Read our latest articles, news briefs and legal updates across all our different services.
The Government has published more information about its plans for shared parental leave and extending the right to flexible working. It says that under the new system: Employed mothers will still be entitled to 52 weeks of maternity leave as a day one right Mothers can choose to end their maternity leave after the initial
The Court of Appeal has held that the fall in property prices in the recession was “reasonably foreseeable” so a farmer can seek damages of up to £398,000 from engineering consultants who delayed work on a development by 15 months. The case involved a farmer who obtained planning permission to build houses on a field
Two directors have been found guilty of contempt of court after disposing of their company’s goodwill assets in breach of a freezing order. The two directors were involved in a family based agency which sold mechanical breakdown insurance policies. An insurance company became unhappy with the way the directors ran the agency and blamed them
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has put forward a set of proposals to tackle issues causing concern to both tenants and landlords in the lettings market. The OFT says it analysed 4,000 complaints from across the spectrum and found that tenants and landlords were often unhappy about fees charged by agents, the poor service
The amount of business debt owed to UK firms has soared past £1bn, according to figures released by the Credit Services Association (CSA). It shows that firms are finding it increasingly difficult to stay on top of credit control. The CSA research shows that the amount of debt outsourced by businesses to collection agencies reached
The risk involved in relying on oral contracts was illustrated in a recent case before the High Court. It involved a property consultant who specialised in finding work for development companies in return for a share of the profits. Most of his work was carried out through his own limited company on the basis that
A company set up to preserve parkland has failed to stop planning permission being granted for a housing development. The issue arose when East Devon District Council granted outline planning permission for a 400-home estate in a countryside location. A total of 40% of the homes would be in the affordable housing category. The council
The European Union has agreed a one-stop patent system that will make it cheaper and easier for businesses to protect their ideas and designs. At present, applications to the European Patent Office have to be validated in individual member countries creating extra expense in translations and administration. Under the new system, only one application is
It has been announced that awards for unfair dismissal are to be limited to one year’s salary. However, the overall cap will remain at £72,300. Employment relations minister Jo Swinson said the change would be introduced in an amendment to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, which is currently going through parliament. Ms Swinson said:
A landlord has won his appeal against the level of penalties imposed on him for operating an unlicensed House in Multiple Occupation (HMO). The case arose after six tenants sought Rent Repayment Orders (RRO) after discovering their HMO was not licensed. The tribunal made an order in their favour for the repayment of all the