The Companies Act 2006 has introduced various corporate legislation since its inception in 2007. The last wave of changes is due to be implemented on 1 October 2009. A number of the latest changes impact on the Articles of Association of companies.
On 1st October 2009 the final stage of implementation of the Companies Act 2006 (“the Act”) will be implemented. This article considers some of the changes to company law to be implemented by the new provisions of the Act and may be of particular interest to those considering forming a company and to private companies limited by shares:
If a landlord misrepresents its grounds of opposition to a renewal of a tenant’s lease within a Notice served under Section 25 Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, the Court of Appeal has recently pointed out that the tenant may be entitled to compensation.
Whilst minor defects in contractual notices do not invariably invalidate the notice where the recipient, acting reasonably and with knowledge of the background and context, would not be confused, it is usually fatal if the wrong party is named in the notice. The High Court has recently held invalid a break Notice that was given by only one of the two tenants named in the Lease.
A recent Court of Appeal decision considered whether two non-executive directors should be held liable for the dishonest misapplication of Company funds by an executive director, even though they claimed to have no knowledge of the purported dishonesty and were not involved in the day to day running of the Company.
The Court of Appeal has recently considered whether controlling shareholders who were also directors (and who were also alleged to be employees) could in fact be employees, particularly where they had no employment contract.
ACAS Code of Practice A number of changes to employment law came into force on 6 April 2009. The most notable change is the repeal of the statutory dispute resolution procedures, to be replaced by the ACAS Code of Practice on discipline and grievance. Another noteworthy change is the extension of the right to request flexible working to employees with children aged under 17.
Regarded as a consequence of the last recession, net contribution clauses are once again in focus. Contractors and Consultants have pressed for a limitation of liability owed to Developers and to beneficiaries of Warranties by way of such clauses, in order to reduce the impact of joint and several liability and instead, accept liability limited to their fair and reasonable proportion.
The Co-Op challenged the grant of a potential competing planning permission to Tesco for a new supermarket and associated facilities on the edge of Stourport town centre. The debate concerned a condition in the planning permission specifying that the building should not exceed allocations of certain floor space unless the local planning authority agreed to this in writing.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has announced that a statutory Tower Crane Registration Scheme is to be implemented, along with other measures to improve the safety of tower cranes. It is understood this is likely to be in place by April 2010. In the meantime, efforts will be concentrated on improving the competence of those who operate tower cranes. Perhaps unsurprisingly, UCATT is of the view that the statutory imposition of the Register must occur at the earliest possible date.
4 Cranmere Court, Lustleigh Close, Matford Business Park, Exeter EX2 8PW Tel: 01392 823811 | Fax: 01392 823812 | DX: 300350 Exeter 5 | E-mail: law@otb.uk.com
© 2010 Over Taylor Biggs
Site By Nexus Open Software Ltd Validation: XHTML | CSS