Money laundering legislation requires banks to freeze transactions pending clearance if there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the funds concerned in the transaction may be the proceeds of crime or connected with criminal activity. The procedure involves the filing…
A recent case shows how a person who is intent on being difficult can obstruct matters for a long period. In the case in point, the court (after a legal battle lasting eight years and involving 25 court hearings) eventually…
When a lease on commercial premises comes under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA), the grounds on which the landlord may oppose the tenant’s application for a new lease when the lease expires are limited. One of the grounds…
Whether you are planning to refurbish and sell a house or to construct a whole new apartment block, almost all your plans will be governed by planning laws and any local restrictions. Planning restrictions are more stringent in conservation areas,…
In the second case of its kind, Lion Steel Ltd has been fined £480,000 for corporate manslaughter following the death of an employee who fell through a roof. The court ordered the company to pay the fine in four annual…
The staging timetable for when employers in the UK must automatically enrol eligible jobholders in a pension scheme has been finalised. The new regulations, which come into force on 1 October 2012, revise the current implementation timetable so that small…
When a company made its managing director redundant, it agreed to give him six months' pay in lieu of notice. However, which it subsequently discovered that he had previously committed an act of gross misconduct, it refused to pay. The…
In February 2012, the Education and Business Secretaries commissioned jeweller and social entrepreneur Jason Holt to report on measures that would make it easier for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to take on apprentices. The report has now been published…
When a museum came up short in its ability to fund a pension scheme deficit, the question of the status of the museum’s exhibits became of interest: if they belonged to the museum trust, they could be sold to fund…
Failing to settle a dispute out of court has cost a group of tenants in Sussex dear in a case decided recently. The dispute arose when a block of flats suffered water penetration. The tenants were obliged to pay for…