A software developer has been granted an injunction to prevent a former employee passing on confidential information to a rival business. The developer specialised in computer gaming software for use in non-gaming industries. The employee had joined the company as a programmer and later moved to the sales department. There were restrictive covenants in his
Families inheriting estates valued at more than £2m will have to pay probate fees of £20,000 under new proposals being put forward by the government. The move would also see the beneficiaries of much smaller estates paying no fee at all. Under the current system, all estates worth more than £5,000 pay a standard probate
A quarter of a million first time buyers have opened a Help to Buy ISA since they became available last December. More than half of them are aged 30 or under. Some people have already claimed the bonus offered by the ISAs and are using them to help buy their first home. Help to Buy
A husband has lost his appeal against an unequal divorce settlement that gave his wife a greater share of the marital assets. The couple had separated after 15 years’ of marriage due to difficulties caused by the husband’s addictive behaviour. The wife remained in their London flat and the husband moved to a rented flat
A woman has won her legal battle to keep the home she shared with her partner despite opposition from his estranged wife. The court heard that Joy Williams and her partner Norman Martin had owned their home as tenants in common for 18 years. Mr Martin had separated from his wife but they had not
The government has announced that 600 acres of publicly owned land is being made available to build new homes. It has identified 80 sites that will be put up for sale over the next 18 months. It is estimated these sites will support more than 5,000 homes as well as land for industry and business.
284,000 landlords risk being fined over tenant deposits New research has revealed that 284,000 landlords are at risk of being fined because they have failed to protect tenants’ deposits in an approved scheme. The survey by the Centre for Economics Business Research (CEBR) suggests that more than £500m worth of tenancy deposits are being held
The High Court has removed an arbitrator from a construction dispute because he may have been biased towards one of the parties involved. The case involved a developer and an integrated services company. A dispute arose during a construction project and the matter had to go to arbitration. The arbitrator was appointed by the Chartered
New reporting forms have been introduced to improve protection for people using lasting powers of attorney (LPA). LPAs enable you to appoint someone to be your deputy and look after your interests should you lose the capacity to make decisions for yourself at some point in the future. Deputies can be appointed to make decisions
The recent case of Barbulescu v Romania hit the national press with headlines suggesting that the law had changed and that employers could do whatever they wanted in relation to the interception and monitoring of employees’ emails. These headlines were not correct. The law in this area has not changed but some clarification has been