Tenants will be better protected from unscrupulous landlords and agents by a raft of new measures now coming into force, according to Housing Minister Kris Hopkins. Mr Hopkins said: “All tenants and leaseholders have a right to fair and transparent treatment from their letting agent. That’s why we will require all agents to belong to
A court has ruled that a restrictive covenant involving a software company and a former employee was reasonable and so therefore enforceable. The company produced software for the fresh produce industry. They licensed their products for 12-month periods and renewed the licence upon payment of an annual fee. The sales manager had a post-termination restrictive
Employers who fail to pay their employees the National Minimum Wage now face financial penalties of up to £20,000. The penalty was previously a fine of 50% of the total underpayments to a maximum of £5,000. It is now a fine of 100% of total underpayments to a maximum of £20,000. The new limits came
A court has ruled that a landlord was within his rights to refuse to renew tenancies to shopkeepers who had pestered him with frivolous lawsuits. The issue arose because over several years, the shopkeepers had brought a total of 10 claims against the landlord saying that he had obstructed their rights of way and their
An insurance company has won a legal dispute with a trade union over commission payments on the sale of its services to new customers. The case involved Unite the Union and Liverpool Victoria Banking Services. They had an agreement whereby Unite allowed Victoria access to its members in order to market and sell services to
Late payments now lead to more credit insurance claims than insolvency, according to a recent survey. In the first three quarters of 2013, 60% of claims were made because of a customer’s protracted default, with 40% because of customer insolvency. That is in contrast to 33% for protracted default and 67% for insolvency the previous
A man who said his former employers gave him a bad reference because he had brought a discrimination case against them has won his victimisation claim. The man worked for a car sales and repair company but was dismissed because he was over 65 years old. He began proceedings for unfair dismissal and age discrimination.
On 6 April 2014 a major part of the Government’s programme of employment dispute reform will come into force with the introduction of ACAS Early Conciliation. The new scheme will require an employee who believes that they have a claim against their employer to notify ACAS of the dispute before they can issue a claim
Several police officers have won age discrimination claims after being forced to retire early. The five police forces responsible could now have to pay out millions of pounds in compensation. Test cases were brought on behalf of 250 officers. They lost their jobs under regulation A19, which allows forces to forcibly retire any officer under
After many years building up a business, directors often worry about how to bow out successfully while ensuring that the firm continues to thrive. The key to ensuring a smooth succession is to start planning as early as possible ahead of your target retirement date. The first step is to hold meetings with those who