This ambitious expansion was flawlessly orchestrated through a strategic alliance with the Commercial Property team at Sherrards, under the guidance of Terry Fendt.

PLAYGROUND Brand’s Dance Legacy Broadens Its Horizon. Boasting acclaimed studios in LA, Playground London stands as the newest addition to the illustrious PLAYGROUND Brand, gearing up to offer master classes and dynamic daily sessions helmed by industry-leading choreographers.

Seamless Expansion: Thanks to the diligence and expertise of the Commercial Property team, Playground LA Limited secured a smooth lease agreement, culminating in a mid-July completion. With eager anticipation, PLAYGROUND LONDON is poised to swing its doors open on Oct 2nd!

Frequented by stars like Jennifer Lopez and Justin Bieber, and associated with brands such as Nike and Adidas, Playground LA’s legacy is set to continue in London. Dive into the PLAYGROUND brand and check out PLAYGROUND LONDON.

Abroo Khan, has now qualified from the Sherrards Training Academy and will be joining the Private Wealth team as a Solicitor.

Abroo has been a trainee with the firm now for just over two years, where she has been working alongside various departments, such as Commercial Property, Dispute Resolution, Corporate and Commercial, in order to grow her knowledge and understanding of the legal world.

Partner and Head of Private Wealth, Nicole Marmor, says, “It is brilliant news to have Abroo join our growing team. We have seen how hard she has worked throughout her time as part of the Sherrards Training Academy and we look forward to seeing her grow in her career with us.” 

With regards to our Trainee Solicitors,

Max Marmor joins the Commercial Property team as a Trainee Solicitor in London, after working alongside the Dispute Resolution team and  Commercial Property team as a paralegal for the past year.

We also congratulate Mike Jenkins who is promoted to Trainee Solicitor in the Commercial Property team in St Albans, after working alongside the team there for the past 10 months.

Lastly, we welcome Gabriel Cooke as a Trainee Solicitor to the Corporate and Commercial team in St Albans. Gabriel has been working alongside both the Employment, and Corporate and Commercial teams as a legal Admin Assistant for the past 7 months.

Sherrards Trainee Academy Partner, Michael Lewis says, “It is fantastic to see the Trainee Academy grow and see three excellent members of the team stay with us to begin their career as lawyers. We look forward to supporting them on their route to becoming Solicitors. I am also delighted that Abroo is qualifying with the firm after a highly successful training contract with us.”

However, in a significant judgment, the Supreme Court have unanimously ruled that a health charity can qualify for mandatory 80% relief from non-domestic rates in respect of a health and fitness club it runs, clarifying a well-established legal principle.

This ruling makes clear that where a charity is using premises for its core charitable purposes, the charity should be entitled to mandatory rates relief.

This decision will deliver some much-needed reassurance to charities on this point.

The case centred upon a members-only gym in Merton, South-West London, run by health giant, Nuffield Health.

The local authority had initially withheld rating relief on the grounds that Nuffield was operating a commercial gym that had no public benefit. In particular, they argued that the membership subscriptions charged put this facility out of reach of many in the community.

However, the Supreme Court (upholding the decisions of the lower courts) thought otherwise, finding that Nuffield “plainly uses the Merton Abbey gym for the direct fulfilment of those charitable purposes”. Nuffield qualified for business rates relief, after all.

Speaking about the judgment, Charities law expert and partner, Shane Knight commented:

“Rating relief is several billion pounds a year for the third sector. Without this decision, many charities would have faced massive hardship at a time when we are all still feeling the chill wind of a cost-of-living crisis.  Charities should also be aware that there is a further discretionary rating relief that they can apply for directly from their local authority.”

Sherrards Partner, Guy Morgan, observed: “The decision removes any doubt on this point.  Any landlord must also take this into account, when letting property to a tenant”.

Based in London and St Albans, Sherrards Solicitors has a large team of specialist lawyers acting for charities and those in the health and social care sector.

For further information, please contact law@sherrards.com 

Partner Stephanie Kierans helped Giggling Squid open their 42nd restaurant, situated right in the centre of Welwyn Garden City.  

Giggling Squid is thai food with personality and a firm favourite for Team Sherrards.

Founded by husband and wife Pranee and Andrew Laurillard, Giggling Squid opened its first restaurant in 2002 in Brighton, but despite the recent difficult period for all in the hospitality industry, the restaurant chain continues to push ahead with their expansion plans opening beautiful restaurants all over the UK.

Click here to head to Giggling Squid’s website and book your table.

Charles Hodder, partner in the Commercial property team worked alongside the London Corporate and Commercial team to assist WatchHouse with the opening their ninth specialist coffee shop which boasts state of the art coffee technology including a Slayer Steam LPx and full brunch service seven days a week.

Sherrards are delighted to continue to support Watchhouse as their vision continues to grow.

You can read more about WatchHouse by clicking here. 

 

 

The Sherrards Corporate & Commercial team and Commercial property team worked together to support with the sale of The Plough in Sleepshyde to Gorgeous Pubs (an independent pub company). 

This company are the owners of The Bull in Highgate and a local microbrewery. They reopened The Plough in October 2021 with great success.

Sherrards’ property and corporate teams worked together to complete the transfer of each constituent part of the business to the new buyer. 

During the course of the last calendar year Stephanie and the team have advised Evapo on the renewal of three leases; the strategic re-gearing of two further leases and the acquisition of three new units.  This is typical of the type of work the commercial property team carry out for a number or retail clients.

The team are also now working with the owners of the company in connection with a new business venture and we have concluded the first, of what we hope will be many, acquisitions of premises for the new concept. 

This acquisition was led by Charles Hodder but also involved our corporate & commercial, employment and dispute resolution teams. The IOD Skip Hire site became Powerday’s sixth facility in London and means they will inherit the affiliated businesses of IOD.

The transaction was complicated, but we successfully completed the deal due to the team’s experience in the market and ability to work brilliantly across departments, bringing together specific expertise to ensuring seamless transaction.

Jamaica Blue offers coffee made with beans from the Jamaican Blue Mountains along with a contemporary menu featuring classic dishes with a twist using the fresh locally sourced ingredients as well as a range of vegan and vegetarian options, and not forgetting the café’s famous big brekkie!

The store opening came just in time for the festive period for shoppers to enjoy.

To find out more, please contact Terry Fendt. 

A recent ruling is likely to have significant consequences for guardian property companies (and other landlords) who use licence agreements to place occupiers into properties to protect against squatters and vandalism.  The case of Camelot Property Management Limited and Camelot Guardian Management Limited v Roynon [2017] highlights the importance of carrying through in practice what a document/ licence has set out to achieve.

The matter of whether a licence is really a licence or indeed a lease has long been debated and for some time now it has been widely accepted (following the decision in Street v Mountford [1985]) that the principles of exclusive possession, rent and length of term govern how a ‘licence’ will be regarded by the courts.

The recent Camelot case did not set to change these principles but has offered valuable insight as to what is required in order to prevent ‘exclusive possession’ from arising and turning a ‘licence’ into a lease or formal tenancy.

The ‘licence’ agreement with Mr Roynon for the occupation of two rooms in a former old people’s care home contained the following restrictions:

• No overnight guests
• No unsupervised guests
• No more than 2 guests at a time
• All guests to be escorted from the property at the end of each visit

The court held that the provisions of the agreement did not accurately reflect what happened in reality. Whilst the licence stated that no exclusive possession would be given, Mr Roynon had in fact been given keys to two rooms to which no other guardians had access and which no one entered without his permission.

Regular inspections of the rooms by Camelot were not held to be sufficient to counter his exclusive possession and Mr Roynon had therefore acquired an assured shorthold tenancy rather than a ‘licence to occupy’.

The case highlights the need to put into practice what a document/ licence has set out to achieve and where no exclusive possession is intended, landlord’s must make sure that the living arrangements are not contrary to the formal agreements put in place.

Anyone using guardians or short term occupiers to prevent buildings remaining empty should carefully balance the risks of allowing people into occupation with the rise of professional squatters and other unwanted occupiers who could look to take advantage of such situations.

Contact Caroline for more information.