The Courtyard RTM Co Limited & Ors v Rockwell (FC103) Limited & Anor
Decision date: 7 February 2025
Neutral citation: [2025] UKUT 39 (LC)
Overall AI summary confidence: high
Short overview
This short overview is intended to summarise the case, issues and outcome so far as they are supported by the judgment.
AI confidence in this short overview: high
This appeal concerned two consolidated RTM claims under s.72 of the 2002 Act: three blocks at Plaza Boulevard, Liverpool, and No.14 Park Crescent, London. The Tribunal held the Plaza Boulevard blocks were not a "self-contained part of a building" because each included undivided shared basement car-park space, so those RTM claims failed; by contrast No.14 Park Crescent met the vertical-division, independent redevelopment and services tests and the RTM claim succeeded. The Tribunal treated the tests as physical inquiries and allowed a notional vertical dividing line to intersect solid elements (foundations/slabs) without defeating self-containment. Permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal was available as noted.
Ratio decidendi
This summary is intended to identify the ratio decidendi, meaning the legal reasons for deciding and the binding part of the decision.
AI confidence in this ratio decidendi summary: high
The ratio is that whether premises form a "self-contained part of a building" for RTM purposes is a predominantly physical inquiry focused on whether there is a vertical (not horizontal) division of the larger building; a notional vertical dividing line may validly pass through solid structural elements (foundations, slabs) and need not be a physical cut through every component; however, undivided shared spaces (here a basement car park/podium) that serve multiple blocks are inconsistent with a permissible vertical division and are fatal to an RTM claim.
Obiter dicta
This summary is intended to identify obiter dicta, meaning observations made by the way that were not necessary to deciding the case and are not binding.
AI confidence in this obiter dicta summary: medium
The Tribunal observed (obiter) that projections into airspace (balconies, parapets) and non-contiguous overhangs will not automatically defeat self-containment and that dog-legs in vertical boundaries or misaligned movement joints do not of themselves prevent a vertical division. It also suggested the "redeveloped independently" limb is assessed by physical capability (including use of temporary supports), not by whether legal consents or neighbour cooperation have been obtained, though practical consequences should be considered where material.