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Fire safety, Right to Buy leases, rights of access

Appartment building 835817 1920

In Piechnik v Oxford City Council [2020] EWHC 960 (QB), the High Court has held that a local authority did not have a right to access a "right to buy" flat in a block (in which it retained most of the flats as secure tenancies) for the purposes of carrying out fire safety works simply because those works were in the wider interests of the occupiers. The rights of access had to be found in the express and implied terms of the lease. Insofar as the works fell within those express or implied terms, then the carrying out of such works would not amount to a breach of the covenant for quiet enjoyment. Justin Bates and Kim Ziya acted for Oxford City Council. The judgment is available here.

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