This week's edition of Property weekly highlights includes: cases on contract termination where there are conditions precedent, conveyance plans and supporting evidence in adverse possession claims, residential service charges and the cost of long term contracts, major structural works and service charges in right to buy leases and a Lords library briefing on English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill.

This Practice Note focuses on the key issues to consider when structuring service levels and remedies for failure to achieve them in outsourcing contracts. When drafting service level agreements (SLAs), relevant considerations will include the type of service level(s), what to measure, cost and quality, outcomes and outputs, how service levels are measured, service credits and other remedies, earn back and performance bonuses and changes to service levels during the contract term. The specific measurements and metrics used in SLAs will depend on the type of services. It is drafted to apply to any form of outsourcing and does not specifically focus on IT services (although what is discussed here is relevant in that context). For IT specific service level content, see Practice Note: Key issues in SaaS and hardware/software maintenance SLAs and Precedents: Service Level Agreement (hardware/software fault resolution support services) and Service Level Agreement (Availability (uptime) service level for SaaS). The service level schedule is one of the most important in an outsourcing contract. It governs measurement of the supplier’s quality of service against

This Practice Note focuses on the key issues to consider when structuring service levels and remedies for failure to achieve them in outsourcing contracts. When drafting service level agreements (SLAs), relevant considerations will include the type of service level(s), what to measure, cost and quality, outcomes and outputs, how service levels are measured, service credits and other remedies, earn back and performance bonuses and changes to service levels during the contract term. The specific measurements and metrics used in SLAs will depend on the type of services. It is drafted to apply to any form of outsourcing and does not specifically focus on IT services (although what is discussed here is relevant in that context). For IT specific service level content, see Practice Note: Ireland—Key issues in SaaS and hardware/software maintenance SLAs and Precedents: Ireland—Service level agreement—hardware/software fault resolution support services and Ireland—Service level agreement—availability (uptime) service level for SaaS. The service level schedule is one of the most important in an outsourcing contract. It governs measurement of the supplier’s quality of service against specified

An employment business is a business that arranges temporary work for work-seekers with a 'hiring company'. The temporary worker (often referred to as an 'agency worker') is paid by the employment business (agency) rather than by the company to which he is supplied (usually known as 'the supply of temporary workers' or 'the supply of agency workers'). Regulation 6(1) of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 (Conduct Regulations 2003), SI 2003/3319 (SI 2003/3319, reg 6(1)) imposes certain restrictions on what an employment business may include in a work-seeker's contract. It states that an employment business (as defined in section 13(3) of the Employment

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This Practice Note sets out the provisions in Regulation (EC) 44/2001, Brussels I that need to be taken into account when determining which court has jurisdiction to deal with employment disputes. Note: since 10 January 2015 Brussels I has been repealed in its entirety and replaced by Brussels I (recast). However, transitional arrangements have been put in place. For information on those arrangements and whether Brussels I provisions still apply to the matter you are dealing with, see Practice Note: E&W Brussels I (recast)—application and exclusions. Individual contracts of employment—Section 5 Section 5 (arts 18–21) applies when determining which court has jurisdiction in relation to disputes over individual contracts of employment (art 18(1)). Note: where a dispute falls within Section 5, and there are multiple defendants, the provisions in art 6(1), which address jurisdiction issues when there are multiple defendants, cannot be applied to the dispute. What is an employment contract? To

On 4 April 2016, building information modelling (BIM) level 2 became mandatory on all centrally-procured UK government projects. This means that, increasingly, the use of BIM will need to be reflected within contractual documentation throughout the construction supply chain and within the professional team. See Practice Note: What is BIM? It is important not to look for changes for the sake of change and at each stage of the contract it makes sense to consider what has changed, from the status quo, in contractual terms as a result of the introduction of BIM into a project. There are a number of areas, however, where amendments are likely to be required to ensure that the additional requirements of BIM are dealt with. This can be achieved with 'light touch' amendments to administrative clauses of the contracts or by more extensive amendment to include any early engagement and reflect the collaborative working requirements, depending on parties' preferences and the extent to which (and purposes for which) BIM is to be used—as a design and construction tool only or as something

In answering this Q&A, we have assumed that the contract in question is a business to business (B2B) contract. From a practical perspective, much will depend upon what is provided

The nature of the legal relationships Its important to be clear on the nature of the legal relationships between each of supplier A, supplier B and customer C. It is stated that customer C and supplier A have a direct contractual relationship between them. It will be necessary to review the terms of that contract, in order to identify if the proposed course of action will be in breach of the specific terms of the agreement, or otherwise cause a conflict or ambiguity leading to a commercial risk. It is stated that ‘A works with another nominated supplier B on our behalf’. ‘On our behalf’ indicates the possibility that supplier A may be acting in some capacity as an agent of C in its dealings with supplier B. Agency is a relationship under which a principal appoints an agent to act under their direction

This Practice Note looks at how defects are dealt with under the NEC3 and NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract (ECC). For a more general discussion on defects, see Practice Note: Defects claims in construction. This Practice Note covers both the NEC3 and NEC4 editions of the ECC. For consistency, the term ‘Client’ is used throughout this Practice Note as this is the term used for the developer/employer in the NEC4 contracts (the NEC3 uses the term ‘Employer’). The term ‘Scope’ is used throughout this Practice Note as per the NEC4 to describe the document which specifies and describes the works which the Contractor is to carry out (in the NEC3 the term ‘Works Information’ is used). For a glossary of NEC terms, see Practice Note: NEC contracts—glossary. Where no distinction is made between clause numbers, the clause numbers throughout this Practice Note refer to both the NEC3 and NEC4 versions of the ECC. The key provisions in relation to defects are set out in clauses 41 to 46 (40 to 45 in NEC3). Key

It may be helpful to consider in turn: • the requirement under section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) to provide a written statement of particulars of employment • the contract of employment • an employer’s Human Resource (HR)-related policies • electronic signatures Written statement of employment particulars Under ERA 1996, s 1(1), an employer is required to give a worker a written statement of the particulars of employment listed in ERA 1996, s 1(3) and (4). For detailed information on this requirement, see Practice Note: Written statements of employment particulars. In the case of particulars relating to sick leave and pay, other paid leave, pension rights and training, the statement may refer to another document which is reasonably accessible

This Practice Note looks at how variations are dealt with under the NEC Engineering and Construction Contract (ECC). For a more general discussion on variations, see Practice Note: What is a variation on a construction project? This Practice Note covers both the NEC3 and NEC4 editions of the ECC and focuses on variations instructed by the Project Manager where the Contractor is not at fault eg where the Client decides that additional works are required. For consistency, the term ‘Client’ is used throughout this Practice Note as this is the term used for the developer/employer in the NEC4 contracts (the NEC3 ECC uses the term ‘Employer’). The term ‘Scope’ is used throughout this Practice Note as per the NEC4 ECC to describe the document which specifies and describes the works which the Contractor is to carry out (in the NEC3 ECC the term ‘Works Information’ is used). For a glossary of NEC terms, see Practice Note: NEC contracts—glossary. Where no distinction is made between clause numbers, the clause numbers throughout this Practice Note refer to both the NEC3 and NEC4

There appears to be no reported case where, in this sort of scenario, the borrower has succeeded in suing the bank (for examples of failed attempts to do so, see eg Deutsche Bank (Suisse) SA v Khan and Commercial First Business Ltd v Atkins). The posited scenario also contains quite a number of variables: • what kind of borrower? • what kind of lending? • what kind of security? • how was the enforcement challenged (and with what degree of success?)? • what sort of opportunity was lost, and how? This Q&A assumes that the borrower can successfully demonstrate that enforcement of the security was somehow improper and that it caused a loss of opportunity to make money from the asset over which security was held. That could, in principle, give rise to a claim against the lender/bank, on one of the following bases: Breach of contract If