Employees wanting to bring tribunal claims will have to pay fees ranging from £150 to £1,750 under new proposals announced by the Government. Ministers say the move will relieve pressure on businesses and reduce the £84m annual cost to the taxpayer. The Ministry of Justice has now begun a public consultation on the proposals, which
Three councils have lost their appeal for a judicial review of the Coalition Government’s decision to scrap the need for planning permission when converting single dwellings into houses in multiple occupation (HMOs). The need for planning permission was introduced in April 2010 by the last Labour Government after it had conducted a consultation with interested
A development firm must pay more than it bargained for to a local authority after selling on land at below market price to a group company. The developers bought the land from the authority with a view to creating a business park. The authority retained a share in the open market value of the land,
Investors buying properties consisting of two or more flats could be spending far more than necessary if they don’t take advantage of a Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) relief introduced in the Finance Act 2011. The change rectified the situation whereby if an investor bought a property containing several flats from the same seller, the
A firm of architects has won a dispute over fees after the High Court ruled that a letter it had sent to its client did amount to a written contract. The case arose after the architects agreed to carry out consultancy services for a local authority under a framework agreement. The work was to be
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has updated its Debt Collection Guidance, which sets out the standards required of any business involved in recovering consumer credit debts. The revised guidance highlights specific practices that the OFT considers to be unfair, such as using Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites to contact debtors. It says
The Government wants businesses to be treated as customers rather than culprits when it comes to the enforcement of regulations and has put forward a number of proposals in response to its recent Transforming Regulatory Enforcement consultation, which set out how the Government wanted a more mature and open relationship with businesses in relation to
The Government has outlined plans to modernise UK copyright laws to encourage business growth and development. It has now begun a public consultation on its proposed measures which are based on recommendations in the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property and Growth. The proposals include: Creating an exception to allow limited acts of private copying –
The Background The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act provides that playing music on CD, radio on television at work is an infringement copyright. The owner of the rights may be entitled to a range of remedies including recovering damages for any losses or seeking an injunction to stop recordings being played. The infringer may even
All businesses which process personal data in an automated form (most commonly by inputting data onto a computer system) are obliged to notify the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) that they are data controllers, unless they fall into one of the exemptions under the legislation. Businesses which do not comply can face fines of up to