Friday October 31, 2008 at 8:23am
Most modern leases impose an obligation on a tenant to stand as guarantor if the lease is sold on to a new tenant.
There are strict rules on the steps a landlord must take if it wishes to rely on that guarantee, however. A landlord cannot simply allow arrears of rent or other sums payable under the lease to mount up and then send the bill to the guarantor.
The landlord is required by law within a period of six months beginning on the date a sum of money becomes due....
(read more...)Tuesday October 28, 2008 at 9:17am
The Bank of England published the latest edition of its Financial Stability Report today.
Apart from making very sober reading generally, it touched on a problem that may be facing commercial landlords.
Commercial property prices have fallen by 24% since their peak and rental growth has also ground to a halt. In addition, the downturn in the economy increases the liklihood of commercial tenants defaulting on their rental payments.
These facts are of real concern to commercial lan....
(read more...)Friday October 17, 2008 at 1:32pm
Construction companies withhold £1 billion in payments to suppliers. That's according to the National Specialist Construction Council (NSCC) which calculates that the amount of money owing to suppliers by construction companies is now 50% more than two years ago.
Just 15 percent of the NSCC's members are paid within 30 days of completing a job. The average is about 60 days while Carillion Plc, averages 86 days.
At a time when managing cashflow is more important than ever, small and mediu....
(read more...)Tuesday October 14, 2008 at 9:29am
The vast majority of tenants don't even consider trying to renegotiate their lease once it has been signed. Those who do approach their landlord to change the terms of their lease, however, are frequently pleasantly surprised.
So why would you want to renegotiate your lease?
Financial difficulties - probably the most common reason, particularly in the current economic environment. Landlord's will often consider temporary reductions in rent to help a tenant trade through a slowd....
(read more...)Thursday October 9, 2008 at 6:00pm
Government plans to cut the cost of red tape must be welcomed by business owners, surely?The proposals are that budgetary ceilings are set on the amount of regulation that can be introduced by individual departments.Under the plans, a rolling budgetary limit will curtail the costs of new regulation from next April (2009). Government departments will be allowed to offset the cost of any new rules with savings made by reducing the existing regulatory burden and by trading with other departments. T....
(read more...)Tuesday October 7, 2008 at 7:34pm
Here at Cousins Business Law, we are advising more and more directors of their responsibilities in times of financial trouble and we predict we will be advising many more in the months to come.
Whilst I think that everyone agrees the world has never seen anything like the present credit crunch, there has been some debate as to whether we can expect to see a recession as bad as the 1930s or, if not, as bad as the 1970s.
With this in mind, I came across this Times Article. Does it look as famili....
(read more...)Monday October 6, 2008 at 7:34pm
I was reading the results of a survey from the Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, which suggests that businesses in this part of the West Midlands are really starting to feel the effects of the current economic climate. 77% of those surveyed reported a marked difference in sales figures compared to the same time last year and some reported as much as a 90% drop in trade. It did make me wonder how businesses with a 90% drop in trade can survive. On the plus side, it does seem that s....
(read more...)Friday October 3, 2008 at 2:04pm
Yesterday marked a historic day in the civil courts. Civil court judges will no longer wear wigs. I must say, it has always appeared strange to me that we expected our judiciary to support headwear dating back some 300 years. Those in favour of wigs tended to argue that they helped judges command respect, and provided a degree of anonymity, which is useful when judges have to make difficult decisions. However, most of the work done in the civil courts, and especially in the business-related cour....
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