With only a couple of months to go before the London 2012 Olympic Games commence on 27 July 2012, employers are reminded of the importance of having a clear policy in place to handle last-minute requests for time off work or to work flexibly in order to...

When a severely depressed woman attended hospital as a voluntary patient but then discharged herself and subsequently committed suicide, did the hospital breach her human rights by permitting her to leave? The Supreme Court has unanimously held that in...

Having too much, too soon has been the cause of the ruin of many a life. Worried that this might be the fate awaiting her child, a mother recently went to court to delay the entitlement of her three-year-old son to an estate of nearly £750,000, which...

When a developer sought to make use of a 37-year-old planning permission because it had ‘commenced building work’ within five years of the permission being granted, the Court of Appeal was unimpressed . In 1974, the developer had obtained...

A recent landmark ruling by the UK Supreme Court has continued the confusion surrounding the age at which employers can force their workers to retire, warns Marina Vincent, an employment lawyer at Harold Benjamin. “When my clients ask me if they can...

When a plan is attached to a conveyance, it is often marked ‘for identification purposes only’ in order to ensure that the plan is not considered to be the definitive record of the property being conveyed. Recently, a dispute reached court ...

The European Commission has published its framework for modernising data protection legislation across the EU. The General Data Protection Regulation will replace the EC Data Protection Directive, which is implemented in the UK by the Data Protection Act...

A compromise agreement is a legally binding agreement by which an employee undertakes to refrain from instigating Employment Tribunal (ET) proceedings against his or her employer or, if proceedings have already commenced, to discontinue them, in return for...

A recent tax case shows the lengths HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will go to when they think there is tax to be gained by adopting an aggressive attitude with taxpayers. It involved a family, consisting of a mother and her three children, who owned a...

A worker who developed asbestosis after being exposed to high levels of asbestos between 1959 and 1961 was unable to pursue a personal injury claim against his former employer, which was dissolved some years ago, owing to an ‘asbestos exclusion...

In general, rents on property are exempt supplies for VAT purposes. However, a landlord often supplies other services to tenants, such as cleaning and maintenance. These services are usually subject to VAT. When supplies of a VATable and a non-VATable...

The Court of Protection has refused a request to make financial arrangements for a young man lacking mental capacity because there was no clear benefit to him of the proposed arrangements. The young man, now 21, received more than £2 million in...

When the owner of a property failed to register a right of access, trouble was in store. The claimant owned a property (number 37) which was separated from the property next door (number 35) by an alleyway. This was owned by the owner of number 35. After...

A case recently heard by the Court of Appeal illustrates that long-running litigation can result when a will is home made. The decision also contains useful guidance on what is required for a will to be valid when it is not signed by the testator...

The aggregates, cement and ready-mixed concrete industries are the latest to come under the spotlight of the Competition Commission. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has identified a number of concerns, not least of which is that five companies control 90...

Whether a holiday is a ‘package’ or just a booking of travel arrangements can make a big difference when it comes to the legal position if something goes wrong. A recent case shows why. It involved a man and his girlfriend, who were seeking a...

A recent case in the Court of Appeal illustrates the extent to which property owners will go to protect what they perceive to be the boundaries of their property, which in this instance led Lord Justice Mummery to refer to ‘the territorial imperative...

In Bivonas LLP and others v Bennett , the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has upheld the decision of the Employment Tribunal (ET) that a gay barrister had been discriminated against on grounds of his sexual orientation. Lee Bennett joined Bivonas LLP as...

Having rejected the findings of a report it commissioned into the parenting of children after divorce, the Government has thrown into doubt the whole area of how this issue will be dealt with in future. The Government recently issued its response to the...

Computer programs have been at the centre of many legal disputes. Although the program itself is subject to the laws of copyright, creating a program that does what another program does is not a breach of copyright. The reason for this is that copyright law...

The laws of intestacy that apply in Scotland are not the same as those in England and Wales. However, following recent changes to the laws in England and Wales relating to the entitlement of relatives in intestacy, the Scottish Government decided to amend...

When a member of staff is on a temporary assignment, they are allowed to receive travel and subsistence payments (within certain limits) free of Income Tax (IT) and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) for up to 24 months. Similarly, where a salary...

A team of lawyers and support staff from Harold Benjamin will be putting their best foot forward when they take part in a sponsored walk to help raise much-needed funds for a local charity. The London Legal Walk 2012 will take place on Monday, 21 May...

A Scottish charity, Enable Scotland, has given an undertaking to take specific action to improve its compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) after two unencrypted memory sticks and papers containing the personal details of 101 people were stolen...

Currently, any employee who has completed one year of continuous employment and who ‘has, or expects to have responsibility, for a child’ is entitled to take up to four weeks’ unpaid parental leave per year while their child is under age...

Under changes to pensions rules recently announced by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), those aged 60 or over now have the option of taking a lump sum from personal pensions with a value of £2,000 or less. Although pension plans are designed to provide...

A former tenant has failed in a claim for damages over and above the return of his deposit , in a ruling that has demonstrated the limitations placed on tenants’ rights under Section 214 of the Housing Act 2004 . This legislation gives a tenant the...

Problems with doing ‘clean’ business in some jurisdictions are almost insurmountable, yet the Bribery Act 2010 is clear that offering inducements can easily amount to unlawful activity. It may be thought that where such activities are carried...

The Localism Act 2011 is expected to come fully into force in April 2012 and will usher in some significant changes to social housing law. The Act will give local authorities greater freedom to manage their waiting lists for social housing by setting...

For businesspeople from outside the EU who do not have a commercial sponsor, coming to work in the UK is becoming more difficult as the Government’s policy to cut net immigration bites. The UK Border Agency (UKBA) has reformed its guidance on Tier 1...

The normal presumption of the family court is that a child will benefit from contact with both of its parents. However, when a judge heard evidence of numerous examples of unreasonable behaviour by a girl’s father, the court ruled that he should not...

A battle over a relatively modest estate of less than £150,000 shows the sense of achieving a negotiated settlement where possible rather than resorting to protracted legal proceedings and adopting an excessively adversarial stance. The argument...

The laws relating to defamation apply equally to material posted on the Internet as they do to articles in newspapers and magazines. It is therefore risky to post comments that can be construed as defamatory on the Internet. Indeed, it can be considered that...

Although most people know that gifts will normally not be subject to Inheritance Tax if the donor survives for seven years after they are made, it is less well known that there is another tax which can be triggered by a gift: Capital Gains Tax (CGT). CGT...

As of 1 April 2012, all VAT-registered businesses must file their VAT returns online and pay their VAT electronically. Previously, only newly-registered businesses and those with a turnover of more than £100,000 per annum have been required to file and...

When a securities trader exploited a defect in automated trading software to make a considerable profit on a series of small trades made over a year, he probably thought he was doing nothing wrong…and indeed, that point remains arguable. Regrettably...

When the co-founder of two companies in the wind farm business was effectively ‘frozen out’ of them by his fellow shareholders and excluded from participating in their management, he went to court asserting that ‘unfair prejudice’ had...

A landlord who receives a deposit from a tenant in respect of an assured shorthold tenancy (AST) is obliged to protect the tenant’s deposit using one of three government-approved deposit protection schemes. A landlord who fails to protect the...

A Trafford firm has been fined £145,000 after an employee fell through a fragile warehouse roof onto a concrete floor and subsequently died from his injuries. The incident occurred in 2007, when Alan Kerwin, 32, was working a Saturday shift at an...

Many leases contain stipulations that tenants may make alterations to their let property with the consent of the landlord and that such consent ‘will not be unreasonably withheld’. With the economic benefits attaching to the installation of...

If your business infringes the Intellectual Property (IP) rights of others, you could face civil and/or criminal proceedings against you and your business. Employers can be held vicariously liable for IP infringements by employees. In order to protect your...

When a dependant of a deceased person is unexpectedly not provided for under the will, the normal course of action is to bring a claim against the deceased’s estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 . However, the...

The Chancellor’s Budget this year was set in the context of mixed economic data and business confidence reports. The economy continues its sluggish course, aided by a softening of the emergency klaxon sounding over the Euro… although for how...

The Chancellor’s Budget this year was set in the context of mixed economic data and business confidence reports. The economy continues its sluggish course, aided by a softening of the emergency klaxon sounding over the Euro… although for how...

The Government has accepted the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission (LPC) on the rates for the National Minimum Wage (NMW) that will apply from 1 October 2012. The revised rates are as follows: The adult hourly rate of the NMW will increase from...

When a marriage breaks up, it is usual for the couple to separate physically as well as legally and in some cases the physical separation can be considerable. With the increase in international travel and residence abroad, marriages between persons of...

There is a general rule that an action to claim damages for personal injury must be brought within three years of the claimant becoming aware of his or her injury. Recently, a man sought damages from his ex-employer on account of chest problems. He had been...

When a financial services company went into administration and came under investigation by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the emails of one of its directors were copied by the FSA, which wished to use them in evidence. The FSA sought to use eight...

The Government is carrying out a review of the current dismissal process and is seeking the views of employers, employees and all other interested parties on whether the procedures, including the ACAS Code of Practice on Discipline and Grievance, are too...

In Zulhayir v JJ Food Service Ltd. , the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that an employee was not ‘self-dismissed’ because he failed to respond to a letter from his employer stating that he would be taken to have terminated his...

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are quick to recognise easy pickings when transactions occur and the conditions for relief against the relevant taxes are not met. One of HMRC’s favourite targets – and this is likely to be increasingly the case...

Owners of furnished holiday letting (FHL) properties are reminded that new rules come into effect in April 2012 for which preparations should now be underway. The important changes relate to the actual letting of the property, which from April will put new...

When the construction of a village hall did not proceed as planned, the commissioning town council and the builders fell into dispute over a number of issues. As a result, the builders issued a notice of adjudication to obtain an adjudicator’s...

Even if the Government does take action to end the ancient law of adverse possession (‘squatters’ rights’), cases based on the law before any change will continue to come before the courts for several years. The common factor in such cases...

31 March is a common year-end for companies and, with that in mind, companies are reminded that to qualify for Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) relief, expenditure on qualifying assets should be made in the financial year ending in the 2011/2012 fiscal year...

One of the basic rules for creating a valid will is that it must be signed by the testator and the signature must be witnessed by two people. Failure to follow this or a number of other simple rules can lead to a will being successfully challenged in court. ...

The Government has confirmed that the qualification period for the right to claim unfair dismissal will be extended from one to two years from 6 April 2012. The proposal was one of the reforms suggested in the ‘Resolving Workplace Disputes’...

When a man decided to leave his partner and take their child (aged four) to his native Pakistan, he may not have known that he was committing a criminal offence, but he became well aware of the fact on his return to the UK. When he returned without the...

A French firm that manufactures cosmetics and requires them to be sold only in a physical space and when a qualified pharmacist is present has found that its de facto ban on sales of its products over the Internet is a breach of EU competition law, a...

Recent reports showing an increase in fraud, and newspaper headlines regarding the conviction of a banker and financial adviser after more than £1.4 million was stolen from the investment accounts of elderly clients, should serve as a reminder that if...

Planning in England and Wales is governed by various Planning Acts and other legal rules. The rules can be quite complex and vary according to locality. Planning restrictions are more stringent in conservation areas, for instance, and for listed buildings. ...

The wisdom of making sure that agreements are finalised in good time and not left hanging in abeyance is illustrated by a recent case . It involved a local authority and a shopkeeper tenant who ran a convenience store. The tenant wished to take a lease on...

The Court of Appeal recently decided on a claim for nuisance and its decision contained some interesting logic: in essence, implying that what would be classed as a nuisance in one place might not be classed as a nuisance somewhere else. The case involved...

When a company engages in below-cost pricing or other ‘predatory’ practices, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is often called upon to investigate. Where anti-competitive practice is confirmed, the fines can be substantial, especially when the...

Each year, around 11 million employees take sickness leave. Of these, 300,000 go on to claim health-related state benefits. In all, this costs the taxpayer £13 billion, and £15 billion in economic output is lost through sickness absence. As the...

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have recently set up a taskforce to investigate under-declarations of tax in the restaurant trade. The taskforce is one of a number of specialist teams set up to tackle tax evasion in specific industries. HMRC are aiming to...

Three sisters who challenged their late father’s will have lost their battle at the High Court . The will was made the day George Wharton, who was suffering from terminal cancer, was discharged from hospital, in anticipation of his marriage to a...

How do you prove that you are married when a valid marriage certificate is not available? This question may not often arise, but it does sometimes happen that a marriage certificate cannot be produced, which can be particularly problematic when someone is...

When an adjudicator in a construction dispute gives a ruling, the decision can only be appealed on a limited number of grounds. One of these is ‘breach of natural justice’, which means that the adjudicator’s decision is so obviously flawed...

So-called ‘discounted gift schemes’ have been used in Inheritance Tax (IHT) planning for many years. The basic idea behind them is that a gift is made by a person whose estate is likely to be subject to IHT and the gift is so structured (usually...

Although roads and pavements cannot be guaranteed to be kept safe to use at all times (for example, during exceptionally cold weather, when ice can form quickly), the authority responsible for any public space must take reasonable care to ensure that it is...

The Government has announced its proposals for reform of the employment law system following its consultation, ‘Resolving Workplace Disputes’, and the Red Tape Challenge review of employment law. The aim is to replace overburdensome regulation...

Design rights are not the same as copyright, but are valuable intellectual property assets nonetheless. Consider the traditional Coca-Cola bottle, which instantly conveys the brand image to the consumer. Accordingly, companies are highly protective of their...

According to a recent ‘Which?’ report, landlords are lazy when it comes to making sure that costs such as insurance premiums and the like, that are passed on to their tenants, represent good value for money. In some cases, it is thought that the...

When a dispute arises concerning the meaning of a contract term that is capable of being interpreted in more than one way, the resolution is normally to be found in the interpretation which is most consistent with common business practice and sense. Unclear...

A recent case ( Whitham v Club 24 Ltd. t/a Ventura ) sheds further light on how an employer should respond if an employee makes derogatory remarks concerning the workplace on a social networking site. Mrs Whitham worked as a team leader at Club 24 Ltd.,...

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have tasked a new team of 200 investigators and specialists, the ‘Affluent Team’, with identifying wealthy tax avoiders. One of the first targets of the team is wealthy individuals who own land and property abroad....

A consultation on ways of making it easier for social housing providers to evict problem tenants has recently closed. It is proposed that landlords be given the right, in appropriate circumstances, to evict tenants who have been proven to have acted in an...

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will be targeting 6,000 Swiss bank accounts for further enquiry following the completion of the preliminary review resulting from the co-operation agreement in the area of taxation between Switzerland and the UK, which was...

When a woman updated her will in 2003, she had no way of knowing that a simple change to a precedent document could cause problems for her executors several years later. There was no intention to change one of the main provisions of the will, which was that...

There has recently been a further case on long-term sickness and a worker’s right to accrue untaken annual holiday leave ( Fraser v Southwest London St George’s Mental Health Trust ). Mrs Fraser was on long-term sick leave after she injured her...

Although pre-nuptial agreements are persuasive rather than binding in the British courts, a recent ruling of the High Court on a French ‘pre-nup’ illustrates clearly the current approach of the courts. It involved a very wealthy French couple...

When a property is owned by two people as joint tenants (where the title to the property is owned by each of them, so that if one dies, the other inherits the property by survivorship), each of them is considered to be the legal owner of the property. A man...

Creating a commercial database and keeping it up to date is an expensive business and owners of such databases often take precautions to make sure they are not used without permission. One method of doing this is for the owners of databases to plant...

A North Somerset man has received a six-figure sum in compensation after a mistake during an operation on his heart led to him having to have a pacemaker fitted. Steve Edwards, 51, an NHS manager from Weston-super-Mare, was undergoing treatment for an...

When a supplier to a marquee company was not paid for goods it had supplied, the directors told the supplier that the company was waiting for an insurance claim to be settled, after which payments would be made as usual. In reality, there was no insurance...

The wave of litigation which has followed the turmoil in the financial markets as a result of the credit crunch has led to many decisions that have resulted in those suing financial institutions being left to lick their wounds (and also facing sizeable legal...

A court ruling that a spouse’s lottery winnings were not ‘matrimonial property’ so were not subject to the usual rule of equal division between the spouses when the marriage broke up received much publicity recently. The normal rule on...

The Supreme Court has denied HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) the right of appeal in a tax case involving a series of transactions that were carried out for no commercial purpose but which led to a tax saving by the taxpayer. The decision represents a blow for...

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has now published its response to the recent consultation on proposals to criminalise squatting. The consultation paper, entitled ‘Options for dealing with squatting’ , received over 2,000 responses. As a first...

Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (now superseded by the Equality Act 2010 ), when deciding whether or not an employer took sufficient steps to comply with its duty to make reasonable adjustments to remove a disadvantage faced by a disabled...

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have announced that the Mortgage Verification Scheme (MVS), which was developed in co-operation with the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Building Societies Association and run as a pilot scheme in March 2010, is now fully...

When a Jersey multi-millionaire gave most of his assets away to one of his daughters in the months prior to his death, leaving an estate of less than £100,000 to be shared by all three of his children, it was perhaps inevitable that a legal challenge...

The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 , which came into force on 26 May 2011, made changes to the rules that apply to websites using cookies and similar technologies to remember a user’s preferences....

The scheme set up by the Government to assess the value of Northern Rock shares, for the purposes of deciding whether or not compensation was due to shareholders, concluded that without government support the shares would be valueless. A group of...

The Bribery Act 2010 came into force on 1 July 2011. Under Section 2 of the Act, it is an offence for a person to request, agree to receive or accept a financial or other advantage intending that, in consequence, a relevant function or activity should be...

In Williamson & Soden Solicitors v Briars , the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) considered the employment status of a solicitor who was described as a partner of the firm and whose remuneration was by way of a ‘guaranteed profit share’...

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have had difficulties in the past in checking on property sales to ensure that the ‘principal private residence’ exemption for Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is being used correctly. Notwithstanding the complexity of the...

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have announced that, from 1 January 2012, supplies made by employers under salary sacrifice schemes (schemes whereby an employee accepts a lower salary in return for receiving certain benefits) will be treated as taxable...

When a marriage or civil partnership breaks up and there is a significant risk that one party may move assets (normally cash in bank accounts) ‘out of sight’, it is sometimes possible to obtain a ‘freezing order’ to prevent the sums...

A recent case illustrates how strong the evidence must be before the presumption that a person making a will has the mental capacity to do so will be overturned. It involved an elderly woman who died leaving an estate of a little under £150,000. Her...