“I’m a parent and have been told I should have a Will. But I don’t understand why it’s so important.” No one likes to think about it, but unfortunately, death is a fact of life. It’s going to happen to us all at some point. However, if you’re a parent and you don’t have a Will in place, then you’re at risk of leaving your family horribly exposed, particularly if you have a partner and are unmarried.

The Supreme Court has unanimously allowed a recent appeal and clarified the law in relation to the duty of care owed by non-medical staff in hospitals.

When it comes to business, uncertainty can be incredibly damaging. And if you aren’t protected through up to date and appropriate agreements, this can make matters significantly worse

The Government have recently made important changes to Planning Use Classes. These changes came into effect on 1st September 2020, (although there will be a transition period until 31 July 2021). The measures have been introduced to make it easier to repurpose premises quicker and at less cost. This means that ‘the high street’ can be more adaptable to meet occupier demand and safeguard community assets.

During a conversation with a client, the inevitable question came up “So what do you do?”. Many first-time buyers are unsure what the role of the Solicitor is when it comes to buying a property. With so many tasks involved in the process it is often difficult to know who does what. The process can be (more or less) broken into stages from start to finish to let you know who deals with which part.

The London-based business, which has 5,000 employees, failed to properly enrol a number of its staff into the company pension scheme and made incorrect contributions for others…. and then failed to heed a penalty notice issued by TPR.

One of the biggest challenges facing first time buyers is saving for a deposit. With increasing rental prices and the cost of living, buyers often find it tricky to save enough funds to put down a 10% or even 5% deposit on a new property. There are a few options open to first time buyers to help them get that first step on the property ladder.

Currently, going on holiday is a little bit like a rubbish lucky dip – will we be able to go? If we can’t, will we get our money back? If we can, will some new restrictions come in part-way through the break meaning we have to quarantine on our return?

One of the biggest headaches for employers is managing the company’s annual leave.

The tricky task however is ensuring that whilst some employees are on annual leave, you’re left with enough people to carry out the day to day activities of the company, and that no real problems arise because staff are away.

The financial implications for our retail sector and commercial landlords arising from the Covid-19 pandemic are by this point obvious. Governmental restrictions, and reduced consumer confidence will leave highstreets and restaurants struggling for some time to come. Switching to a turnover rent is another option that could help tenants and landlords alike.

On the 20 May 2020, the Government introduced the Corporate and Insolvency Governance Bill. As with most of these type of documents, they’re not the easiest of bedtime reading! We therefore wanted to let you have a much easier to read update of The Insolvency Bill.

Most businesses will now either have returned from lockdown or planning a return to some form of normality. However, ‘business’ may be far from usual for a while yet. This is especially the case when returning to work means being confronted with mounting debts and disputes.

On 19 June 2020 the Government published the Code of Practice for commercial property relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Code is voluntary rather than mandatory. It’s objective is to provide a level of support to all those stakeholders in the commercial property sector. This ranges from customers and occupiers, through to the landlords and lenders.

How many of us take out or renew motor or household insurance and end up with Legal Expenses Insurance included? Do you even know what the policy covers?

Making a Will can often seem an uncomfortable exercise. But it’s vitally important. It’s an excellent opportunity to review your estate as well as making sure those you hold dear are looked after. A Will offers you the choice and control in how your assets are dealt with. At the same time, importantly, it makes your wishes valid and binding.

There aren’t many areas left untouched by the Coronavirus, including moving house. As with many people, our conveyancing colleagues are working at home as much as we can. We are finding that our mobile phone conveyancing app is proving invaluable in keeping our clients up to date and progressing matters swiftly. We want to progress your conveyancing transaction to the point where we are ready to exchange contracts.

When an accident involves two cars, usually liability is apportioned on the basis of blameworthiness. However, where one of the parties is a cyclist, then different considerations apply. This is because the Law recognises that if a car and a cyclist are involved in a collision, the car is likely to do much greater damage to the cyclist then the cyclist is to the car driver.

With all the uncertainty currently, the government has given businesses and individuals some welcome relief by postponing the IR35 (otherwise known as off payroll working) extension to medium and large companies in the private sector from 6 April 2020 to 6 April 2021.

Back in 2019, the Court of Appeal considered the duty of care owed by Local Authorities to grit public car parks.

The case went back to the cold winter of 2012. Mr Ivor Cook who was 78 at the time visited the Bush Car Park which is situated in a suburban area of Swansea. It was a Council car park managed by Swansea City Council.

Falling from vehicles is not uncommon, with even more of those falling being struck by moving vehicles. Each year around 2000 people have an accident after falling from vehicles. As a result of this common occurrence, employers must take reasonable steps to ensure that Health and Safety provisions are set in place to minimise the risk of accident. But what happens when you have a Defendant who has appeared to take reasonable steps in order to minimise the risk, but the Claimant argues that these weren’t sufficient, due to the severity of risk?