The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 It seems appropriate that Friday the 13th is the implementation date for the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. For some retailers, the consequences of not getting it right could be a horror show. Let’s call them Read more…
Landlords will welcome the High Court’s comments on when sanctions for non-compliance with the tenancy deposit scheme (TDS) legislation are triggered. The tenant had argued that the section 21 notice served by the landlord was invalid, as, at the time of service, the landlord had not yet protected the deposit Read more…
Tenants should take note of a Court of Appeal decision that emphasises the need to pay close attention to all the requirements of a break clause, including the formal requirements, and to follow them precisely. The court held that a notice purporting to exercise a break clause in a lease Read more…
A High Court case illustrates that it is not always in an employer’s best interests to immediately place an employee on garden leave, or seek injunctive relief against a departing employee when they leave to set up in competition. Although seeking an injunction is often the knee-jerk reaction of an Read more…
In what appears to be one of the few times that a judge has felt justified in allowing the inspection and imaging of employees’ computers, the High Court has recently ordered that an employer may instruct an independent computer expert to inspect and take images from the personal computers of Read more…
News On 22 April 2014, court fees payable in the High Court and County Court for insolvency relating applications and filings increased, sometimes substantially. For example, the petition fee for an administration order has increased to £280 and the court fee for an application within existing insolvency proceedings has increased Read more…
The High Court has granted an injunction to enforce a 12 month non-compete restrictive covenant which, if read literally, offered the claimant employer no protection at all. The court was prepared to read words into the covenant to produce a commercially sensible result. This case is a useful reminder of Read more…
The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) has published details of its updated policy on enforcement of the national minimum wage, which includes the revised scheme for naming and shaming employers, and the new system of increased financial penalties of up to £20,000 for the most serious cases. If Read more…
Several changes to planning law came into force on 6 April 2014. The changes introduce a number of new permitted development rights for change of use: New Class CA allows a building used as a shop to be used as a bank, a building society, a credit union or a Read more…
Businesses should take note of an Employment Appeal decision confirming that covert recordings made by an employee of the public and private discussions of the panel at her grievance and disciplinary hearings could be admitted as evidence at a final hearing. Whether conversations that are covertly recorded are admissible in Read more…