British bands from the Beatles to the Stones and the Clash to the Smiths all started out playing gigs in Great British pubs. But in recent times pubs and live music venues have come under threat of closure over noise…
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has announced a new Planning Enforcement Fund aimed at providing funding for local planning authorities towards the legal costs of seeking a court injunction against those who disregard planning laws. Authorities will be able to apply…
The High Court has held in the recent case of Oxfordshire CC v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government [2015], that a local planning authority was not entitled to fees for administering or monitoring planning obligations in a…
Most commercial tenants will know that they have a right to apply for new tenancies at the end their leases. However, many will be ignorant of the fact that their security of tenure can be undermined if their landlord plans…
Two devoutly Roman Catholic midwives who refused to take even supervisory roles in the termination of pregnancies have failed to convince the Supreme Court that their NHS employer trampled on their right to conscientiously object. The women pointed to the…
Disagreements between family members are often bitter, and this can lead to time, effort and expense being incurred which is disproportionate to the importance of the dispute when it concerns a family business, as a recent case illustrates. Two brothers…
In a warning to house buyers that it is wise to obtain a full survey before committing yourself, a couple who contracted to pay £3.6 million for a country house – but later pulled out of the deal when evidence…
In a guideline decision, the High Court has ordered enforcement of an adjudicator’s award on the basis that a kilometre-long conveyor system had a sufficient degree of permanency to render its installation a ‘construction operation’ within the meaning of the…
At what point does an agent’s introduction of an eventual buyer become an ‘effective cause’ of the sale? The Court of Appeal will consider that vital issue as brokers battle for a 10 per cent commission on the €19.8 million…
In a clear indication that the visual and other impacts of the ever-increasing number of wind farms have become a matter of Central Government concern, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government overruled one of his own planning…
