The Government has recently announced a "VAT Holiday" for businesses, meaning that the VAT payment due for the periods ended 31 March 2020, 30 April 2020, 31 May 2020 and 30 June 2020 won't now be due until 31 March 2021.
Few would have anticipated only a few weeks ago that by March, a large part of the world, including the UK, would be or have been in virtual lockdown with many planes grounded and borders closed.
On Saturday evening, the Business Secretary, Alok Sharma MP, announced that, in order to support business, the government intends to suspend the wrongful trading provisions contained in insolvency legislation.
You may have read about the Government’s intention to change the law to stop tenants being evicted as a result of Coronavirus. A Bill has been passed today which will impact on current possession claims and also on the service of notices.
With so much focus on rent concessions for tenants and the new forfeiture moratorium, landlords should make sure they also protect their rights to recover rents and other fixed charges from former tenants and guarantors by serving notice under section 17 of the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 within 6 months of the sums falling due.
Over the past few weeks, developers and contractors have been assessing the potential implications of coronavirus and COVID-19 on construction projects.
Dispute Resolution Partner, Andrew Head, and Senior Solicitor, Bryan Shacklady, take a look at the implications of the coronavirus lockdown for dispute resolution, focusing on three key dispute resolution mechanisms: litigation, arbitration and mediation.
On 20 March 2020, the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announced the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (the “Retention Scheme”), which is designed to give employers support for paying salaries to those who would otherwise have been laid off due to the pandemic.
The majority of leases in England require tenants to pay one quarter of the rent on 25 March with landlords typically being able to forfeit the lease by peaceable re-entry if the rent is not paid within 14 or 21 days.
The UK Budget 2020 announced on 11 March 2020, was rather overtaken by world events. Having been long-delayed and thrown into doubt by the resignation of the former Chancellor, Sajid Javid, in February, in the end it was COVID-19 that really moulded the new Chancellor's speech.
