Archive for the ‘Commercial Law’ Category
Wednesday, December 12th, 2007
The Scottish Tenant Farmers’ Association (STFA) has lobbied for the closure of a legal loophole which allows some landlords to block the passing-on of heritable tenancies within families, it has emerged.
Such activity occurs through the "two man rule" which states that landlords may serve a notice to quit on a tenant within twelve months of their inheriting a tenancy should the holding be capable of giving full-time employment to two people and the property-owner intends to amalgamate the holding.
Angus McCall, chairman of the STFA, describes the situation as "iniquitous".
"The two-man rule still exists as a remnant of previous legislation but is being exploited by some landlords and their agents to frustrate the assignation of a tenancy," he tells the Herald.
He concluded that the two-man rule should be removed from the statute book and until this occurs advised tenants facing difficulties to seek legal advice.
The STFA improves the professional and technical knowledge of its members and encourages the flow of new tenancies into the market.
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Tuesday, November 20th, 2007
Ancient trusts and confusion over land ownership laws could prove problems for the development of a nightclub on a Glasgow site.
The city’s local authority believes that sections of the plot, which is located in the city’s Botanic Gardens, fall within the category of “common good” land while the council may not have the right to give certain subterranean sections away.
Head of development and regeneration at Glasgow city council George Ryan told the Herald: “Officials informed us late last week of the latest developments.
“The air space underground isn’t ours to give away and parts of the development would fall foul of common good law.”
Consumers concerned over issues of land ownership and other commercial law may find they benefit from seeking legal advice on the matter.
Introduced by Robert the Bruce, the law established areas of land to be held by authorities for the good of the people and Glasgow’s common good plot is notoriously fragmented and complex.
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Thursday, October 25th, 2007
Work on a number of office facilities is due to begin on a Glasgow commercial site, it has been announced.
Four office structures will be built on Bothwell Bridge Business Park.
Alistair Reid, spokesperson for real-estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle, commented: "The second phase of development has been made possible due to the success of the first phase at Bothwell Bridge Business Park, which has seen over 14,000 sq ft of office space sold or leased over the past year.
Consumers intending to erect any structures for any reason may be advised to seek legal advice regarding regulations and restrictions their planned buildings may be subject to.
Work on the four new office pavilions will begin this month and are planned to be completed early next year.
In related news, the headquarters of Scottish Natural Heritage, Great Glen House, was recently awarded the title of best corporate workplace in the UK by the British Council for Offices.
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Thursday, September 6th, 2007
Alex Salmond’s programme for his first year in government was accused of being light on legislation after it was announced yesterday, it has been revealed.
Opposition parties claimed that the new first minister’s 11 proposed bills avoided a range of manifesto promises.
Legislation on airguns cannot be drawn up until the Scottish Executive is granted approval to continue from Westminster - due to the reserved status of firearms regulation - and council tax rates will be frozen until a consultation can be carried out to assess the viability of replacing the charge with a local income tax.
Acting leader of Labour Cathy Jamieson told the Scotsman that the new executive had failed to deliver on ambitious election promises.
Nicol Stephen, leader of the Liberal Democrats, told the publication that the scheme was "all dog and no dinner".
Mr Salmond was elected as first minister by the Scottish parliament on May 16th this year.
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Monday, September 3rd, 2007
Consumers looking to buy homes in Edinburgh should be aware of planned cuts on opening hours for pubs in the city, in moves aimed at combating anti-social behaviour.
Authorities in the city plan to cut weekday opening times by an hour to midnight and will also require pubs to provide seating for half of all drinkers. Such rules could be in place within months, reports the Edinburgh Evening News.
The policy has been drawn up by the city council and states that pubs and clubs with little or no provision for seating, so called "vertical drinking establishments", have a significant bearing on the possibility of disorder and crime.
Marjorie Thomas, Edinburgh’s licensing convener said there were no plans to impose cuts on Friday and Saturday opening times.
Chairman of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association commented: "The stuff about vertical drinking sounds ridiculous and it is ridiculous. The theory is if people are standing in pubs they are more likely to cause trouble. We don’t believe that."
It was reported last month in the Edinburgh Evening News that calls were made to ease regulations and allow more bars and pubs to build external smoking shelters.
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Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007
Consumers looking to purchase homes in Edinburgh should be aware of noisy smokers outside pubs and bars, who have been identified as the cause of an increase in disputes being dealt with by Edinburgh Community Mediation (ECM).
Calls were made recently for an easing of planning regulations to allow more smoking shelters to be built outside bars.
The number of incidents being dealt with by (ECM) has almost doubled since 2005, according to the Edinburgh Evening News.
ECM is made up of trained negotiators, who have organised meetings between bar and pub owners and local residents in an attempt to ease tensions.
Scottish Licensed Trade Association chief executive Paul Waterson told the Edinburgh Evening News: "Landlords do everything they can, but it is very difficult to control people who are outside the premises."
Former councillor and bar-owner Tom Ponton stated that it was an unfortunate situation as it is affecting both landlords and local residents.
ECM is run by community development organisation Sacro and aims to negotiate neighbourhood disputes without involving the police.
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Monday, August 20th, 2007
Attitudes to a bylaw intended to protect some of Edinburgh’s most well-known beauty spots may be tested following today’s announcement that Edinburgh city authorities are requesting approval to replace West Princes Street’s Ross Bandstand.
Plans to replace the construction with a 10,000-seat arena are expected to be put into action within days, reports the Edinburgh Evening News.
Other areas protected by the bylaw include Bruntfield Links, Meadows and Calton Hall and Leith Links. It is thought that an attempt to change the regulation will result in opposition.
Edinburgh council director of corporate services Jim Inch commented that granting an exception to the law carries a low risk of objection due to the convincing argument for replacing the bandstand.
However, a move to change the law on protected parks and allow construction on any protected area would likely result in objections, he added.
Leader of the council Jenny Dawe stated: "I don’t think people would understand the reasons for trying to amend the existing bylaw."
The Ross Bandstand is an open-air theatre near Edinburgh castle. Built in 1877, it was a gift to the city from William Henry Ross, chairman of Distillers Co.
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Friday, August 10th, 2007
BAA may be ordered to turn ownership of one of Scotland’s three busiest airports over to a rival to break up its control of the market, following a Competition Commission (CC) inquiry.
The CC investigation into the aviation industry is intended to examine the possible negative effects of BAA owning Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen airports as well as Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Southampton in England.
High charges to airlines and complaints about customer service have led to the inquiry.
Christopher Clarke, inquiry group chairman, said: "We are looking at how common ownership could affect BAA’s incentives both to invest in and develop its airports and operate them."
He added that the CC was specifically calculating how the quantity, specification, quality, location and timeliness of capital expenditure, ranging from capacity to security, may be affected by common ownership.
Should the CC find any features of the aviation market that restrict, prevent or distort competition it has the power to issue a divestment order forcing the sale of one or more of the airports.
Around 1,700 aircraft currently take-off from BAA UK airports every day, equivalent to one every 30 seconds.
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Thursday, August 9th, 2007
A legal challenge to the Scottish executive’s land reform legislation will be launched tomorrow by a farmer who claims that the policy is devaluing his land and threatening his children’s inheritance, according to the Herald.
The appeal is against Scottish ministers’ recent decision to allow the people of Kinghorn in Fife’s community-led land association to register an interest in 19 plots of land around Kinghorn, giving them first refusal on the right to purchase the land should the owners decide to sell.
Non-crofting communities cannot force a landowner to sell due to the Scottish Land Reform Act, but after registering an interest they have six months to raise the funds to purchase the land if it becomes available.
Since the community is only interested in purchasing three fields of their land, the Hazle family claim that their farm would become effectively worthless should they try and sell it.
They also assert that under the Act landowners’ wills cannot be altered after the community has registered an interest, which may mean that their children cannot inherit.
The Scottish Land Reform Act was passed by the Scottish executive in 2003.
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Wednesday, August 8th, 2007
Scotland’s 35 abattoirs face tough new measures following the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the UK, according to the Scottish environment secretary.
Richard Lochhead said farmers must apply for new rigorous slaughter licenses, display adequate safety measures and face restrictions on the transfer of livestock.
The news comes after the announcement that the complete ban on movement of cattle in Scotland has been relaxed, placing the Scottish meat and livestock industry ahead of its counterpart south of the border - where all movement of animals is still prohibited.
The lifting of restrictions on slaughter was agreed on the advice of Charles Milne, Scotland’s chief veterinary officer and after discussion with UK ministers and officials.
Mr Milne said: "On the basis of a veterinary risk assessment, I am confident that we can proceed with this limited relaxation in Scotland on a strictly controlled basis."
Foot-and-mouth disease is an infectious disease affecting cloven-hoofed animals, in particular cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and deer. A total of 2,030 cases of the disease were confirmed in Great Britain in the outbreak between February and September 2001 according to Defra.
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