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Landlords have a legal duty to keep the premises they let to tenants in a safe condition and if they fail to do so can be held liable for any injury or loss that results. Recently, a local authority was ordered to pay compensation to a council tenant who...
The process of divorce in the UK has for many years been seen as rather long-winded and tending to produce more conflict than need be. One of the reasons for this is that the grounds which demonstrate an 'irretrievable breakdown' of a marriage – the...
The legislation that introduced the Right to Rent scheme, which went live in February 2016 and compels landlords to check the immigration status of their tenants, has never been popular with landlords or tenants. Recently, the High Court ruled that the...
The distinction between employment and self-employment is a continuing source of controversy and a ruling by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) that an accountant who worked exclusively for one client fell into the former category has added a new wrinkle...
The law in the UK is not supportive of people who assist, however unwillingly, those they love who want to die. Although such wishes are often borne out of suffering years of intractable pain or disability, assisting the suicide of another remains a criminal...
Judgments for debt would hardly be worth having if there were no bailiffs to enforce them. However, as a High Court ruling made clear , they have to abide by stringent rules and do not have carte blanche to trample on debtors' rights. The case concerned a...
Directors of struggling companies all too often place payment of tax at the bottom of their priority lists, with the result that it is the public purse that frequently suffers most in the event of insolvency. However, as a High Court decision showed , such...
Trusts have been gradually falling out of favour, according to a recent report. It is thought that the fall of some 4 per cent in trusts submitting tax returns last year (and 30 per cent since 2003/2004) is due to both a lack of understanding of trusts and...
One of the key requirements for a patent for a technical process innovation to be successfully defended is that there must be something genuinely innovative about the subject matter of the patent. There has to be 'novelty' and an inventive step. On...
The quality of British justice is respected around the world – but there are inevitably occasions when judges overstep the mark. In a family case on point, a mother had her two young children taken into care after a judge dismissed out of hand...
Clients are reminded that, following the introduction of the Stamp Duty Land Tax (Administration) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 , the time limit for the payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) on property transactions has been reduced from 30 days to 14...
Payments under building contracts can be a touchy issue and have led to numerous disputes. Adjudication proceedings are intended to make the process of resolving building disputes simpler, but they themselves are replete with legal challenges on a whole...
The impossibility of asking a deceased person what their real intentions were makes the value of these being clear before death quite obvious, as a recent case shows. It involved an elderly widow who died in 2016. After her death, her family discovered an...
Once an employee succeeds in establishing facts that arguably support a finding of discrimination, the burden of proving that there was no such discrimination falls upon the employer. The Court of Appeal has confirmed that approach in a guideline decision ( ...
Having enough money to pay for care costs in the final years of life is a major concern for many and, despite promises made by governments in the past about limiting the impact on people, in reality the scale of the problem is such that the potential impact...
Businesses that deal or hope to deal with one another often have to put security concerns to one side and share their confidential information. As a High Court case underlined, however, such exchanges should always be subject to a professionally drafted...
National boundaries pose little or no obstacle to tax evasion. The Court of Appeal made that point in an important ruling which has greatly boosted the ability of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to pursue inquiries beyond the borders of the UK. HMRC were...
The welfare of children is always top of the list of priorities of the Family Court when making arrangements following the break-up of a family. This can be especially difficult where the parents are from different countries, as shown by a recent case in...
The Government is duty-bound by European law to ensure that specified air quality standards are met as quickly as possible. However, the Court of Appeal has ruled in an important test case that that duty does not extend to a general obligation to refuse...
More than 550,000 people die annually in the UK and half of those deaths require the completion of Inheritance Tax (IHT) forms, which are not straightforward and can be a daunting burden at a difficult time for families. However, only 5 per cent of estates...
