A director has been given a 28-day suspended prison sentence after defying court orders during a dispute with another company. His fellow director was fined £1,000 for his part in the offences. The two men were directors of a company that leased premises to a business tenant. A dispute arose which led to the tenant
The Court of Appeal has imposed the maximum penalty possible on a landlord who failed to comply fully with the requirements of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS). The issue arose after the landlord took action against a tenant for rent arrears. The tenant brought a counterclaim denying rent arrears and seeking repayment of the deposit.
The High Court has ruled that a group of engineering consultants were not negligent when advising on a major development – even though they failed to predict some important issues. The consultants had been asked by the commissioners of a drainage authority to explore options for upgrading a pumping station. They carried out research with
Businesses are being urged to make sure their websites comply with consumer protection law ahead of the Christmas period. The warning from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) comes after it carried out a review of 156 websites to check if any were in breach of the Distance Selling Regulations (DSRs). It found that 62
Three estate agents face prosecution for printing misleading information about the size of a garden in a property they were selling – even though they included various disclaimers. In the brochure they described the house as a “charming period, detached family house…set within superb gardens of approximately three-quarters of an acre”. The gardens were actually
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has issued new guidelines explaining how it will set tougher penalties for breaches of competition law. The maximum starting point for penalty calculations will increase from 10% of relevant turnover to 30%. The OFT says the change gives it the ability to set penalties which better reflect the gravity
A firm has been fined £10,000 after making a slight change to its name without telling HM Revenue & Customs. The firm, which doesn’t want to be identified, was originally a partnership but then decided to restructure as a limited company. It added Ltd to its name but didn’t realise that it was suppose to
The number of County Court Judgments (CCJs) against businesses rose by nearly 10% in the first three months of this year. The Registry Trust, which compiles the figures, says there were 34,602 CCJs against businesses in England and Wales in the first quarter. That was a rise of 9.8% on the final quarter of 2011.
Employers need to be careful what they say to staff during informal meetings, as one firm found to its cost recently. The firm, which carried out services for a large banking group, was about to be taken over. During an informal meeting with staff broadcast over the internet, it announced that a “guaranteed” minimum bonus
Landlords risk losing hundreds of thousands of pounds if they fail to consult tenants properly over service charges. In a recent case, Daejan Investments Ltd had to forfeit £270,000. Now Stenau Properties Ltd have fallen into the same trap. The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires that landlords go through a thorough consultation process before