Commercial and Business

Property owners letting their properties to holidaymakers risk breaching planning rules, writes property solicitor Iain Robinson of Slee Blackwell Solicitors’ Barnstaple office. By way of background, one usually needs planning permission from the local council to materially change the use of a property. Residential, or ‘C3’ use, is where the property is used as a dwelling house by people who form a family unit (or by an individual). It need not be their only or even their main home.  

Sam Hannon reviews the likely impact of this latest piece of legislation

The long-awaited Guidelines for The Bribery Act 2010 have now been published.   The Act will be in force from 1 July 2011, replacing the complicated, piecemeal offences at common law and Acts of Parliament dating back as far as 1889.  The Bribery Act is intended to assist in combating bribery and corruption worldwide.  Slee Blackwell Solicitors have undertaken a review of this controversial new law and its potentially serious and far-reaching implications.

Franchise Businesses are more likely to thrive in a recession than a non Franchise Business.  UK Franchise turnover in 2009 was 11.8 billion.  Today there are approximately 465,000 jobs and 842 Franchises in the UK with over 34,800 franchised units (ref:  Natwest/British Franchise Association Survey 2010).

We are delighted to be the only North Devon law firm listed in the 9th annual Western Morning News 2010 Deals Review which illustrates we are continuing to compete with the national firms on any type and size of commercial and corporate transactions.

The Review showed that deal volumes have increased by 12% from 2009 across the South West which considering the uncertainty of the new coalition and economy is better than expected.

Our team have a wealth of national and local expertise and the practicality to design bespoke solutions to push through the transaction.

A recent High Court decision is likely to provide welcome relief to landlords that are being pursued by local authorities in respect of tenants that have failed to pay their council tax. The court decided that a landlord was not liable for council tax where the property was held not to be a house in multiple occupation (HMO).

What is an HMO for council tax purposes?

A property will be an HMO if it satisfies one of the following criteria:

In these difficult times Landlords are increasingly finding their Tenants are experiencing difficulties in paying their rent. Whilst it is always possible for a Landlord and a Tenant to agree a temporary reduction in rent or a change in frequency of rent payment (ie monthly rather than quarterly) in the hope of retaining the tenant this does not always produce the desired result and the Landlord could be left out of pocket.

The imminent election has forced the Government to drop planned tax rises on holiday lets and phonelines and to reverse the extra tax on cider as of the end of June.

Many tenants of commercial are likely to have been adversely affected by the economic downturn and may, as a consequence, be struggling to pay the rent due under the terms of their lease. Landlords should be aware of the following if a tenant fails to pay the rent due under the terms of a commercial lease:

1. It will no longer be necessary for private companies to have a company secretary. For existing companies wishing to dispense with a secretary the company will need to check its Articles of Association which may need to be amended. 2. The execution of deeds can now be undertaken by one director in the presence of a witness who must also sign the document. Companies must consider whether they wish one director to be able to execute deeds.