borwick v. Southwark Corporation [1909] 1 K.B. 78 and Associated Cinema Properties, Limited v. Hampstead Borough Council [1944] 1 K.B. 412.

    Since language is not a precise instrument, it is possible to say that there was use of the premises in the circumstance that they were entered and subjected to the work of adaptation. I do not think, however, that it is this sort of user that is relevant when the Court is considering whether a warehouse was in rateable occupation. There was no enjoyment of the value of the building as a warehouse.

  • Ravenseft Properties Ltd v Newham London Borough Council
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 14 Octubre 1975

    (b) that the work remaining to be done on a building within their area is such that the erection of the building can reasonably be expected to be completed within three months, and that the building is, or when completed will be, comprised in a relevant hereditament, the authority may serve on the owner of the building a notice (hereafter in this paragraph referred to as 'a complete notice') stating that the erection of the building is to be treated for the purposes of this Schedule as completed on the date of service of the notice or on such later date as may be specified by the notice."

    If the building lacks features which before it can be occupied will have to be provided and when provided will form part of the occupied heredity-amount and form the basis of the valuation of that hereditament, then I would take the view, unless constrained to the contrary, that that building was not within the meaning of the relevant provision of a completed building.

  • Gloucester City Council v Miles
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 20 Febrero 1985

    To do so it must state (a) that the authority is satisfied that applicant for accommodation becamehomeless intentionally; (b) when he or she is considered to have become homeless; (c) why he or she is said to have become homeless at that time, i.e. what is the deliberate act or omission in consequence of which it is concluded that at that time he or she ceased to occupy accommodation which was available for his or her occupation?

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Legislation
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Books & Journal Articles
  • Natural vacancy rates in global office markets
    • No. 24-6, November 2006
    • Journal of Property Investment & Finance
    • 490-520
    Purpose: This paper seeks to contribute to knowledge of the dynamics of global office markets with an assessment of the interaction of rental growth and vacancy rates across a sample of the world's...
  • Council member required: casual vacancy Area 3.
    • No. 2003, May 2003
    • Financial Management (UK)
    • Institute News
    ...Notice is given that, as the council member in electoral Area 3 (Last Midlands and East Anglia), Ian Christison, was elected vice-president at the June 2003 AGM, a new candidate is sought to represent Area 3 on council. The casual vacancy will be unt......
  • Lag vacancy, effective rents and optimal lease term
    • No. 17-1, March 1999
    • Journal of Property Investment & Finance
    • 75-88
    This paper analyses the choice of the optimal lease term of office property in relation to expected lag vacancy, periods of rent‐free and expected rental income growth. The optimal lease term is th...
  • Casual vacancy Area 3.
    • No. 2003, May 2003
    • Financial Management (UK)
    • Institute News - Brief Article
    ...Only one nomination was received in response to the casual vacancy advertised for a representative in Area 3: for John Coghlan. He is therefore elected unopposed as the new member of council for Area 3 and will serve on council in this capacity until......
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Law Firm Commentaries
  • Trading on empty – retail vacancy figures
    • LexBlog United Kingdom
    It’s the fifth year of the downturn and still we are casting around for good news.  It was in short supply last week when the Local Data Company (LDC) launched their shop vacancy report at the Seve...
  • Case Alert: The Duty to Offer an Alternative Vacancy to Women on Maternity Leave
    • JD Supra United Kingdom
    In Sefton Borough Council v Wainwright, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that employers must offer a woman on maternity leave a suitable alternative vacancy when they first become aware th...
  • Global mobility - Home Office compliance visits
    • JD Supra United Kingdom
    Organisations that hold a licence to sponsor migrant workers from outside the EEA have agreed with the Home Office to fulfil certain duties. The objectives of the duties are to prevent abuse of the...
    ... ... Duties that apply to all sponsors include record keeping duties, reporting duties, complying with the law, having a genuine vacancy for a migrant worker, and co-operating with the Home Office ... The duty to co-operate with the Home Office means allowing Home Office staff full ... ...
  • What Does the UK's New Conservative Government and New Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Mean for the UK's Energy Sector?
    • JD Supra United Kingdom
    Introduction - On 8 May 2015 David Cameron's Conservatives won an unexpected majority in the House of Commons, bringing an end to the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition that had been in p...
    ... ... Davey, who served as the pre-election Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, lost his seat as a Member of Parliament, creating a vacancy for the post of leader of the UK Government's Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). On 11 May 2015 David Cameron appointed Amber Rudd, a ... ...
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