The assessment is a take home exam in the form of a problem question, and it is open for 24 hours, from 29th of April at 15:00 hours to the 30th of April at 15:00 hours.

You MUST submit it BEFORE 15:00 on the 30th of April.

You have been provided with the leasehold agreement Download leasehold agreementrelevant to this case one week ago.

You are a paralegal at COOL Law Firm and the supervising partner is contacting you for legal advice on a matter regarding leasehold covenants. Your client, Charles White has bought the freehold of a building that was redeveloped into an apartment complex by the previous freeholder, Feinmann Ltd. Charles White is asking for advice with respect to three flats. The senior partner needs your advice urgently, for a meeting with the client tomorrow.

The assessment grade is worth 50% of the overall module grade.

The assignment must be submitted as ONE Word document in Arial font size 11 and double line spacing.

The overall page limit is 6 pages (including footnoted references). A bibliography is not necessary, but you will have to reference all relevant cases.

Find here advice on how to write a response to the problem question.

Find here  Download heregeneral information on how to submit, format requirements, late submissions, academic misconduct, and EC forms for deferrals here

It is not possible to ask for an extension for this assignment.

Find here  Download herethe grading criteria and expectations. The assignment will be marked anonymously.

F.A.Q. and revision resources here.

IMPORTANT: Read VERY CAREFULLY the assessment problem question. And answer DIRECTLY to the requests of the fictitious supervising partner. Do not include irrelevant material in your answers as there is a strict page limit.

Turnitin: You can submit your work as many times as you want before the deadline and you will be able to check your Turnitin score immediately after you submit your work. Only the last version of your submitted coursework will be marked.

Use of AI: If you choose to use an AI tool, you must not be asking any questions of substance. Please note that the answers provided would most certainly lead you astray or be misleading. You may only ask very narrow, specific, and limited questions related to improving your grammar or clarity. Be aware that if your prompts are not sufficiently narrow and specific, or if you ask more than one question at a time, your work could be seriously compromised. You are required to remain the author throughout.

ASSESSMENT PROBLEM QUESTION

From: Supervising Partner

To:     Paralegal

Date:   29h April 2024

Client: Mr Charles White

Re:     Russell House

Good afternoon,

I act for Charles White, a landlord, in relation to some of their housing litigation matters. Mr White purchased Russell House in 2020 from Feinmann Ltd, a developer and freeholder, that redeveloped the building into a residential apartment block.

Mr White has learnt a few facts regarding some of the apartments and he wants legal advice on how to address the following issues:

The tenant of Flat 6 in Russell House, Robert Javed, has been in and out of jobs for the past 5 years and has recently started giving private drum lessons in his apartment. He registered Flat 6 as his place of business. The occupants of the other flats have complained to the property management company about the number of deliveries and visitors to the flat, and the loud music that is always coming from Robert Javed’s flat. Although the business seems to be doing well, Mr Javed told Mr White that he cannot pay the rent and service charge. Mr Javed is now 12 months in arrears.

Flat 6 was originally let by Feinmann Ltd to Mr Javed’s mother Mrs Aminah Javed in her sole name, by deed, for 999 years on the 20th of April 1996. Mrs Javed assigned the lease to her son in January 2019 with Feinmann’s consent.

Mr White has refused to pay to fix the main doors as they regularly break. He hopes to get Feinmann Ltd to pay for the expense as he claims Feinmann installed faulty doors at the time they redeveloped the building. Because of this delay, the tenant of Flat 7 has refused to pay service charges. Flat 7 is a two-bedroom apartment that was originally let to Mrs Brown by deed for 999 years on the 15th of December 1994. The current tenant is Mrs Brown’s daughter, Julie, to whom Mrs Brown assigned the lease in August 2000 with the freeholder’s consent.

Mr White has been chasing Mr Javed and Julie Brown for the rent arrears, but they both refuse to pay because Mr White has yet to carry out necessary repairs in the common areas. Moreover, Mr White claims the doors were broken when he bought the freehold in 2020 and he has no intention to repair it. He claims the tenants must ask the original freeholder, Feinmann Ltd, to repair the premises.

Finally, Flat 8 was licenced to Mrs Ryder in 2022 for 3 years. Mr White had agreed with Mrs Ryder that he would retain the keys to the apartment and arrange to visit the property every week to ensure that Flat 8 was clean and that no repairs were required. Mrs Ryder agreed to pay a fee of £1,000 per month. Now she complains that the bathroom pipes are leaking and there is black mould under the sink. Mr White is convinced that this is due to a poor use of the property from Mrs Ryder so he wants you to confirm that he can leave her to solve these issues at her own expenses.

I need you to advice on the matters above confirming which covenants were breached, what actions are available to Mr White, and what liability he will incur with respect to the repairs he has not done.

I have attached the relevant sections of the lease that was used for all flats.

In ONE document (Microsoft Word), 6 pages maximum (in Arial 11 double spaced), draft a response to the questions of the supervising partner, outlining your advice.