Blog Posts: September 2009

The Times reports this morning that none other than Lord Mandelson appears to have stepped in to halt crippling red tape which few other than the Home Office thought necessary or sensible. Mandy appears to have a bigger stick than the Home Office bully boys! Where the Licensing Minister from the DCMS has been largely ineffectual, it has taken someone with clear thinking to spot that the last thing an embattled trade wants just now is another delivery of red tape. Even licensing authorities and .... (read more...)

After my article in last month's ezine, you wouldn't expect me to be surprised by this but there seems to be a growing consensus that the worst is not yet over. This is an extract from a report on Bloomberg: U.K. banks are less than half way through posting 240 billion pounds ($398 billion) of losses on loans and securities, a reflection of the U.K.’s economic weakness, according to Moody’s Investors Service Ltd. British banks are likely to record 130 billion pounds of losses .... (read more...)

Landlords of commercial premises often try to prevent occupiers enjoying the protection of the Landlord & Tenant Act by giving them a licence rather than a lease.  Unfortunately, they very often get it wrong. First things first.  Calling a document a licence doesn't make it a licence.  It is well-established law that if the nature of the arangement between the owner of premises and the occupier creates a lease then just calling it a 'licence' does not change the legal na.... (read more...)