This Q&A can be broken down into three questions: • does a contract exist at all between the parties? • if so, what are the terms of the contract?, and • how can the contract be varied or terminated? For the purposes of this Q&A we have assumed that the contract is a business-to-business contract. The position may differ if one of the parties is a consumer. Does a contract exist at all between the parties? For any binding contract to come into force, the following key elements must be present: • offer • acceptance • consideration, and • the intention to create legal relations It is established law that a contract can come into effect in the absence of execution through the conduct of the parties. In Brogden v Metropolitan Rly Co, a contract for the provision of coal to the Metropolitan Railway Company was established even though a draft contract was produced, but never

We refer you to Practice Note: Purchasing a company from trustee shareholders, which sets out the key issues to consider when purchasing shares from a trustee shareholder. The terms of the trust instrument and the constitutional documents of

Companies House Form SH01 is a return of allotment, which must be filed whenever a limited company allots shares, as required by sections 555 and 557 of the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006). The nominal value of each share allotted is recorded in the fourth column of section 3 of Form SH01, while the fifth and sixth columns of section 3 are concerned with differentiating the amount paid for each share allotted from the amount unpaid on each of those shares (including the share premium, in each case). An allotment of shares for non-cash consideration

Notices under Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) are validly served if one of the methods in section 23 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 (LTA 1927) are used. See the following Practice Note: LTA 1954 business lease renewal—termination—LTA

This Q&A is answered on the basis that the claim in question relates to an absent landlord in the context of Part I of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 (LRHUDA 1993). There are various ways a tenant can acquire the freehold interest in a property when a landlord is missing. For example, where a tenant is seeking to acquire the freehold of a house, the tenant can rely on section 27 of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 (LRA 1967) (as amended). Similarly, mechanisms exist for the tenant to acquire the freehold interest of

Article 79 of the General Data Protection Regulation (the GDPR), Regulation (EU) 2016/679 provides that proceedings against a controller or a processor may be brought either before the courts of the Member State where the controller or processor has an establishment or where the data subject lives, unless the controller or processor is a public authority of a Member State acting

Status of costs orders The status of an order to pay an amount in respect of costs has the status of a money judgment—see section 17 of the Judgments Act 1838, and section 74 of the County Courts Act 1984, regarding interest, for example. For enforcement purposes, it is CPR 70.1(2)(d) which makes this clear. Enforcement between claimant and defendant Where one party has claimed against another and a costs order is made or other money judgment is given as between these parties, there is no need to issue a Part 7 or Part 8 claim to enforce that order

There is no restriction on evidence of overseas employment being used to meet the adequate maintenance test. Immigration Rules, Appendix FM: family members, para E-LTRPT.4.1-4.3 states that applications for leave to remain in the UK as a parent on the five-year route: ‘The applicant must provide evidence that they will be able to adequately maintain and accommodate themselves and any dependants in the UK without recourse to public funds, unless paragraph EX.1. applies. E-LTRPT.4.2. The applicant must provide evidence that there will be adequate

If the latter, then the employer can serve notice to terminate the contract for redundancy in the usual way. See Practice Notes: Contractual notice and Statutory minimum notice. If the fixed-term contract does not provide for notice to be given during the term, this will affect the employer’s potential liabilities if it wishes to terminate the contract before its expiry, as the employee will be entitled to compensation for salary and benefits that they would have received had they remained employed until the contract was due to expire. See Practice Note: Wrongful dismissal compensation. Where the person in the maternity cover role was a new hire, they are unlikely to have sufficient continuous employment to claim unfair dismissal (see Practice Notes: Entitlement to claim unfair dismissal and Qualifying period for unfair dismissal).

A testator, having drawn up a Will, may wish to make amendments to it, either before they execute it or after. The significance of the alteration and the potential implications were it to be inadmissible should be considered carefully. In most cases, it is better to prepare a new Will or a codicil to the Will making the amendment in

At common law, notice by any secure tenant is sufficient to determine a joint tenancy. In practice, this may mean that where one party leaves a family home held under the terms of a joint secure tenancy, they can unilaterally terminate the tenancy, leaving the resident party without security of tenure. Such notice will be effective even if there is an injunction in place preventing the party giving notice from excluding the other party from the premises. The Supreme Court considered whether this is a violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and/or under Article 1 of the First Protocol to the Convention in Sims v Dacorum BC. It considered that the unilateral severance of a joint tenancy by a single joint tenant

The spouse’s right of occupation is a right granted under predeceasing spouse’s will trust, which continues during their lifetime. During that period the costs of administering the trust, which may include, (for example) continuing to insure trust or manage trust property, will fall to be paid by the trustees, who have a right to reimbursement out of the assets of the will trust under section 31 of the Trustee Act 2000. When