The government is taking steps to weed out rogue landlords and letting agents. In this month’s column, Alex Byard looks at what this means for the rest of the private rental sector… I have heard the government is trying to tackle bad practise. What will this mean for us law Read more…
Tenants require the flexibility of being able to dispose of their interest in leasehold premises for a number of reasons including where business is expanding and tenants are wanting to relocate to larger premises or where business is struggling and tenants are wanting to downsize or simply close their business. Read more…
The First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber) has held that two directors were not directly liable for income tax and national insurance contributions (NICs) that their insolvent employer failed to pay to HMRC because the tax and NICs had been “deducted” for PAYE purposes. The decision underlines an important distinction between a Read more…
Employers will welcome a Court of Appeal decision that robustly rejected the idea that they are obliged to make reasonable adjustments for employees or job applicants who are associated with disabled people (in this case, for a non-disabled employee whose daughter has Down’s syndrome). The court held that the reasonable Read more…
Registering residential tenancy deposits Many private residential landlords, particularly those with large tenant portfolios, will be concerned by a recent County Court decision. The court held that, even if the tenancy deposit had been protected at the outset of the fixed term of the assured shorthold tenancy (AST), the registration Read more…
A recent High Court decision provides useful guidance for businesses on how they should deal with the competing rights, legal obligations and interests of the parties involved when providing a reference. The court held that a police force should not be permitted to send a further reference to the new Read more…
Businesses should take note of an Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) case that highlights the importance of formalising employment relationships. The EAT held that an employment tribunal erred in finding that a director and shareholder, who performed part-time work for a company without pay for at least three years, was an Read more…
Landlords with existing residential leases that provide for a third party to determine the service charge will be concerned by an Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) decision. The tribunal held that a provision in a lease of a dwelling that provided for the apportionment of the service charge by a third Read more…
Two surveys have highlighted the risk of candidates providing fake references and the fact that a large number of staff fail their probationary periods. This suggests that employers may need to review their procedures for checking references and for assessing probationary periods. The Federation of Small Businesses and BBC1 worked Read more…
The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has recently published a statutory consultation on amending the regulatory framework for social housing in England in order to protect social housing assets. The consultation proposals include: Changes to the Governance and Financial Viability Standard to ensure that registered providers effectively manage their businesses Read more…