What do business owners need to know before signing a new commercial property lease?
Understanding your legal rights as a commercial tenant is vital before committing to a lease for your business premises. Mert Sumbul considers the impact of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. What is the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954? The Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 is a significant law governing the relationship between landlords and tenants in commercial properties. It outlines the duties and rights of both parties in leases for business premises. Here, we’ll focus on how it affects tenants, as the Act provides specific protections that can be…
NDAs – an overview
A Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), also referred to as a Confidentiality Agreement, is a legal mechanism used primarily in employment or business contexts to safeguard confidential information. NDAs are versatile instruments applicable across various scenarios, but their core principle remains the same: one or both parties agree not to disclose specified confidential information. NDAs can either be standalone documents or be incorporated into broader agreements. For example, there may be non-disclosure clauses in an employment contract or a Settlement Agreement, to ensure that proprietary or sensitive information remains confidential. Types of…
Commercial Landlords: Understanding Your Responsibilities
Directors should make a diary date for filing deadlines
A £165m reminder to directors on the importance of getting accounts filed on time has been flagged in the latest report from Companies House, the body responsible for the UK's register of limited companies. The statistics from Companies House show that 98.5% of accounts were filed on time, but the 1.5% that missed their deadline resulted in 323,643 penalties being levied with a total value of £164.7m. The average penalty was £509 but almost £80m was raised by 80,000 ‘double penalties’, charged when companies file their accounts late for two…
New transparency rules to keep companies squeaky clean
Company directors, people with significant control of a company, or anyone who files on behalf of a company, must ensure they comply with new transparency rules from March 2024. Greater scrutiny of information lies at the heart of the new legislation, which is designed to plug potential loopholes that may have been exploited for the purposes of economic crime. It strengthens the powers of law enforcement agencies, makes it easier to prosecute corporates for certain financial crimes, and introduces a new offence of ‘failure to prevent fraud’ for larger organisations.…