Insights: Legal Updates - May 2014

There are changes afoot to the UK gambling regime. We set out below a short summary of recent key changes. The Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 (Act) received Royal Assent on 14 May 2014, amending the Gambling Act 2005. Under the previous regulatory regime, remote gambling operators situated outside Great Britain were not regulated […]

In the 2013 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced that from April 2015, Capital Gains Tax (CGT) will apply to gains made on disposals of residential property in the UK by non UK residents as well as UK residents. The government has since issued a consultation on the subject in which it welcomes views on how […]

For many would-be inheritors, matters of inheritance matter! Will Aid’s 2012 survey revealed that: 60% of 18-24 year olds would use an inheritance to buy a home; 48% of 35-44 year olds would repay their mortgage; and 40% of 45-54 year olds would use an inheritance to provide a pension. The reliance upon inheritances is […]

Earlier this year, my firm co-hosted a seminar with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, on the resolution of art disputes. I shared the platform with Henry Legge QC, a leading art barrister, and Sarah Charles of Christie’s. It was a great success and there was clearly a lot of interest in the mediation of art […]

As a result of changes that have occurred in the financial markets over recent years, it was felt the current European Market Abuse Directive (MAD) was not adequate to deal with the evolution in trading platforms. The ever growing financial market quickly outpaced MAD, which showed much promise but little effect. As an example, the […]

Oscar Wilde once wrote, “I can resist everything except temptation”. Not a direct quote from Mr Wilde on the importance of a signed construction contract, but it does perhaps explain the continued trend for developers and their contractors to start work quickly under the vagaries of a letter of intent (despite previous salutary tales(1)). A […]

This article deals with the rights of a commercial agent on termination of his or her agency under English law and considers the following issues: the definition of a commercial agent under English law; and the four rights of an agent on termination. These rights are: entitlement to unpaid commission; entitlement to minimum notice; entitlement […]

Back in 2009 landlords secured what they thought at the time was a victory over administrators. They argued, in court, that when a company went into administration, the administrator, as an expense of the administration, should be liable for the whole of a quarter’s rent if the period of the administration straddled a quarter day. […]

Do you know any UK resident trustees? If so, do they realise that they need to be getting up to speed with FATCA (the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act), even if the trust has no US citizen settlors, beneficiaries or US situated assets?! That is one of the (many) surprising issues surrounding the implementation of […]

Telecoms apparatus continues to give rise to contentious issues between site providers and operators. With the increase in the personal use of digital media on smartphones and tablets, the need for sites will increase. Add to that the Government’s policy to improve the mobile phone coverage across the UK and its policy to provide high […]