Katrina Smiles, Commercial Solicitor, discusses the changing face of work, and the potential problems that employers need to consider.

If you are a shareholder in a company, holding less than 100% of the entire issued share capital, and you haven’t yet considered a shareholders agreement then you ought to.

As at 31 May 2021, the residential eviction moratorium as we know it is being amended. The Government has announced that the moratorium introduced to protect tenants during lockdown is being relaxed; which shall be welcome news to Landlords.

On 7 January 2021, the Housing Secretary announced extensive reforms which will allow leaseholders to extend their leases by 990 years and reduce ground rents to nil. This comes as part of the biggest reforms to English Property law for over 40 years. The new legislation forms the first part of the package of reforms proposed by the Law Commission last year.

Our team has a wealth of experience in property disputes. Our clients include a wide range of residential and commercial landlords from individuals to companies, all of whom value our clear, thorough and cost-effective advice. We can liaise seamlessly with your surveyor and other experts to ensure that your problem is resolved as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Debt recovery and disputes are often a draining and stressful time for any business. If you’re having difficulty in chasing a payment, Bright Solicitors will help to take the stress out of recovering debts for you. Our expert team will guide you through to a successful resolution.

Contracts govern the relationships between almost every business. They provide a framework for successful commercial relationships and business growth but, when contract disputes arise, they can cause a whole host of problems for those who are party to them.

Professional negligence describes a situation where someone who owes you a duty of skill and care fails to perform in accordance with that duty, and you suffer loss as a result. The duty may be owed by any professional, but claims are most commonly made against accountants, architects, valuers and surveyors.

For landlords with a portfolio of properties, we can provide tenancy dispute services across your full estate as part of an ongoing arrangement. This includes checking existing tenancy agreements and drawing up new legally binding contracts with tenants that protect you against damage and antisocial tenant behaviour.

Whilst we are far from out the other side of the coronavirus crisis, with restrictions easing further, now seems like a good moment to take stock of some of the changes we and our clients have gone through over the last several months.

In the first weeks of July, the ICO has announced its intention to impose two major fines relating to breaches of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Bright Solicitors are delighted to have helped the owners of the Duke of Cornwall Hotel in the sale of their business to its new owners, Fragrance Group, being operated by Bespoke Hotels.

In the current state of flux that surrounds the Brexit negotiations, there are many possible outcomes. For most businesses, planning for any – never mind all – of these scenarios is simply not practical.

With Brexit dominating the headlines, businesses are facing a period of uncertainty, no matter what the outcome of the next few months. One of the ways to reduce some of that uncertainty is to be very clear about what arrangements your business has with those it deals with, and those it relies on.

January is the time of New Year resolutions, new diets, new exercise routines, looking forward and planning for the New Year. It’s also a good time to think about the health of your business and to set some goals for the future.

Christmas and New Year staff parties are intended to be a source of good fun, a reward for a year gone by. But for employment lawyers they are all too often also a source of new work.

The classic problem is the employee who oversteps the boundaries of good taste and acceptable conduct, and strays into the arena of harassment or discrimination.

Following the Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017, Dame Judith’s independent review of building regulations and fire safety culminated in the publication of her report on 17 May 2018, together with a statement to the House of Commons on the same date by James Brokenshire, the Housing Secretary.

With the well-documented pressures on the National Health Service it is increasingly the case that an employee needing a doctor’s or medical appointment will have little choice regarding the timing of that appointment. It’s fine for an employer to express a preference that the employee will arrange these outside office hours but in practice this simply may not be possible.

As a valued client of Bright Solicitors, we are offering you and your business a free legal health check and review.

We want to spend time learning about the aspirations of your business, and how we can help you achieve your goals and resolve the challenges you may face.

One of our dedicated commercial business experts would love to meet you to establish what services we can offer your business. We can attend your premises to see how your business operates or we can arrange a meeting at our offices to suit you. Please give us a call on 01752 388883 or email to arrange your free business review.

Whilst busy working away yesterday we had a phone call from a client who was very concerned as he had received a phone call from “High Court Enforcement” officers who were on their way to their registered office to collect payment for an outstanding County Court Judgment and were pushing for payment from him on the phone. This is not unexpected behaviour from high court enforcement companies as once they have complied with their obligations and sent a notice they will call to try to obtain payment prior to any visit being made and they can be very pushy and forceful.

http://ec.europa.eu

Stronger rules on data protection from 25 May 2018 mean citizens have more control over their data and business benefits from a level playing field. One set of rules for all companies operating in the EU, wherever they are based. Find out what this means for your SME.

• GDPR stands for the General Data Protection Regulations. These regulations originate in the EU and will replace the existing Data Protection Act.

• They will come into force on 25th May 2018

• Brexit will have no effect on the GDPR – the Government has committed to ensuring they take effect in the UK.

• Main purpose – giving data subjects (individuals) greater control over their personal data.

• Affects all businesses holding personal data – not just client/prospective client data but also eg employee data.

We held a very successful seminar in partnership at The Duke of Cornwall Hotel on Tuesday 18th July. Please ‘read more’ for the presentations from Phil Johnston, Director, of South West Growth Service & Matt Cook, partner, of Bright Solicitors.

Often the words “Guarantee” and “Guarantor” get thrown around without much, or enough thought at all but we must always consider how serious entering into a guarantee can be. So, what do we mean when we talk about guarantees? Well, a guarantee is essentially a contract promising to meet the liabilities of a third party in the event that that party fails to perform its obligations under an initial contract made between that third party and another. The classic example is a landlord and tenant situation – the landlord, Benny leases his property out to Tommy who wishes to run a coffee shop. Benny is nervous about how successful Tommy will be and concerned that he will be unable to make the monthly rental payment of £3,000 and therefore requests that Tommy has a guarantor. Tommy asks Sammy, his best friend to give a guarantee.

ESSA Technology will become part of Surrey-based Jenoptik Traffic Solutions UK, which is a subsidiary of the German business Jenoptik AG, bringing to the UK and international markets a wide range of end to end security, monitoring and enforcement applications.

Have you bought anything online recently? Had your vehicle serviced? Applied for a new credit card? We are constantly purchasing goods and services and entering into contracts left right and centre – but how many of us honestly spend the time to carefully read through (and understand) the terms and conditions?

Many of our clients, when we start discussing Intellectual Property with them, ask……’do I really need it’? Or they say…’surely my business is protected enough already’.

Colloquially known as a brand, logo, business name or trading name etc. They can include words, images or combination of both, sounds, smells and even shapes. It is important to note that registering your company name with Companies House does not provide you with trade mark protection. Unless you register your trade mark with the Intellectual Property Office you are not protected, other than through a process known as passing off. Passing off is difficult to prove and costly; therefore registering your trade mark with the IPO is preferable.

Following a raft of changes to consumer law over the last couple of years, 2016 has started with the next instalment for businesses to consider when engaging with customers.

With effect from the 15th February 2016 the Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform was live and will be actively enforced. Businesses need to update their terms and conditions in order to comply with the terms.

As the new year is the time for re-evaluating our lifestyles, ditching the endless gorging of the festive period in favour of dieting and exercise regimes, so too is it the perfect opportunity for businesses to reflect on the recent legal changes affecting the methods and practices they adopted and appraising what, if any, improvement plans need to be put in place.

The government has announced the launch of ‘Pension wise’ which will offer free and impartial guidance to people on the new pension freedoms which comes into effect in April.

Economic Secretary to the Treasury Andrea Leadsom has unveiled the name and logo of the new pensions guidance service.

HM Treasury is encouraging groups, individuals and representative bodies to submit their ideas for consideration in advance of Budget 2015.

HM Treasury has also published guidance on the correct procedure for making a representation, which advises that ‘representations should contain policy suggestions for the upcoming fiscal event and explain the policy rationale, costs, benefits and deliverability of proposals’.

The Government has published guidance on its new Fit for Work service, which aims to help tackle the problem of long-term sickness absence.

The service is being introduced to facilitate the return to work of employees who have been off sick for a period of four weeks or more. The new service will enable employers to refer their employees, with the employee’s consent, for an occupational health assessment. Following the assessment, a return to work plan will be created, including recommendations for employers on how to assist the employee with getting back to work.

HMRC have announced that they have secured almost all of the disputed tax due from the first group of tax avoidance scheme users to receive Accelerated Payment notices (APNs). An APN forces the taxpayer to make payment to HMRC of tax currently under dispute within 90 days of being issued with a notice. APNs are being introduced to counteract the perceived cash flow advantage for the taxpayer of holding onto the disputed tax during an avoidance dispute.

HMRC are warning taxpayers to be wary of the latest in a long line of email phishing scams that claims taxpayers have ‘made mistakes while completing their last tax form application’.

The National Savings & Investments website and helpline are experiencing a high volume of enquiries following the launch of their 65+ Guaranteed Growth Bonds which are being referred to as ‘pensioner bonds’.

The bonds are available for a period of one or three years. The taxable bonds offer savers interest of 2.8% over one year and a fixed annual interest rate of 4% over three years with a minimum investment of £500. Investors are restricted to a maximum investment of £10,000 in each of the two products offered.