Unlike the more modern regime provided for by the Licensing Act 2003 (LA 2003) and the accompanying regulations in relation to alcohol, entertainment and late night refreshment licensing, the Zoo Licensing Act 1981 (ZLA 1981) does not clearly express what procedures are to be followed in relation to the determination of any issue. Although neither provides any guidance as to what is meant by ‘an opportunity to be heard’, as to the general interpretation of ZLA 1981, practitioners should have regard to the following government guidance: • Zoo Licensing Act 1981—Guide to the Act’s provisions (published 2012) • Secretary of State’s Standards of Modern Zoo Practice (published 2012) Despite there not being a statutory definition as to what parliament intended ‘an opportunity to be heard’ to mean, and its meaning being of fundamental importance to the principles of fair and transparent decision-making required by the rules of natural justice and

Claim for dilapidations A claim for dilapidations brought by a landlord is a claim in damages where there are items in disrepair which the tenants are required to rectify, or pay to have repaired, under repairing covenants in their lease. In order for the landlord to be successful in a claim for dilapidations, the item in disrepair must be one which the tenant is obliged to remedy under the terms of the lease. The landlord must also show that the cost claimed for the work to fix the dilapidations is reasonable and that there is no intention substantially to alter the premises in such a way that the work to fix the dilapidations becomes valueless. In addition, the landlord will need to demonstrate that rent has been lost because

The Partnership Act 1890 (PA 1890) provides that subject to any agreement between the partners, every partnership is dissolved as regards all the partners by the death or bankruptcy of any partner (PA 1890, s 33(1)). As there is only one surviving partner, the partnership cannot continue and it will be dissolved as from the date of the partner’s death. PA 1890, s 20(1) provides that all property and rights and interests in property originally brought into the partnership stock or acquired, whether by purchase or otherwise, on account of the firm, or for the purposes and in the course of the partnership business, is ‘partnership property’ and must be held

This Q&A assumes that an assessment has already been made to confirm that a partnership does, in fact, exist in accordance with the definition with section 1 of the Partnership Act 1890 (PA 1890) (‘Partnership is the relation which subsists between persons carrying on a business in common with a view of profit’). Where a partnership exists but there is no partnership agreement, the default provisions of PA 1890 and the common law will apply to and govern a partnership. PA 1890 and common law state (among other things) that in the absence of an agreement to the contrary: • all partners share in the profits of the partnership equally • a partner in a partnership

Unless a specific planning condition is imposed on a planning consent, section 75(1) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA (1990) provides that '…any grant of planning permission…to develop land shall (except in so far as the permission otherwise provides) enure for the benefit of the land and of all persons for the time being interested in

A contract can be concluded (and subsequently varied) verbally or by conduct. In circumstances where there is no written contract between two parties, terms may have to be implied into the contract (or its purported variation) by statute or trade and custom. For more on implied terms see: Practice Note: Contract interpretation—express terms in contracts which explains how terms can be implied into a contract by fact, law or custom. It will be necessary to consider whether in the circumstances of this particular haulier/customer relationship there are any terms which can be implied into the contract as to: prices, the regularity of price reviews and the methods that the parties may use to notify the other of price variation (or any other contract variation for that matter). Our Practice Note: Contract variation explains that a contract can be varied by conduct. So, for example, if one party receives an email from the other party advising that the

The mutual rights and duties of the members of a limited liability partnership (LLP) are usually governed by an agreement between the members, but in the absence of such agreement, there are certain default provisions of partnership law that apply to LLPs (section 15 of the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000 and Limited Liability Partnerships Regulations 2001 (LLP Regs 2001), SI 2001/1090, reg 7). The first default provision in the LLP Regs 2001 is that all members share equally in the capital and profits of the LLP. Losses are not included in this provision as an LLP, as a body corporate separate from its members, bears its own losses. The LLP Regs 2001 are silent as to whether there are rights to payments to outgoing members of the LLP, and such rights would usually be detailed in an LLP agreement. See clause 24

It is assumed that the original order for sale was made pursuant to a lump sum order. In this scenario, it is assumed that the original order for sale was made pursuant to a lump sum order within a financial remedies order, under the power given to the court by section 24A of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973), or its Civil Partnership Act 2004 (CPA 2004) equivalent, CPA 2004, Sch 5 Pt 3. It is commonly the case that the court, when determining that a lump sum should be paid, will order the sale of an asset to facilitate the liquidity to allow such

The Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993 (the Commercial Agents Regulations), SI 1993/3053 implement EC Directive 86/653 and govern the relationship between Commercial Agents and their principal, with various provisions implied into all relevant commercial agency arrangements unless, in respect of certain of them, they are expressly excluded. They were amended in 1998 and, by new section 1(3) it was provided that a court or tribunal shall apply the law of the other Member State concerned in place of regulations 3 to 22 where the parties have agreed that the agency contract is to be governed by the law of that Member State and will apply the Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993

Expenses incurred by the worker in carrying out his employment do not count as ‘wages’ for the purpose of an unlawful deductions claim. It follows that the statutory protection against deductions under section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 does not apply to a deduction from that payment. The lawfulness of a deduction from such a payment

This Q&A refers to the assignment of a business-to-business commercial contract which is not subject to any specific sector or industry regulation. This Q&A assumes that the parties to the contract are not subject to any controls external to the contract in question (eg other contractual or commercial restraints) prohibiting an assignment. Assignment An assignment is 'an immediate transfer of an existing proprietary right, vested or contingent from one party to another'. As set out in Practice Note: What constitutes a valid assignment of a contract?, an assignment takes effect either: • as a legal assignment—provided it satisfies all the requirements of section 136 of the Law of Property Act 1925, or • as an equitable assignment—which can arise when one or more of the requirements to effect a legal assignment is missing For a legal assignment to be effective, the following criteria need to

This Q&A relates to a business-to-business (B2B) contract which is not subject to specific sector regulation or control. We further assume that the parties to the contract are not subject to any controls external to the contract