Knowledge

The provisions of the much publicised Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 have started coming into force and will continue to do so in a piecemeal fashion.  Whilst some of the changes enacted by the legislation will be more radical in effect than others, the reforms contained within Part 10 of the 2016 Act relative to agricultural holdings will have a far reaching impact upon landlords and tenants alike.  

In this webinar, Rod MacLeod and Neil Cowan talk through some of the basic Scottish execution requirements when signing Scots Law documents.

The scope of ‘interested parties’ who can object to a proposed development scheme under the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993 has recently been considered by the Scottish Land Court (SLC).  In this update, we explore the implications of the SLC decision for developers and crofting landlords.

After an extended waiting period, the DWP has published draft guidance to schemes with one possible method of equalising GMPs, accompanied by suggested amendments to legislation facilitating the conversion of GMPs to ‘normal’ scheme benefits.

A court has held that conflicting arbitration provisions in six different contracts relating to the same relationship is evidence that the parties had never had a “meeting of minds” in respect of the arbitration agreement, and therefore the dispute would be determined in court instead of being referred to arbitration. 

The decision of the Court of Appeal in Balfour Beatty Regional Construction Limited v Grove Developments Limited [2016] EWCA Civ 990 emphasises that parties cannot rely on commercial common sense to save them from ambiguous contracts. 

A summary of when a product can be advertised as being “free” in compliance with UK Regulations. 

The Court of Appeal in England has confirmed that a Trustee in Bankruptcy (“TIB”) cannot force a bankrupt person to elect to take their uncrystallised pension benefits solely so that the TIB can recover the benefit as income for the member’s creditors. The decision in Horton v Henry (2016) clarifies the legal position after previous conflicting judgements had been given by the Courts. This is all the more significant in light of the recent legislative changes allowing some members flexible access to their uncrystallised benefits from age 55. Whilst the decision is limited to bankruptcies in England, it seems unlikely that the Scottish courts would depart from the approach adopted by the Court of Appeal.

Our Glasgow office is moving to West Regent Street.

The Pensions Regulator exercised a rarely used power to void a Deed which negatively impacted members, enabling them to access compensation from the Pension Protection Fund.

A recent decision of the Pensions Ombudsman gives some useful commentary on an employer’s duties to provide information to its employees about their pension rights and benefits. This article discusses that decision and its implications for employers. 

As many involved in the infrastructure sector will know, on 29 September 2016 the European PPP Expertise Centre of the European Investment Bank and Eurostat published “A Guide to the Statistical Treatment of PPPs”. 

The Case of ASA International v Kashmiri Properties (Ireland) Limited is a reminder of the high test applied to the creation of servitudes by implied grant and makes clear that the court will be reluctant to imply such a servitude except in very limited cases.

The latest in a line of a cases on payment notices in construction contracts, Jawaby Property Investment Limited v The Interiors Group Limited is a further example of ambiguity in payment applications being met with hostility by the courts.

In the recent case of Balgray Limited v William Hodgson, [2016] CSIH 55, the appeal division of the Court of Session, Scotland, examined certain notification requirements under the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003, in particular on whom the particular required notice must be served and where. Whilst the decision focusses on the interpretation and application of notification requirements under this particular statute, the court adopted a similar approach to that taken in a line of contractual notification cases in Scotland going back to the 2008 case of Ben Cleuch Estates Ltd v Scottish Enterprise, [2008] CSIH 1.

The UK construction industry generates around £90 billion annually, accounting for 6.7% of GDP and employing over 2.9 million people. Although the UK construction industry is largely a domestic market, it will still be affected by the Leave vote. Given that the industry accounts for a significant proportion of UK GDP, the impact of Brexit on the industry will in turn affect the UK generally.