An estate agent who found a buyer for a block of flats cannot claim commission because of failings in his oral contract with the seller. The issue arose over eight flats that had been on the market for some time without selling. An agent offered to find a buyer for the flats and told the
A property company has won the right to repossess a house after the occupier failed to comply with an obligation to insure it and keep it in good repair. The case involved a woman who had lived in the house all her life. In 1985, ownership passed to her brother. In 2008, the brother sold
A developer has been told he cannot recover overpayments he made on a building project because he knew when he made them that they might be wrong but he failed to investigate. The issue arose after the developer entered into an agreement to acquire a number of sites for a construction company. He agreed to
The number of private sector businesses in the UK has hit a record high of 5.5 million, according to the latest official figures. The Business Population Estimates show that the UK had a million more small businesses at the start of 2016 than in 2010. It also had 4,000 more medium-sized businesses and 900 more
An estimated 3,633 companies entered insolvency in the third quarter of this year. That was increase of 2.2% on the previous quarter and a 1.1% increase on the third quarter of 2015. The figures were released by the Insolvency Service, which says the trend in case numbers has been fairly flat over the last year,
More than 100,000 people of working age (18-64) are diagnosed with cancer each year in the UK. Encouragingly, however more people are living with and working through cancer. The headlines and statistics about returning to work are not so encouraging. Last month the case of Terry Foster, a refrigeration engineer with Lymphoma, received widespread news
A businessman has been disqualified from being a director for six years after it was discovered that he transferred a property belonging to his insolvent company into his own name. Mohammed Liton ran the restaurant Penicuik Clippers Ltd for seven years until it went into voluntary liquidation in 2015. It owed creditors £58,800 at the
A father has been awarded £28,000 because he received a lower rate of pay than his wife during their shared parental leave (SPL). David Snell and his wife were both employed by Network Rail. The company’s family friendly policy provided an enhanced level of pay for mothers during maternity leave but fathers were limited to
The government is introducing new rules on minimum room sizes in homes in multiple occupation (HMO) as part of a crackdown on rogue landlords. Ministers want to strengthen the ability of councils to tackle ruthless landlords who exploit tenants and charge them extortionate rents to live in poor conditions. Other proposed measures to help councils
The High Court has ruled that a company acted unfairly when it removed a director without offering to buy his shares. The case involved a director who entered into a partnership agreement with other shareholders in 2000 to acquire and run care homes. The business was incorporated in 2004. In 2012, the shareholders removed him