Legal Q&A

We direct you to our Lexis®+ UK Property Precedent: Farm Business Tenancy Agreement, and to Farm business tenancy—bare land: Encyclopaedia of Forms & Precedents [453], within Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents, which provide all the clauses you are likely to require, depending on how comprehensive a lease you need......

For this Q& A, it is assumed that the lighting apparatus is intended to illuminate the highway, and that the local council is, in addition, the highway authority as well for these purposes......

The powers of a parish council Our research has focused on authority to take decisions. Nonetheless, particular issues arise for a public authority deploying ANPR cameras, and these must be weighed, alongside the public procurement ramifications of any contractual arrangement. A parish council is limited to acts expressly or implicitly permitted by statute or by subordinate legislation. More broadly, local authorities are generally empowered by statute to do anything calculated to facilitate, or conducive or incidental to, the carrying out of their functions, as set out in section 111 of the Local Government Act 1972 ( LGA 1972). These limits and enabling powers frame any such decision-making process......

Both the High Court and the Family Court possess jurisdiction to issue injunctions, whether interlocutory or final, and to appoint a receiver whenever it is considered just and convenient to do so. Any order can be made unconditionally or subject to such terms and conditions as the court deems appropriate, pursuant to section 37 of the Senior Courts Act 1981, which applies in the Family Court as it does in the High Court......

This Q& A focuses on public procurement under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 ( PCR 2015), SI 2015/102 As a general principle, the PCR 2015, SI 2015/102 affords bidders considerable latitude to shape bid partnerships and supply chain models to suit their approach. Under PCR 2015, SI 2015/102, reg 63(1), tenderers can draw upon the resources of other organisations to satisfy selection requirements covering economic and financial standing, along with technical and professional capability. A limited carve-out appears at PCR 2015, SI 2015/102, reg 63(7), which permits contracting authorities to stipulate that specified ‘critical tasks’ in a public services or public works contract must be carried out by the prime contractor, or by one from a consortium of primes. Put differently, suppliers are, in most cases, free to deploy their chosen subcontractors when delivering a public contract. That said, this is subject to any...

It can be useful to review, in sequence, the following key points: the obligation in section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 ( ERA 1996) to issue a written statement of employment particulars the terms of the contract of employment an employer’s Human Resource ( HR)-related policies the use of electronic signatures Written statement of employment particulars Under ERA 1996, s 1(1), an employer must also provide a worker with a written statement setting out the specified particulars of employment identified in ERA 1996, s 1(3) and (4). For more detailed guidance on this duty, see Practice Note: Written statements of employment particulars. Where the particulars concern sick leave and pay, other paid leave, pension rights and training, the statement may instead direct the worker to another document that is reasonably accessible ( ERA 1996, ss 1(4)(d)(ii)–(iii), 1(4)(l) and 2(2))......

For further information on this topic in general, see: National minimum wage— Eligibility Employment-related statutory rates and limits table Minimum wage compliance checklist Deductions from wages Some of the statutory exceptions to the right to receive the national minimum wage are outlined below. This response concentrates on the scenarios where the point most commonly arises. Workers only Only ‘workers’ are entitled to be paid the national minimum wage—see our Practice Note: Worker status— Definition of ‘worker’. Agency workers who would otherwise fall outside the definition of a ‘worker’ because they have no contract with either the supplier or the recipient of their services are nevertheless entitled to the national minimum wage. Home workers who might not otherwise be ‘workers’ owing to an absence of any personal obligation in the contract to carry out the work themselves are likewise entitled to be paid the...

Procedure for forfeiting a residential lease Under forfeiture law, a landlord may terminate a lease by carrying out re-entry to the property. Re-entry can be achieved either by physically going back into the premises or by commencing and serving possession proceedings in the County Court or the High Court. However, where premises are let as a dwelling and are still occupied, a landlord is not permitted to forfeit by physical re-entry and must instead bring proceedings before the court......

We have concentrated specifically on sections 108–110 of the Digital Economy Act 2017 ( DEA 2017) and sections 132–133 of the draft Data Protection Bill 2017 ( DPB 2017) for the purposes of this Q& A. Part III of the Data Protection Act 1998 ( DPA 1998) obliges data controllers who handle personal data to notify the Information Commissioner of their processing for inclusion in the register maintained by the Information Commissioner’s Office ( ICO). Controllers seeking to register must pay an applicable fee. For further details, consult the Data Protection ( Notification and Notification Fees) Regulations 2000, SI 2000/188, and official guidance from the Information Commissioner......

The statutory formula for child maintenance under the Child Support Act 1991 ( CSA 1991) The statutory formula for child maintenance under the Child Support Act 1991 ( CSA 1991) does not link the amount payable to whether the paying parent has contact with the children, other than insofar as the shared care rules operate. Under CSA 1991, s 3(5), it is recognised that, for the purposes of the Act, there can be more than one person with care in relation to the same qualifying child. The Child Support Maintenance Calculation Regulations 2012, SI 2012/2677, reg 46(2), further provide that any calculation must be grounded in the number of nights the non-resident parent is expected to care for the qualifying child overnight during the 12 months commencing on the effective date of the relevant calculation decision. The Child Maintenance Service ( CMS) retains a...

The obligation to implement reasonable adjustments consists of three distinct requirements in total. What unites all three, in particular, is that they only operate where a disabled individual is placed at a substantial disadvantage in relation to a 'relevant matter' when compared with people who are not disabled......

Section 12(2A) of the Children Act 1989 ( Ch A 1989) Inserted by paragraph 21(4) of Schedule 2, Part 1 of the Children and Families Act 2014 ( CFA 2014), Section 12(2A) of the Children Act 1989 ( Ch A 1989) came into force on 22 April 2014. This statutory amendment to Ch A 1989, s 12 expressly empowers the court to confer parental responsibility on an individual who is neither a parent nor a guardian of the child, but who is identified in a relevant child arrangements order ( CAO) as a person with whom the child spends time or otherwise has contact. Any parental responsibility granted under Ch A 1989, s 12(2A) endures only for as long as the corresponding CAO currently remains operative. Although the provision has been operative for more than two years, there seem to be no reported cases that...

A well-known problem amongst procurement professionals A widely recognised headache for procurement practitioners arises from the duty in regulation 53 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 ( PCR 2015), SI 2015/102 ( PCR 2015, SI 2015/102, reg 53). It requires the ‘procurement documents’ to be accessible at the time a public contract is advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union (the Official Journal, or OJEU). In essence, contracting authorities must use the internet to provide unrestricted, complete and immediate access, at no cost, to those documents from the day a notice, issued under regulation 51, appears in the Official Journal, or from the day an invitation to confirm interest is dispatched. The issue most often raised, particularly for public procurements run under the restricted procedure (and comparable routes that involve a pre-qualification phase ahead of the award stage), is whether the...

In this Q& A we have assumed: the deceased’s assessment was correctly calculated a typical financial profile (not, for instance, no recourse to public funds) no top-up was due or paid no deprivation the income-based assessment was up to date Charging for a resident assessed as full cost and availing themselves of a deferred payment agreement would normally be as follows: income contribution: income minus personal allowance, per charging cycle remainder (after 12-week disregard) deferred against property Confirm the first was paid. For the second, check overcharging against beneficial interest; the lower capital limit is £14,250, not £23,250. Assessable capital = beneficial interest − 10% − £14,250 ( Care and Statutory Support Guidance 8.12). Example: £200,000 interest gives £165,750. Systems may overrun, exceeding assessed capital; if so, reassess and cap recovery at that, with any surplus proceeds kept by the...

Section 283 of the Insolvency Act 1986 ( IA 1986) In general terms, section 283 states that every asset belonging to the bankrupt, or in which the bankrupt held an interest on the date the bankruptcy order was made, forms the bankruptcy estate. Under IA 1986, s 306, that estate vests in the trustee in bankruptcy (trustee) immediately and automatically on appointment, and stays vested until the trustee deals with it, typically by sale—see Practice Note: What assets vest in the trustee in bankruptcy and what steps does the official receiver or trustee in bankruptcy need to take? Where the estate includes land or a beneficial interest in land, the trustee should ensure that the correct entries are or become noted against the title, whether the title is registered or unregistered. Depending on whether the property is owned solely or jointly, certain entries may (or...

The Housing Act 2004 ( HA 2004) The Housing Act 2004 ( HA 2004) places a duty on landlords to manage deposits taken for assured shorthold tenancies in line with schemes authorised by the Act ( HA 2004, s 213(1)). There are two approved models: a custodial scheme and an insurance scheme ( HA 2004, s 212(8); HA 2004, Sch 10, paras 1(2), 4). Under the custodial option, the deposit is lodged in an account operated by a scheme administrator. Under the insurance option, the landlord retains the deposit but gives an undertaking to the administrator to return the money; the administrator, in turn, maintains insurance to meet repayment if the landlord fails to comply. This Q& A does not explore the sanctions for breach of these obligations ( HA 2004, s 214), nor the restriction on the landlord serving a section 21 notice...

If the court issues a child arrangements order under section 8 of the Children Act 1989 ( Ch A 1989) directing that a child is to reside with someone other than a parent or guardian, that individual acquires parental responsibility for the child for as long as the order is operative, insofar as it provides for the child to live with them ( Ch A 1989, s 12(2)). That individual continues to hold parental responsibility under that provision for as long as the provision requiring the child to live with them still remains effective......

Such works may fall under section 105(1)(b) of the HGCRA 1996 Such works may fall within section 105(1)(b), which treats road maintenance as a construction operation covering the construction, alteration, repair, maintenance, extension, demolition or dismantling of works forming, or to form, part of land, including walls, roadworks, power lines, electronic communications apparatus, runways, docks, harbours, railways, inland waterways, pipelines, reservoirs, water mains, wells, sewers, industrial plant, and installations for land drainage, coast protection or defence. Alternatively, section 105(1)(e) catches operations integral to, preparatory for, or rendering complete those works, including site clearance, earth-moving, excavation, tunnelling, laying foundations, erecting, maintaining or dismantling scaffolding, site restoration, landscaping, and providing roadways and other access. No specific authority concerns these works, yet courts have often held that less orthodox activities are construction operations, for example: Baldwins Industrial Services plc v Barr: crane with driver hire held...

The general rule The general rule is that when a buyer of a freehold interest enters into covenants with the seller, although the burden of restrictive obligations will in many instances bind a successor in title, positive duties requiring the covenantor to act do not run when the freehold is conveyed. A rentcharge operates as a device by which a monetary duty can pass to the successor of the initial buyer. There is no issue, as a matter of contractual privity, in imposing on the purchaser a contractual obligation to pay the seller for the supply of services relating to the land; however, matters become more intricate once the seller transfers the freehold estate to a third party. The rentcharge nonetheless entitles its holder to demand regular periodic payments of money from the owner of the freehold estate. It is not a...

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 ( FIA 2000) and the Data Protection Act 1998 ( DPA 1998) are distinct regimes, save for the overlap raised here. They otherwise operate separately from one another as a rule. FIA 2000 contains various exemptions. Those exemptions mean the kind, character or even the presence of the information need not be revealed under FIA 2000. For this scenario, the pertinent carve-out is in FIA 2000, s 40, in particular FIA 2000, ss 40(1) and 40(5)(a). Where the material amounts to personal data and the data subject seeks disclosure via FIA 2000, the exemption applies in absolute terms......