The Beechwood Community

The joys of Christmas for Employers! How not to end up in the Tribunal.

Thu, 25 Nov 2010 11:16:00 GMT

Following the Equality Act 2010 in October this year there is not a more crucial year to get your Christmas employment practices right to avoid the Tribunal in the New Year.

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Service Occupancy - an employment and property law minefield!

Thu, 25 Nov 2010 11:08:00 GMT

There are a number of areas where you might wish an employee to either live in your house or in a property owned by you as part of their employment. The obvious examples being a butler or housekeeper, a nanny, a property manager, a caretaker, a cleaner, a pub manager, a carer or an agricultural farm worker.

In all of these cases accommodation can be provided as part of the employee’s overall package. Often the salary is adjusted downwards to reflect the financial benefit of the accommodation but rarely is thought given to a number of key issues that can cause immense problems in the event that something goes wrong.

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Compromise agreements

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 15:41:00 GMT

Natalie Roach of Beechwood Solicitors has written an article in The Oxford Times, inbusiness about Compromise agreements.

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The Equality Act 2010 has finally arrived!!!

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 05:17:00 GMT

As from 1 October 2010 all of the employment discrimination legislation is embodied in one all singing all dancing Act, the Equality Act 2010. This identifies, unifies and simplifies 9 major pieces of employment legislation covering race, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion and religious belief and equal pay into one cohesive Act. It clarifies the definitions of direct, indirect and disability discrimination as well as those of victimisation and harassment.

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Property Issues: Landlord and Tenant

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 10:57:00 GMT

Landlords and managing agents should be reminded to consider consulting with tenants before entering into contracts to provide services or carry out works relating to residential properties. In a recent High Court case, a management company entered into a 25-year agreement with a third party service provider to provide maintenance services for flats without consulting the tenants. The court decided that the management company could only recover a maximum of £100 from each flat tenant per year.

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Capital Gains Tax Update - Sell Sell Sell!!!

Wed, 19 May 2010 12:48:00 GMT

Tax Update - Action Needed

The new Chancellor will deliver his 'emergency budget' on 22nd June 2010. We expect that this budget will include agreed tax measures listed in the Government's coalition agreement, as well as new tax changes.

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Stamp Duty - Is it your first time?

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 21:17:00 GMT

In the Budget the Chancellor introduced a welcome holiday for Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) for first time buyers, in a bid to stimulate the market.

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