The High Court has ruled that a housing development next to a protected wildlife area can go ahead despite protests that the correct procedures were not followed. The developer had received planning permission to build 65 houses, but a local protester claimed the fact that the proposed site was next to an area of special
A company has won its appeal against a £400 fine for late submission of its Employer Annual Return. The directors said they had made genuine attempts to submit their form but had not been able to do so because they didn’t receive an online activation code from the Revenue & Customs commissioners. The company first
The makers of the board game Scrabble have lost a trademark dispute involving an online game named Scramble. Scrabble argued that the use of the word Scramble, and the presentation of the word in the game’s logo, with the ‘M’ turned on its side so as to look like a capital letter B, would cause
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A landlord has lost his appeal to increase the rent on a property which had benefited from substantial improvements over two years. The issue arose after the landlord made a set of improvements in 2008. He applied to the Rent Control Committee to be allowed to increase the rent but was turned down. He made
The government is increasing the number of sensitive words that can be used in company names. Words such as Authority, Board, European, Group, National and International are being taken off the restricted list. It means businesses will be able to use them without getting prior permission from Companies House. However, words that could be misused
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The government is proposing to scrap mandatory annual returns to help companies save time and money. Under company law at present, companies must provide details every year about matters such as the business address, business type, names of directors and information about shareholders and shares. For most businesses, this information barely changes from one year
The government is introducing new measures to encourage longer term tenancies and improve standards in the private rented sector. A model tenancy agreement, developed with the sector, will set out the rights and responsibilities of both landlords and tenants, and provide an industry benchmark for written tenancy agreements. Ministers say the agreement will ensure families
More than 102,000 new businesses were set up in theUKlast year, according to the latest government figures. The total number of businesses now stands at a record level of 4.9million. Business Secretary Vince Cable said the figures “are a timely reminder of the number of people willing to try their hand at business”. The government