In a Judgment dated 7 March 2019, the Court of Appeal has held that 2 similar schemes designed specifically to avoid the owners of unoccupied properties being liable for business rates are perfectly valid and lawful. Such schemes do not stand to be treated any differently from tax avoidance schemes commonly used to avoid or mitigate any other form of taxation, such as income or corporate or inheritance tax.
On Thursday 7 March, the Home Office released its Statement of Changes setting out proposed changes to the UK Immigration Rules. It contains the long-awaited details of changes to the Tier 1 (Investor) Visa (the "Investor Visa") that were announced in December 2018 (shortly after the Home Office backtracked from its announcement that the visa was about to be suspended). The changes to the Investor Visa will come into effect on 29 March 2019 (conveniently the same day as Brexit – at least for now!).
Forsters is delighted to celebrate International Women's Day 2019. As a firm, we are committed to seeing each and every one of our people realise their potential in a diverse and inclusive working environment and are delighted to take this opportunity to celebrate the success of women at all levels of the firm.
We asked women within the firm about their experience of working here at Forsters. Here is what some of them had to say:
The process of obtaining a pre-nuptial agreement may not be as difficult as you think. Below we have set out a five step guide to obtaining a nuptial agreement.
On a new lease, a well advised tenant will carefully consider the extent of its repairing liability over the term. The principle of caveat emptor (buyer beware) applies so that a tenant should inspect carefully and depending on the nature of the premises, may commission a survey. This will include any part of the premises that is expressly incorporated within the demise, which might include equipment (e.g. air conditioning units exclusively serving the premises). The inspection/ survey may identify defects (patent) and disrepair in the premises.
Nuptial agreements, namely pre-nups and post-nups, are commonly associated with the rich and famous and can often be sensationalised by popular news stories. This has led to widespread belief that nuptial agreements are unfair, worthless and unromantic, when in fact they can be a sensible, fair and transparent way to discuss the financial picture on marriage and agree the outcome if ever it broke down.
The time limit to file a Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) return and pay the tax due to HMRC is being halved from 30 days to just 14 days.
SDLT is the tax payable by purchasers and tenants when they acquire an interest in land in England and Northern Ireland with a value over a certain threshold.
The current deadline for submitting a SDLT return and paying any tax due is 30 days from the effective date of the transaction. This time limit is being slashed to just 14 days for transactions with an effective date on or after 1 March 2019.
A gloriously crisp January morning saw me donning my very attractive cycling gear and speeding down to Kings Cross to attend a breakfast seminar to unpick the key themes behind the recently published London Knowledge Clusters Research Report. Commissioned by the London Property Alliance and authored by one of the speakers at the seminar, Jack Sallabank of Future Places Studio, the report explores the growing role of life sciences and associated ‘knowledge’ industries in the London economy, focusing on the key opportunities and challenges for London’s real estate industry in these areas.
Charities might wish to acquire or sell property for a number of reasons; to occupy, as offices or shops, or for investment purposes in the furtherance of its charitable aims. When entering into a real estate transaction the charity trustees will need to ensure they comply with the terms of the charity’s constitution as well as statutory requirements set out in the Charities Act 2011.
Here are a few key points to consider…
The ailing state of the British high street has dominated the headlines in 2018, as household names crash into CVAs and stalwarts such as M&S close stores up and down the country.
