Are business rates payable? Whether business rates are payable in England and Wales will depend on whether the property is occupied or unoccupied. Occupied commercial property is liable for full business rates, whereas unoccupied commercial property will not be liable for business rates if an exemption applies. One of these exemptions is if the property (being a non-domestic hereditament) is subject to a winding up order made under the Insolvency Act 1986, or which is being wound up voluntarily under that Act. This exemption is found in the Non-Domestic Rating (Unoccupied Property) (England) Regulations 2008, SI 2008/386, reg 4(k). When is a property occupied? For a company to be rateable as an occupier, it must be

Construction analysis: This highlights the requirement in CPR 8.1(2) that matters brought under Part 8 must be unlikely to involve a substantial dispute of fact. Deputy Judge Neil Moody KC declined to make final determinations regarding contract clauses and extensions of time because there were disputes of fact requiring detailed analysis and review of further evidence by the court. This case therefore serves as an important reminder that where there is an element of factual dispute to a claim, parties must carefully consider the type of claim being brought in order to seek a resolution, and suggests that that contractual should ideally be pleaded out separately to Part 8 proceedings being brought. Written by Juliet Gough, senior associate at Walker Morris LLP.

The provisions of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 (DDSA 2020) remove the requirement to provide evidence of ‘conduct’ or ‘separation’ facts in divorce, dissolution of civil partnerships and judicial separation. That requirement is replaced in the case of divorce or dissolution proceedings with a simple requirement to provide a statement of irretrievable breakdown of the marriage or civil partnership. In judicial separation proceedings, a simple statement by the applicant that they seek to be judicially separated from the other party to the marriage is required.

A purchaser for value of land subject to a legal or equitable rent charge in favour of a charity will take subject to that rentcharge, unless (1) the rentcharge is registrable as a land charge and is void against him for want of registration (see sections 2 and 4 of the Land Charges Act 1972;

The Employment Agencies Act 1973 and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003, SI 2003/3319 (Conduct Regs 2003) govern the conduct of the private recruitment industry, and set minimum standards for employment agencies and employment businesses operating from premises in Great Britain (ie England, Wales and Scotland). The Conduct Regs 2003 apply where an employment agency or an employment business provides work-finding services to a work-seeker. A business may be: • an employment agency, ie a business, such as a recruitment consultancy, that introduces work-seekers to employers; once taken on, a work-seeker

The question considered by the Supreme Court in Lipton, and the Interpretation Act (or accrued rights) analysis In Lipton v BA Cityflyer, the Supreme Court (UKSC) considered, obiter, how the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (EU(W)A 2018) applies in time—specifically, whether its provisions about retained EU law (REUL) must be applied by the court to disputes involving facts that occurred before IP completion day at the end of 2020, and to rights and liabilities already accrued by then. For the sake of simplicity, in this Q&A, cases involving facts that occurred before IP completion day are referred to as ‘pre-Brexit cases’, while those based on facts that occurred after IP completion day are referred to as ‘post-Brexit cases’. On one view, the answer to the question is that the provisions of EU(W)A 2018 relating to REUL and assimilated law do not apply in pre-Brexit cases. The temporal application

The process of devolution has resulted in power and control being passed from the government to local areas, the idea being to give local areas the power to effect change on issues such as transport and economic development. This is often achieved through the establishment of a 'combined authority'. These combined authorities are comprised of councillors from neighbouring, constituent councils that wish to group together to address local issues. Parliament has approved orders establishing city region mayor areas including Greater Manchester, the Liverpool city region, the Sheffield city region, the West Midlands and thea Tees Valley. These combined authorities must be subject to robust scrutiny, and legal requirements to be taken into

This answer will therefore discuss the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (SGA 1979) and the Supply of goods and Services Act 1982 (SGSA 1982) only. There are four conditions for a contract to qualify as a contract for the sale of goods under SGA 1979: • the contract must be for goods • the seller must undertake an obligation to transfer property in the goods to the buyer • there must be money consideration payable to the seller, and • there must be a link between the transfer of title and the money consideration, ie the buyer must be paying for the title to the goods In SGA 1979, goods are defined broadly to include: ‘all personal chattels other than things in action and money…. includes emblements, industrial growing crops, and things attached to or forming part of the land which are agreed to be severed before sale or under the contract of sale [and includes an undivided share in goods;'

The Department for Business Innovation & Skills document, State Aid: The Basics Guide, July 2015, states: ‘State aid can occur whenever state resources are used to provide assistance that gives organisations an advantage over others. It can distort competition, which is harmful to consumers and companies in the EU.’ The definition of state aid is broad because ‘an advantage’ can take many forms, for example: • grants • loans • tax breaks • the use or sale of a state asset for free or at less than market price Public authorities (which include local authorities in England and Wales) are responsible for ensuring that their policy measures and projects comply with the rules. State aid rules continue to apply in the UK during the implementation period following Brexit. In the annex to the Department for Education’s November 2019 document ‘Securing Developer Contributions for Education’, it is stated that unlawful state aid

Sections 18–25 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (LTA 1985) set out a statutory code for service charges and related matters in respect of residential dwellings. Its most important features are: • service costs can only be recovered if they are reasonably incurred • only works or services performed

The recoverable loss under a share purchase agreement limitation of liability clause for breach of warranty is governed by contract law. The warranties are contractual statements or assurances as to the condition of the target company, its business, assets and liabilities. If a seller gives a warranty in a share purchase agreement that proves to be inaccurate, untrue or misleading, this will give rise to a claim for breach of warranty entitling the buyer to an action for damages against the seller. The limitations

In relation to the first question, there are no costs incurred prior to the issuing of an application in insolvency proceedings on behalf of an insolvency office-holder recoverable even if the subsequent order does not expressly state that they are. The starting point is CPR 44.10. Where the court makes an order which does not mention costs, the effect of the rule is that no party is entitled to costs from the other party. That is subject to a number of qualifications specified in that rule, but none of those provide for an insolvency office-holder to recover costs against an opposing party in litigation. In this respect, there is no distinction to be drawn between legal costs attributable to the application incurred before or during the litigation. CPR 44.10 applies to insolvency proceedings by virtue of the Insolvency