Ipswich Solicitors

Small business struggling with bureaucracy

admin — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 19:52:07 +0000

Small business struggling with regulation

Most small businesses tell us that they are struggling simply to survive. Their frustration with bureaucracy and red tape is very tangible, and this is confirmed by a recent survey from Clydesdale & Yorkshire banks.

Headline facts and figures from that research are :-

15 % of small business owners find it difficult to keep up with and understand regulations let alone comply with them
Nearly 10% of small businesses have been late with VAT payments
Around 10% are also either late or have missed other tax payments
Around 80% of small businesses are unaware of grants and tax concessions they may be entitled to.

Limitation periods for cliaming breach of contract or negligence

admin — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 09:24:15 +0000

Breach of contract claims and negligence claims – beware time limits

It is one thing having a strong actionable legal claim and another thing to be in compliance with court rules on time limits and such matters. There are obvious and sound reasons why there need to be limitation periods for claims, as otherwise there would be no certainty.

A recent case highlights that once a party has “sufficient knowledge” of a breach of contract or negligence, they need to be vigilant and even perhaps diarise, as lawyers generally due, the expiry of the limitation period to ensure that claims are not statute barred under the Limitation Act.

With breach of contract claims the limitation period is 6 years for breach of contract, and, subject to exceptions, 3 years for a negligence claim. In this case, the claimants were unable to pursue sizeable claims for flood damage to their property due to being out of time, and the court decided that they had sufficient knowledge of the breach of contract and negligence at an earlier date than they argued was the case.

Clampdown on debt management companies

admin — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 21:12:25 +0000

Debt management firms – the clampdown continues

The Office of Fair Trading is certainly showing it’s teeth when it comes to debt management companies, specifically relating to misleading advertisements, enforcement of rules for handling client funds and perhaps most significantly, in relation to cold calling campaigns.

It is thought that a significant proportion of the debt management companies in the Uk may close as a result of the clampdown notwithstanding that this is a big and lucrative market, with millions currently feeling vulnerable and unable to meet their financial commitments.

No-Shows – ECJ Rules No Vat Due

admin — Tue, 24 May 2011 09:56:00 +0000

<p> A recent decision of the European Court of Justice will come as good news for hard-pressed hoteliers and has led to HM Revenue and Customs issuing new guidance on deposits.</p> <div> <div> <img alt="hotel 1" src="/system/assets/371/small/S2300031.JPG?1294826976" style="border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; margin: 4px; float: right;" /></div> </div> <div> The decision confirms that there is no relationship between a deposit taken and the supply of a standard-rated service. Accordingly, therefore, where a deposit has been taken for a hotel booking and retained because the person making the booking is a ‘no-show’, there is no need to account for VAT on the deposit.</div> <div>  </div> <div> However, if the deposit is made for a specific room which is therefore kept vacant, the supply remains one on which VAT is due.</div> <div>  </div> <div> Hotel owners can reclaim VAT overpaid as a result for the past four years only. In addition, hoteliers will want to consider their terms and conditions to ensure they are VAT efficient.</div>

Trade Mark – Whole, Not Parts of Whole, is What Matters

admin — Mon, 23 May 2011 08:04:00 +0000

<div> The High Court has confirmed that a trade mark refers to the general impression given by the mark, not to the details of the mark and this can include auditory and conceptual factors as well as purely visual ones.</div> <div>  </div> <div> The important issue is whether the average consumer would be misled bearing in mind that the mark is perceived as a whole, not by its individual parts.</div> <div>  </div> <div> Merely creating a mark that is subtly different from a trade mark may well be insufficient to prevent an action for violation of the trade mark or ‘passing off’ (deriving an economic benefit from it) if the overall impression is similar. For advice on all trade mark and other intellectual property matters, contact us.</div>

If it is in the Sky, It is Weather!

admin — Fri, 20 May 2011 15:58:00 +0000

<p> <img alt="Plane on runway" src="/system/assets/160/small/for_RSS_30_April_2010_031.jpg?1272651291" style="border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; margin: 4px; float: right;" /></p> <div> The Financial Services Ombudsman has refused to refer a test case involving a travel insurance claim to the court in order to determine whether the volcanic ash cloud which caused so much disruption to European aviation in 2010 was not covered by the phrase ‘poor weather conditions’.</div> <div>  </div> <div> Most travel insurance policies contain limitations in cover which exclude or limit claims resulting from ‘acts of God and those relating to areas where there is civil unrest or war or to which travel is undertaken when the Foreign Office has advised against it. Normally, they allow a claim to be made where it results from adverse weather conditions.</div> <div>  </div> <div> The case involved a woman whose claim was refused by the insurer, which argued that it was not covered by the clause that allowed a claim to be made when the travel disruption resulted from adverse weather conditions. She appealed to the Ombudsman.</div> <div>  </div> <div> The ombudsman concluded that it was not a suitable case to refer to the court as a test case and made an award to the claimant.</div>

Two Flats are Not a Residence

admin — Thu, 19 May 2011 15:27:00 +0000

<p> When a family is being housed, the provision of separate, self-cont<img alt="Flats and danger" src="/system/assets/419/small/100_0330.JPG?1297338020" style="border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; margin: 4px; float: right;" />ained flats with no common living areas does not mean that accommodation had been made available such that the members of the applicant’s family could ‘reside together’ in the ordinary meaning of the phrase. </p>

First Company Convicted of Corporate Manslaughter Loses Appeal

admin — Thu, 19 May 2011 10:12:00 +0000

<div> <img alt="digger" src="/system/assets/497/small/100_0453.JPG?1299426255" style="border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; margin: 4px; float: right;" />Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd., which became the first company to be convicted of corporate manslaughter (under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007) in February of this year, has lost an appeal against its conviction.</div> <div>  </div> <div> The company was convicted following the 2008 death of geologist, Alexander Wright, 27, who died when a trench he was working in collapsed. </div>

Banks Give in Over PPI

admin — Thu, 19 May 2011 07:58:00 +0000

<div> Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), which was sold aggressively by many of the clearing banks during the debt boom<img alt="Commercial property 1110" src="/system/assets/367/small/100_0263.JPG?1294826420" style="border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; margin: 4px; float: left;" /> of the 1980s and 1990s, has led to large provisions being made for losses as the banks have abandoned attempts to fight mis-selling claims.</div> <div>  </div> <div> Thousands of customers w ere sold PPI policies, which undertook to cover loan repayments on lo an in the event that the borrower became unemployed or fell ill and was unable to make the repayments. The policies were extremely profitable for the banks because the claim rates were very low and the policy costs were high.</div> <div>  </div> <div> However, following widespread complaints and successful litigation, the banks have abandoned their struggle and have earmarked more than £5 billion to meet claims.</div> <div>  </div> <div>  </div>

Who is a Member of a Company?

admin — Tue, 17 May 2011 07:28:00 +0000

<p> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;">Keeping company records up to date is not always a top priority for the directors of smaller companies. However, failing to keep the shareholders’ register up to date can have a downside if a share transfer has occurred but the new owner’s name is not entered into the register of members.</span></p> <div>  </div> <div> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;">The problem is that under the Companies Act 2006, except in very limited circumstances, the person shown as a member in the register of members is a member and a person not shown isn’t – until the register is rectified.</span></div> <div>  </div> <div> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;">This can have practical effects such as making notices of meetings invalid, invalidating votes of shareholders and so on and can affect, as it did in a recent case in the Supreme Court, whether or not one retains the rights attaching to shares transferred for financial purposes into the names of nominees.</span></div> <div>  </div> <div> <b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;">Contact us for advice on company secretarial and company law matters.</span></b></div> <div> <b> </b></div> <div> <b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;"><br /> </span></b></div>