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Personality clashes can obviously cause difficulties in business, but they are rarely serious enough to justify cancelling commercial contracts. In one striking case, a television channel was ordered to pay substantial damages to a production company after...

A 52-year-old single mother with five children, Ms Nzolameso, has obtained a ruling that is of importance to councils and their tenants alike. Ms Nzolameso was evicted when she could no longer pay the rent on her four-bedroom private sector leased...

Investors in private companies frequently agree not to dispose of their shares without making an offer of first refusal to their co-investors. In a guideline case, the Court of Appeal has analysed the legal effect of such agreements in the context of a...

Things seldom run smoothly in property developments, and where the intention is to offer sales off plan, it is important to ensure that the contract offered to purchasers is sufficiently flexible to take account of contingencies – especially as regards...

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are renowned for taking an overly tough stance when it suits them, as illustrated by a recent case in which 'special relief' against tax bills was refused to a taxpayer. 'Special relief' can be given where it is...

A woman who contested the will her father made shortly before he died has been left with a legal bill larger than her inheritance, after the High Court ruled that her liability to contribute to the legal costs of the executors and beneficiaries who won the...

Company directors inevitably make errors of commercial judgment now and again, but these rarely amount to a breach of the legal duties which they owe to shareholders, which occurs when decisions are made that are wholly unreasonable. A Court of Appeal case ...

With life expectancy increasing, many elderly people find themselves struggling to pay for the care they need. In these circumstances, the temptation to take out an 'equity release' loan is strong, but such a course should only ever be considered with the...

One of the less well-known ways to deal with areas of dispute in a divorce is to arrange for them to be arbitrated. Arbitration involves the appointment of an arbitrator agreed upon by the parties to the dispute and has the advantage of being a process that...

Since 1 October 2015, under changes introduced by the Consumer Rights Act  2015 , it has been compulsory for most businesses to offer Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to their customers if a complaint arises between them which cannot be settled by...