The Covid-19 outbreak and the unprecedented requirement for social distancing continues to present never-before seen contractual issues and logistical problems in the property market. Legal practitioners are having to adapt working practices and enhance critical thinking to address scenarios which have otherwise been approached in a standard and uniform way for years.

Our November 2020 summary of the latest developments in Property law and practice, following the impact of Covid-19, is as follows:

The recent High Court decision in Financial Conduct Authority v Arch Insurance (UK) Ltd and others [2020] EWHC 2448 (Comm) has addressed the ability of policy holders to claim for business interruption insurance arising out of Covid-19. Issues addressed include whether policies covering the occurrence of a “notifiable disease” within the locality/vicinity/specified radius of the premises would cover a disease such as COVID-19, and whether policies covering prevention of public access would similarly only respond to localised shutdowns (i.e. incidents occurring within the vicinity of the property) or would respond to national shutdowns, Government-mandated closures, and/or full or partial closures to comply with Government guidance. The outcome for the insured in each case will depend upon the precise wording of the policy and its interpretation, but a “leapfrog” certificate has been granted for this matter to be considered by the Supreme Court. Should landlords be able to claim insurance (when it was previously thought otherwise) this will inevitably have a positive impact on tenants and their discussions regarding rent suspensions related to Covid events.

The Land Registry has announced that it will resume cancelling registration applications from 16 November 2020 where an outstanding requisition is not complied with. Approximately 100,000 registration applications are currently delayed pending the satisfaction of requisitions and, due to the challenging Covid-climate, cancellations were previously on hold. The Land Registry will now start putting applicants on notice from 16 November that their application will be cancelled if the outstanding matter is not dealt with within 4 weeks of notification.

HMRC has published a draft of the Stamp Duty Land Tax (Administration) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 setting out a revised form of SDLT return which includes new questions in connection with the introduction of the 2% surcharge applicable from 1 April 2021 on the acquisition of residential property in England and Northern Ireland by non-UK residents. Consultation on these regulations closes on 23 November 2020.

HM Treasury is consulting on terrorism reinsurance. This call for evidence covers how the guarantee HM Treasury provides to Pool Re impacts upon the market for terrorism reinsurance and how any amendments to the terms of the guarantee and the rules that govern the Treasury’s relationship with Pool Re would impact upon the availability, affordability and take-up of terrorism insurance.

Amongst many other things, the paper seeks to explore the reasons why only a very small proportion of small and medium sized enterprises have cover, and how uptake can be increased. It would surely be preferable for tenants not to have the prospect of uninsured risk provisions coming into play should such a terrorism event occur (or the even worse- the prospect of no clarity in the lease on rent suspension at all.)