Estate agents have been warned that they could be breaking the law if they reach agreement with rival firms about which websites to use for property listings. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has contacted some agents it suspects may already be in breach and has written an open letter to alert others to the
Companies in the UK must now have a register of ‘People with Significant Control’ to provide greater transparency for consumers and other businesses. The register should include basic information about who owns or controls the company, including their name, month and year of birth, nationality, and details of their interest in the business. A person
The government has pledged to reduce red tape and save British businesses £10 billion by 2020. It says this follows the £10 billion savings already implemented between 2010 and 2015. The latest planned cuts were announced by Business Secretary Sajid Javid. He said: “Hundreds of businesses responded to our Cutting Red Tape reviews and we
An estate agency has been granted a court injunction to help it protect its business against competition from a former director. The case involved a director who had worked for the agency since 2000. In 2013, he was granted shares on condition that he entered into a non-solicitation and non-dealing covenant. The key part of
1. Fail to prepare – prepare to fail! It may be necessary to undertake a pre-sale business review well in advance of your proposed sale date with the help of an experienced corporate finance adviser and implement necessary changes. You must be prepared to invest time and money at the outset which will help
A director has failed to get Entrepreneurs’ Relief on the sale of his shares because of the timing of his resignation and the date of his company’s shareholder meeting. The director was one of the founding shareholders of his company. In 2008, he decided to leave the business and in February 2009, it was agreed
A businesswoman has been banned from acting as company director for seven years for allowing her restaurant to employ illegal workers. An investigation by the Insolvency Service in 2013 found that the woman was a director of the restaurant while it was employing three people who were not eligible to work in the UK. The
Two company directors have been held personally liable for the costs involved in mounting a no-hope defence against a winding-up petition. The court heard that HMRC brought a petition to wind up the company based on an alleged liability for VAT of £1.6m, and because of a number of tax issues. The company applied for
A football club has won a dispute with a contractor brought in to improve the standard of its pitches. The court heard that Yeovil Town played in League 1 but hoped to be promoted to the Championship, the league above. It hired a contractor to bring its pitches up to Championship standard. The work was
A court has ruled that a local council was entitled to terminate a contract with a communications company following a number of service failures. The agreement between the two sides covered services such as health, transport communications and public safety. The contract contained a clause entitling the local authority to waive key performance indicator scores