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The First-tier Tribunal (FTT) has granted a couple's application to register a right of way over a small triangle of land belonging to a neighbouring property owner, finding that they and their tenants had crossed it as of right for at least 20 years. The...
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have published statistics showing the estimated 'tax gap' for 2024/25. The tax gap is the difference between the amount of tax that should, in theory, be paid to HMRC and the amount actually paid. The statistics indicate that...
The government is considering significant changes to the law affecting separating couples, nuptial agreements and people who live together without marrying. Andrea Bartholomew , family law partner at Boys & Maughan’s Margate office, looks at what...
The Family Court recently made a parental order in the names of both parents of twins born via surrogacy, despite their father having died before their birth. The mother and father had been in a relationship for several years before marrying. Their first...
The Court of Appeal has upheld an appeal by a former employee of an IT services company against an order that he reimburse his employer for training costs, ruling that the contractual provisions allowing the employer to claw back those costs amounted to an...
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has obtained a confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 against a convicted fraudster. As a result, victims of his crimes are expected to recover most of the money they invested. The fraudster offered...
The Intellectual Property Enterprise Court recently ruled that a social media influencer and her company must pay damages totalling £213,000 to several manufacturers of luxury goods whose trade marks they had infringed. The influencer and the...
Under Section 72 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 , the right to manage can only be acquired if the premises consist of a self-contained building or part of a building. Section 72(3) specifies that for a part of a building to be...
On 13 July 2026, the fee charged when applying for probate increased significantly, from £300 to £526. The fee applies where the value of the estate is more than £5,000. There is no fee for estates of £5,000 or less. If probate has...
Purchasers of businesses would be well advised to ensure that their agreement with the seller protects them against any failure to disclose information that may affect the business's value. Recently, the High Court rejected a claim for breach of warranty ...
Under Paragraph 5(a) of Schedule 4 to the Land Registration Act 2002 , the Land Register may be altered for the purpose of correcting a mistake. Recently, the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) granted an application for alteration of the Register by a woman who...
The government has recently updated the timetable for implementing key changes in the Employment Rights Act 2025 . Electronic and workplace balloting for statutory trade union ballots is scheduled to take effect by the end of August 2026. On 1 October...
The Family Court has concluded that it had no jurisdiction to hear a man's application for an order for sale of the former matrimonial home following his ex-wife's death, finding that personal rights and obligations arising under the Matrimonial Causes Act...
Normally, both parties in proceedings before the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) pay their own costs, but the FTT can make an order for costs where one of the parties has acted unreasonably in bringing, defending or conducting the proceedings. A recent decision...
As of 19 June 2026, all of the data protection provisions in the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 are now in force. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has updated its guidance for organisations on the Act accordingly. The guidance now includes an...
Seeking redress for defamatory statements can often be complex, but it is certainly not impossible. Recently, a woman succeeded in obtaining damages from a journalist who had misrepresented what she had said in an interview with him, as well as from an...
Imprecise drafting in a will is a recipe for litigation and dispute later on. A recent High Court decision on the interpretation of an ambiguous clause in a man's will illustrates the kinds of issues that can arise. The man had made a will in 2007 leaving...
In a ruling that provides clarification on the right of employees to be given an itemised pay statement, contained in Section 8 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 , the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has dismissed a man's appeal against a decision that...
Failures by a taxpayer's agent are generally treated as failures by the taxpayer for the purposes of whether there is a good reason for failing to bring an appeal in time. A recent case in which a taxpayer was refused permission to appeal more than three...
Under Section 58(5) of the Family Law Act 1986 , the courts cannot make a declaration that a marriage was void at its inception. That recently proved fatal to an application for a declaration as to marital status by a husband who had undergone a marriage...
Businesses whose premises are compulsorily acquired are entitled to compensation for loss of profits and any reduction in the value of the business, as well as the value of the premises themselves. Recently, the Upper Tribunal (UT) found that compensation...
The Companies Act 2006 gives the courts a range of powers to assist shareholders who have been unfairly prejudiced by the way a company they hold shares in has been run. Recently, the High Court found that a man had suffered unfair prejudice after he was...
When applying for a boundary determination, it is crucial to gather as much evidence as you can in support of your application. Recently, a couple's application for a determination of part of the boundary between their home and neighbouring land was...
The Supreme Court has upheld a decision of the Court of Appeal in a case concerning how the test of whether members of a limited liability partnership (LLP) have significant influence over its affairs for the purpose of determining whether they are...
When deciding what is in the best interests of a patient who lacks capacity, the courts will take into account any wishes and feelings the patient has previously expressed but will consider them in the context of all the evidence. Recently, the Court of...
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has ruled that the belated imposition of a cap on an employee's bonus amounted to an unlawful deduction from wages, overturning a decision of the Employment Tribunal (ET) dismissing his claim ( Chandrashekarappa v Wipro...
The law affords people a high degree of testamentary freedom, and those seeking reasonable financial provision from an estate must satisfy the courts that it was unreasonable that adequate provision was not made for them. Recently, the High Court ruled that...
A water company has been fined nearly £1 million by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) after a cyber attack led to the personal data of customers and employees being published on the dark web. The company began an investigation in July 2022...
The High Court has ruled that a three-year-old girl was not habitually resident in England and Wales and it therefore did not have jurisdiction to determine her father's application for her return from the UAE. The girl's mother was a citizen of Pakistan...
If a building is a house in multiple occupation (HMO) within the meaning of Section 254 of the Housing Act 2004 , can dwellings within the building also be houses for the purposes of the selective licensing scheme in Part 3 of the Act? The Upper Tribunal...
The First-tier Tribunal (FTT) has upheld a taxpayer's appeal against a decision by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) that he was resident in the UK in the 2019/20 tax year, finding that 'transit days' and an extra day he spent in the UK after his flight was...
The High Court has ruled that a will made by an elderly woman with dementia, in which she disinherited one of her sons, was invalid due to lack of testamentary capacity and want of knowledge and approval. The woman's previous will, made in 2018, divided...
The government has launched a consultation on reforms relating to zero-hours and similar contracts , to implement measures in the Employment Rights Act 2025 to end one-sided flexibility. The reforms aim to reduce the insecurity of hours and income that...
In certain circumstances, owners of leasehold flats have a legal right to buy the freehold of the building together with other leaseholders. This process is known as collective enfranchisement. For collective enfranchisement to be available, the building...
An engineering and consulting company has been fined nearly £13 million by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under Section 91 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 , after it published inaccurate information in its full-year 2022 and 2023...
The Supreme Court has ruled that the costs of surveys and studies in connection with the construction of wind farms were not 'capital expenditure on the provision of plant' for the purposes of Section 11(4)(a) of the Capital Allowances Act 2001 , and...
The High Court has dismissed an ex-wife's appeal against a ruling that her former husband's share of the home they owned together was held by his trustees in bankruptcy. The couple had married and purchased the property in 2009. They had two children. In...
Guidance for employers and workers explaining the changes to employment rights as a result of the Employment Rights Act 2025 is available on the government's website. The website lists the changes that have been introduced so far, including a number of...
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently took part in a week of action, along with 16 other regulators internationally, to protect consumers from illegal 'finfluencers'. This included enforcement activity, consumer awareness campaigns, and educational...
The High Court has dismissed a landlord's appeal against a decision that a pub company was entitled to a new tenancy of its premises, the landlord having failed to establish that it intended to carry out works on the premises and could not do so without...
Figures from the High Court have shown that the number of disputed probate claims is continuing to rise. A total of 1,217 disputed probate cases were filed at the High Court in 2025, an increase of 12.7 per cent from the figure of 1,080 in 2024. There were...
Under the Data Protection (Charges and Information) Regulations 2018 , organisations, including sole traders, that use personal information have to pay a data protection fee, unless they are exempt. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) provides...
The courts are often called upon to make difficult decisions about what is in the best interests of patients who cannot express their wishes for themselves. In a tragic case, the High Court recently ruled that it was not in the best interests of a young boy...
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has dismissed a woman's appeal against a decision of the Employment Tribunal (ET) that her complaints of unfair dismissal and disability discrimination had been brought out of time, finding that the ET had not erred in...
At the third time of asking, the Upper Tribunal (UT) has granted an application to modify a restrictive covenant to permit a second dwelling to be built on a plot of land. The land, on which a small partly thatched cottage had originally stood, had been...
The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by a number of hospitality companies against a decision that furlough payments they received during the COVID-19 pandemic served to reduce the amounts payable to them under their business interruption cover. The...
The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal against an order of the High Court that a 14-year-old boy who had remained in England after visiting his father should return to live in South Africa. The boy's parents, both South African nationals, had married...
The First-tier Tribunal (FTT) has ruled that 'Mega Marshmallows' are not confectionery and are therefore zero-rated for VAT , in a case that reached the Court of Appeal. A wholesaler of American sweets and treats which supplied Mega Marshmallows was issued...
A cleaner at a university who was dismissed from her job has been awarded substantial damages after an Employment Tribunal (ET) upheld her complaints of unfair dismissal and victimisation ( Ong v Aberystwyth University ). The woman had commenced her...
The First-tier Tribunal (FTT) has allowed a taxpayer's appeal against late filing penalties where he had not received a notice to file a tax return, after reviewing an earlier decision in which it had upheld most of the penalties. HM Revenue and Customs...
