Leaseholders of terrace house not entitled to obtain freehold
June 22nd 2020By Natalie Tatton Solicitor in our Dispute Resolution Team The tenants of eleven terrace houses had no right to acquire the freehold title as their leases excluded certain structural parts of their property. That was the decision of the High Court in a case involving Freehold Properties 250 Ltd v Beverley Ann Field & 18 Ors (2020). Freehold Properties appealed against a decision of the County Court that 11 of…
Finance broker enforces employee’s non-compete clause
June 15th 2020By Mark Aspin Director and Head of Dispute Resolution A finance company has successfully enforced a non-compete clause preventing an employee joining a rival firm for six months. The High Court heard that Julien Leonard had been recruited by Square Global Ltd as a broker in 2015. He resigned on 11 November 2019. At that time, he had been in discussions for over seven months with a rival financial-services business…
Corporate insolvency bill to ease pressure on businesses during Covid-19
June 11th 2020The government has published its new bill designed to relieve the pressure on businesses during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. It’s hoped the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill will ease some of the pressures posed by the threat of reduced trading and allow directors to focus all their efforts on continuing to operate. The Bill will: introduce temporary easements on filing requirements and Annual General Meetings (AGMs) introduce new corporate restructuring…
Points based immigration system on course as planned for January
June 8th 2020Claire Davies Director provides an update. The UK’s points-based immigration system is on course to be introduced in January as planned, having passed the crucial second reading stage in parliament. The Immigration Bill introducing the system was approved by 351 votes to 252. Unless there is any unforeseen parliamentary opposition before the bill receives Royal Assent, free movement will end and the UK will introduce a points-based immigration system from…
Employee unable to bring unfair dismissal claim for sake of a week
June 4th 2020Timing can be crucial in court and tribunal cases as shown in a recent case in which an employee was unable to bring an unfair dismissal claim for the sake of one week. The case involved Mr R O’Sullivan V DSM Demolition Ltd (2020). O’Sullivan had been employed by DSM as a demolition safety supervisor. Following his dismissal on 27 October 2017, he brought an unfair dismissal claim. He asserted…
Amendments to right to work checks during Covid-19 outbreak
May 27th 2020Joanne Stronach Director and Head of Employment & HR provides useful update. The government has amended right to work checks to make it easier for employers to carry them out during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. The following temporary changes have been made: checks can now be carried out over video calls job applicants and existing workers can send scanned documents or a photo of documents for checks using email or…
Partnership Agreements – why bother?
May 22nd 2020Jonathan Carroll Director & Head of Property talks about the importance of Partnership Agreements. So your accountant and your bank keep telling you that you ought to get a written partnership agreement. Just money for lawyers, right? Well, some, but the potential costs to you are huge if you don’t. The law governing unwritten partnerships is from 1890, and pretty harsh: Any partner can terminate the business, practically overnight, and…
How businesses can deal with debt collection during Covid-19
May 18th 2020Natalie Tatton Solicitor in our Dispute Resolution team provides some top tips for debt collection during Covid-19. With businesses across the country facing financial uncertainty, it is important that your own business is protected as far as possible. Although there is some government support to businesses, there are going to be financial problems as a result of Covid-19 and many businesses have already seen their income reduce significantly. Many individuals…
Health & safety is the biggest challenge facing SMEs as they emerge from lockdown
May 14th 2020Earlier this week, we shared a UK200 Group poll, to better understand the biggest challenges facing SMEs as they return to work from lockdown. If you participated in the poll, thank you. The poll has highlighted that health and safety ranked as the top concern for businesses emerging from lockdown. Cashflow comes second and client confidence third. This indicates that it is the uncertainty of reopening a business, with all…
Business Interruption Insurance: Are you covered?
May 13th 2020Mark Aspin Director and Head of Dispute Resolution provides useful information on business interruption insurance. As some areas of commerce – at least tentatively – look to restarting operations over the coming weeks, those businesses which have been totally closed over the past weeks will be looking forward to seeing an income stream restarting. Whilst income has been reduced (or stopped) and places of work closed, many businesses have been…
