Legal Jargon

A modest rent that levied on some freehold properties by the original landowner, for example a landowner who has sold land to a developer. Rentcharges are sometimes created simply to generate profit but may be used as a way to ensure requirements about the property are complied with. Rentcharges extinguish automatically on 21st July 2037 or 60 years from the date of which the Rentcharge first became payable, whichever is later. However, under the 1977 Rentcharge Act, property owners can buy out or redeem the Rentcharges attached to their property.

The document filed by the claimant in order to respond to issues raised by the defendant in a Defence and/or Counterclaim.

A repudiatory breach is a significant breach of contract which goes to the core of the contract and potentially deprives the other party its benefit. It gives the innocent party the right to treat the contract as disregarded and entitles the innoncent party to refuse to be bound to its terms.

An initial payment to a builder or developer or their agent to reserve a new-build property.

If you are convicted of a motoring offence, the court may endorse your driving licence with penalty points. Different numbers of points are awarded for differing levels of offence:

– Speeding (3+ points)
– Driving without due care and attention (3 to 9)
– Using a mobile phone while behind the wheel (3 to 6 points)
– Parking in a dangerous location (3 points)
– Drink / drug-driving offences (3 to 11 points)
– Failing to stop after an accident (5 to 10 points)
– Driving an uninsured vehicle (8 to 10 points)
– Driving while disqualified (6 points)

A full list of offences and points is available at https://www.gov.uk/penalty-points-endorsements / endorsement-codes-and-penalty-points Points remain on your licence for a period of at least four years and as much as 11 years in the case of points for drink or drug driving or causing death by careless driving. If you accumulate 12 or more points within a three-year period, you may be disqualified (‘banned’) from driving for a period of six months or more.

Where some or all of one party’s pension is given to the other party as a pension in their own right.

In practical terms, peppercorn rent means the leaseholder pays zero ground rent to the freeholder. All new residential leaseholders are created with peppercorn rent. The phrase originates from the concept that a leaseholder would pay a nominal rent to the freehold owner in acknowledgement of their continuing right over the property in the sum of a single peppercorn – the type that you would usually grind up in a pepper mill.

A PPO is an order from the court that stating that the defendant, rather than handing over compensation as a lump sum, should pay an annual amount, frequently in addition to an initial lump sum, to the claimant for the duration of their natural life.

The term fast-track applies to straightforward claims where the maximum value is £25,000 or under and which can be usually be dealt with in a one-day trial. In practice, this applies to most personal injury claims i.e. accidents that have had a significant impact on your life but from which you can make a recover. However, some cases that fall within this claims limit may not be treated as fast track because they are too complex.

Multi-track claims are more complicated and complex personal injury cases, where the injuries are significant and potentially long-term, with damages valued at more than £25,000.

The portal is a secure, online electronic systems for processing personal injury claims up to the value of £25,000.

A court that oversees personal injury cases that are likely to have a value of less than £1,000.

A personal injury trust can be set up to hold and manage a person’s damages to ensure that this money is not taken into account for assessment of means-tested benefits or care contributions.

An agreed place where police can take someone to be assessed. This is usually a hospital or, in an emergency, a police station.

Approval by the planning authority to the construction, and extension or alteration of a property, or a change of its use, for example from commercial to residential.

General term for Court documentation.

Possessory title is a class of legal title given by the Land Registry where absolute legal title evidence is not available, for instance if the original title deeds have been lost or destroyed or the land has been claimed.

A way of giving permission to someone, either temporarily or for the rest of your life, to make decisions and act on your behalf in relation to your personal affairs, usually relating to financial and/or health and welfare matters. Actions taken by your attorney are legally binding and you should therefore take legal advice before granting power of attorney.

A general direction or supplemental protocol laid down in the Civil Procedure Rules, or issued by a Court or judge, to explain how a rule should be interpreted and to outline what the parties are required to do in order to comply with that rule.

The section of the petition where the petitioner asks the court to end the marriage, possibly asks for a costs order, and gives notice to the court that the petitioner may wish to bring financial proceedings in the future.