Friday February 27, 2009 at 6:59pm
There’s hardly a day goes by without a further announcement of
solicitors being made redundant or being forced to accept a drop in salary. Those worst affected are the more senior solicitors, as solicitors’ firms push more trainees and newly-qualified lawyers forward to handle the day-to-day casework that more experienced lawyers used to do. In recent weeks, we are also hearing of partners being made redundant, which means that employment protection legislation can be side-stepped. I....
(read more...)Wednesday February 25, 2009 at 6:24pm
Not according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) whose recent survey claims measures like the cut in VAT, pledges on payment practices and bank lending guarantees have done little to improve the situation facing small companies. Half of the 4,000 respondents in the FSB survey had experienced a fall in trade over the past two months, with getting paid still one of the biggest complaints. With this, and a new study from the Confederation of British Industry showing firms expecting the fin....
(read more...)Tuesday February 17, 2009 at 8:00am
Business Premises Renovation Allowance (BPRA) is designed to encourage the conversion and renovation of empty business properties in certain development areas by granting 100% tax relief for capital expenditure incurred in bringing them back into business use.
The relief was introduced in the Finance Act 2005, but due to lengthy negotiations with the EU over state aid, it only came into effect on 11 April 2007. The relief is temporary and is intended to expire 5 years after its introduction, on....
(read more...)Monday February 16, 2009 at 2:17pm
At a time when there are an ever increasing number of empty business premises, landlords need to adopt strategies for making their premises more attractive to prospective tenants. Adopting the Code for Leasing Business Premises may be one such strategy.
The Code was set up as a voluntary framework to promote fairness between landlords and tenants of business premises. It sets out 10 key areas where landlords must adopt good practice including repairs, service charges and rent review....
(read more...)Wednesday February 11, 2009 at 2:00pm
This blog is a plea to all business owners.
Please, please, please - if you see a business dispute on the horizon, NEVER ignore it and leave it to fester. I can tell you from nearly 20 years of dealing with business disputes that the sooner you tackle problems the better.
We covered the topic in our January Ezine (Spotting a Business Dispute on the Horizon), when I suggested three obvious signs that a dispute might be looming: payment delays, communication drying up and guilt.
In....
(read more...)Thursday February 5, 2009 at 10:46am
Cousins Business Law has published a Guide to doing business in the UK. The Guide covers:
The issue of jurisdiction and the laws of England and Wales
Business structure
Trading laws and regulations
Employment and staff issues
Property
Handling business disputes
Although written for overseas business owners who are either currently doing business here or are considering trading in the UK it’s also a useful ‘quick guide’ for British busines....
(read more...)Thursday February 5, 2009 at 9:00am
A restriction on your title deeds not to do anything on your property which might be a nuisance or annoyance to your neighbours is very common and a recent case has highlighted why this sort of restriction should be of concern to property developers.
In that case a homeowner obtained planning consent for the construction of an extension to his house but his neighbours objected on the grounds that it would restrict their views which would constitute an 'annoyance'.
The judge in this c....
(read more...)Wednesday February 4, 2009 at 10:38am
I have posted before about the drive by tenants to alter the rent payment frequency under their leases from quarterly to monthly in an attempt to improve cashflow.
The British Retail Consortium has now published on its website a draft rent variation letter for use in circumstances where a landlord agrees to allow the tenant to pay rent on a monthly basis.
Landlords should beware however as this is a letter drafted on behalf of a tenants' representative body and does not advise landlords that a....
(read more...)Tuesday February 3, 2009 at 10:08am
Following on from my article in January's edition of the Cousins Business Law ezine, a recent case has demonstrated the approach of the Court to resolving difficult boundary disputes.
In this case the Court of Appeal summarised the difficulty facing it with these words:
“the dispute has all too many features that are usual and familiar: on the one hand the need for the parties to have their disputes resolved by the court, rather than by any process of sensible discussion, accommodation o....
(read more...)Monday February 2, 2009 at 9:49am
A recent case has confirmed that a landlord not only owes a duty to a tenant to consider its application for licence to sublet properly but also to deal with it promptly.
In this case, a landlord took six weeks to grant its consent to a tenant's application to sublet. Although consent was ultimately given, the proposed subtenant had by that time withdrawn from the proposed sublease and the Court decided that the proposed subtenant's decision to withdraw was caused by the delay in&n....
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