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Harrow on the Hill , Harrow & Wealdstone Kenton and...
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8864 0111
Fax: +44 (0) 20 8864 4514
DX: 4201 Harrow 1
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08 July 2010 An Arrangement Among Friends or a Business?
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) imposes a strict regulatory regime on persons operating in the financial services area by way of business and this includes the licensing of ‘deposit takers’
08 July 2010 Boundary Dispute Over Strip of Driveway Ends Up in Court
An argument over a narrow strip of land has left a mother and son facing massive costs after their case was heard in the Court of Appeal recently
08 July 2010 Business Losses Mean Divorce Settlement to be Reconsidered
A property tycoon whose fortunes have plummeted since he and his wife divorced has been granted permission by the court to have the amount of the lump sum ordered to be paid to his ex-wife reconsidered
08 July 2010 Canoe Fraudsters Must Repay Nearly £600,000
Following her conviction for fraud and money laundering, after faking her husband’s death in 2002, Anne Darwin has agreed to pay more than £591,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
08 July 2010 Check the Builder’s Insurance
The wisdom of checking that those doing work for you are properly insured is illustrated by a recent case
08 July 2010 Council That Refused Meeting With Homeless Man Failed to Meet Obligations
The Court of Appeal has ruled that a man who knew that he and his daughter were about to become homeless, and who wrote to the council seeking its assistance in obtaining accommodation, had done enough to trigger the council’s obligation to provide him with assistance and advice
08 July 2010 Crown Entitled to Assets of Criminal Estate
The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) is the body which brings actions to recover, on behalf of the state, assets of criminals which represent the ‘proceeds of crime’
08 July 2010 Days in Court the Result of Failure to Create Documents
‘A verbal agreement is seldom worth the paper it is written on’ is a common jest, and with good reason. Many a family dispute has arisen because the appropriate documentation was not created when an agreement was made
08 July 2010 Driving: Mobile Phone, No – Dictaphone, Yes
A loophole in the law allowed comedian Jimmy Carr to escape a fine when the acerbic funny man appeared before Harrow Magistrates’ Court after police spotted him using a mobile phone whilst driving
08 July 2010 Ex-Wife Benefits from Family Trust
When a couple divorce and financial arrangements have to be sorted out, there are occasions when the court may decide that assets not owned by the divorcing couple should be taken into account
08 July 2010 Failure to Enforce Right Leads to its Loss
An easement (such as a right of way) is a right over someone else’s land. A right of easement, once granted, is quite often forgotten about. However, a recent case shows how important it can be to make sure that an easement does not lapse through disuse
08 July 2010 Foreign Divorces – Better Protection for Spouses
The principle that British persons divorced abroad can look to the courts in England and Wales to ensure that their ‘reasonable needs’ are met in the divorce settlement has been firmly established following a recent case involving a divorced couple who both hold joint British and Nigerian nationality
08 July 2010 French Law – No Trust Means No Benefits
A recent case illustrates the sort of unanticipated problem that can arise as a result of owning property abroad
08 July 2010 House Buyer Almost Escapes Mortgage Liability
A Sheffield house buyer has failed in his recent attempt to have a £48,000 debt wiped out. He was hoping that the 12-year limitation rule on recovery of mortgage loans would enable him to benefit from lax debt recovery on the part of his mortgage lender
08 July 2010 Husband’s Covert Affair Means Wife Keeps House
When a wife agrees to allow the family home to be used as security for her husband’s debts, the legal situation is normally clear and the creditor can rely on her consent in order to take possession
08 July 2010 Courts Decide When Foreign Procedure Was in Breach of Injunction
An Egyptian man who obtained a unilateral divorce (‘talaq’) in Egypt from his British-domiciled wife found that the validity of the divorce was rejected by the English court because he was under an injunction at the time restraining him from pursuing a divorce in Egypt
08 July 2010 Drug Abuse Reduces Settlement
It is not common for drug-taking to be a factor in a personal injury settlement, but a recent case has dealt with this specific point
08 July 2010 Previous Behaviour Reduces Compensation
When police gave chase to a speeding motorcyclist who refused to stop, they ended the chase by attempting to ‘box in’ the biker, so that he could not escape when he got off his motorbike
08 July 2010 ‘It’s Been in the Family For Years’ is No Argument
The argument put forward by a farmer that he should retain the family farm after his divorce, because it had been in his family for generations and his wife was aware that it was the family tradition for it to be handed down from generation to generation, was given short shrift in the family court recently
08 July 2010 Law of Covenants Set to Change
If you are considering buying a property, the existence of a covenant or easement relating to it is an important consideration
08 July 2010 New Rights for House Buyers
The new Consumer Code for Home Builders came into force on 1 April 2010 and provides significant new protection for those who buy homes ‘off plan’
08 July 2010 No Appeal for Unsupported Claim by Cohabitee
A man’s attempt to obtain a half-share of his ex-partner’s property after they split up failed recently when he could not persuade the Court of Appeal that his decision to have his name removed from the deeds, taken more than 20 years earlier, should be ignored when determining the ownership of the property
08 July 2010 Time Doesn’t Run Out for Maintenance Penalty
Failure to pay maintenance for children can have severe consequences
08 July 2010 ‘Toxic Sofa’ Victims Win Compensation
In what is thought to be the largest consumer class action in English legal history, more than 1,500 customers who suffered chemical burns and allergic reactions after buying ‘toxic sofas’ are to share in a £20 million compensation settlement
08 July 2010 Undocumented ‘Rights’ Given Short Shrift by Court
It is often thought that there is little practical difference between being married or in a civil partnership and living together. Regrettably, this is very far from the case, as a lady barrister found out in the High Court recently
08 July 2010 Unfair Contract Terms Act No Help for Breach of House Sale Terms
British contract law does not recognise the concept of a penalty for breach of contract. Penalty clauses which do more than restore the person levying the penalty to the position they would have been in had the breach not occurred will not be enforced
08 July 2010 Village Green Decision Supplies Blueprint for Stymieing Development
Most people – and certainly those who have been involved in an opposed planning application – know what a NIMBY is but, following a case heard in the Supreme Court, we may now see the rise of NOOViGs (not on our village greens)
08 July 2010 Wedding Video Stops Divorce
For an application to be made for ancillary relief (a financial settlement on divorce), there has to have been a valid marriage in the first place
08 July 2010 Where to Go for Information on Domestic Gas Safety
In the year 2008/2009, 15 people died from carbon monoxide poisoning associated with domestic gas appliances
