Monday December 29, 2008 at 11:17am
The answer to the Cousins Business Law Christmas Competition question was, of course, the Ankh-Morpork City Watch.
For those of you who are still none the wiser, I commend to you Terry Pratchett's excellent children's book, 'Where's My Cow'.
Even if you didn't manage to win the dozen free range eggs, you can still take advantage of another Cousins Business Law freebie in the form of our free business lease review for landlords or our free business lease review for tenants
Steve Petty, Co....
(read more...)Friday December 19, 2008 at 6:00pm
Last week, a laptop and 4 computer hard drives were stolen from the Bar Council’s offices in London. These contained sensitive data on all the barristers practising in England and Wales as well as details of around 1,500 complaints lodged against barristers. The data stolen included the names, addresses and bank account details of barristers (although not of a type that would enable access to their accounts) and, in respect of complaints, the names and addresses of those complaining, witne....
(read more...)Thursday December 18, 2008 at 6:53pm
Mr Justice Arnold has called for the courts to take a more pro-active approach in curbing the fees that large commercial law firms charge for litigation. Allen & Overy represented Research in Motion, the makers of the popular BlackBerry mobile device, in intellectual property litigation against Visto, a US technology company. This was not the first time these parties had met in court and, on the last occasion, Allen & Overy racked up charges of nearly £5.2 million in preparing for ....
(read more...)Thursday December 18, 2008 at 1:04pm
In the spirit of Christmas I'm offering a dozen free range eggs courtesy of my four ex-bats (see www.bhwt.org.uk) to the first person to give me the correct answer to the following question:
To whom should you report a lost cow under the provisions of the Domestic & Farmyard Animals (Lost) Act 1809?
I'll publish the answer after Christmas.
Even if you don't know the answer you can take advantage of a fantastic Cousins Business Law giveaway by checking out our free business ....
(read more...)Tuesday December 16, 2008 at 3:51pm
The Solihull MBC Planning Sub-Committee today decided that it was “minded to approve” a 500 metre extension of the runway at Birmingham Airport. However, before full approval is to be given, Section 106 Agreements (undertakings given by the applicants) have to be agreed that will constrain noise pollution and give concessions to protect the environment. Overall, local businesses support the runway extension, which it is hoped will bring more jobs to the area, something that will be m....
(read more...)Tuesday December 16, 2008 at 9:42am
Perhaps surprisingly, the Landlord and Tenant Act 1730 and the Distress for Rent Act 1737 are still in force. If you are a landlord you may find these two pieces of legislation could bring some welcome Christmas cheer. For tenants, though, it will definitely be a case of 'Bah, humbug!
At the end of a lease the landlord can claim either double rent or double value for any period the tenant remains in occupation beyond the end of the term of the lease.
The Landlord and....
(read more...)Thursday December 11, 2008 at 6:00am
By January 2009 or January 2011, dependent on the size, all air conditioning units will be required to have an energy efficiency inspection. These inspections may only be completed by an accredited Air Conditioning System Energy Assessor (ACSEA).
Air conditioning systems greater than 250kW, and which were put into service before 1 January 2008, will need to be inspected by an energy assessor by 4 January 2009. Systems with an output of more than 12 kW will need to be inspected before 4 January ....
(read more...)Wednesday December 10, 2008 at 6:00am
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors published its Commercial Property Forecast this week. It predicts that in general, the price of commercial property will have fallen by 50% from its 2007 peak by the end of 2009 with the office market falling by as much as 60%. Whilst this may be bad news for investors in commercial real estate, commercial tenants will be cheered by RICS' view that rents will continue to fall throughout 2009 and 2010.
Breaking the market down by....
(read more...)Tuesday December 9, 2008 at 6:00am
If you are a builder operating in Cheshire then it's time to check your compliance with the Health & Safety Regulations as the Health & Safety Executive has announced a safety blitz on sites throughout Cheshire as part of a rolling programme to target poor performance in the construction industry. HSE inspectors will conduct unannounced inspections on house building and property refurbishment sites around the county today. An operation in February resulted in enforcement action in 103 ca....
(read more...)Monday December 8, 2008 at 9:00am
If your tenant is in arrears and you are worried that they may be insolvent then you need to know what the implications might be for you as they are less straightforward than you might think.
Unfortunately, an insolvent tenant can produce a minefield of problems for a landlord and there is no real substitute for taking advice from your lawyer on your specific circumstances.
However, here are a few tips for landlords of commercial premises:
Individuals
A landlord should bear in mind that in r....
(read more...)Friday December 5, 2008 at 12:40pm
SMEs are turning to litigation in ever increasing numbers to collect in debts. According to research undertaken by the Credit Management Research Centre, 2,000 such cases were brought in September 2008, compared with just 1,500 in January 2008. This is a clear indicator of generalised cash-flow issues within SMEs. The research also shows that the property and retail sectors have been particularly badly affected, with the amount of cases brought in these sectors rising an incredible fivefold in t....
(read more...)