Magna Carta and maritime charts dating back to the time of the Spanish Armada had a part to play in the High Court’s decision that fishermen who trawled for cockles in a private fishery without authority must pay damages for trespass. The court ruled that
The Court of Appeal has warned local planning authorities to be alert to the danger that the requirement to carry out environmental impact assessments when considering planning applications for industrial developments over one hectare in size may be subverted by splitting projects onto separate sites
In a ruling of importance to all boat dwellers, a family man who lived on a tugboat in the River Taw estuary, in Barnstaple, has failed in an epic legal struggle to avoid paying council tax. The Court of Appeal ruled that, the vessel having
The Scottish Football League (SFL) must account for VAT on gold medals worth £27,000 that it awards league-winning clubs at the end of each season. The Upper Tribunal ruled that it was ‘largely irrelevant’ whether the medals were a ‘business gift’ or whether they were
If you are a landlord offering longer-term lettings or furnished holiday lettings, you should be aware of the revised guidance contained in HM Revenue and Customs’ leaflets BIM46900 and (furnished holiday letting only) PIM3200. The guidance alters the tax treatment of different sorts of maintenance/repair
An airline must pay full rent on a leased Boeing 737 passenger jet notwithstanding that it was in an un-airworthy condition. The Court of Appeal ruled that, as a matter of business efficacy, the airline assumed responsibility for the aircraft’s condition when it formally accepted
Property search companies have triumphed in their fight to be given free access to environmental information by local authorities. The First-Tier Tribunal ruled that allowing councils to levy even modest administrative charges to cover the cost of providing such information would defeat the objectives of
A man who turned a dilapidated dairy building into a self-contained ‘granny annexe’ has failed in a challenge to a refusal of retrospective planning permission for the development. The High Court ruled that a government planning inspector had been entitled to refuse consent on policy
A construction company which, during an eight-year period, breached its obligations under the Income Tax (Construction Industry Scheme) Regulations 2005 to deduct tax at source from sums paid to sub-contractors has failed in an appeal against an income tax demand for in excess of £42
The First-Tier Tribunal has come to the aid of a negligent, but fundamentally honest, publican who failed to deduct PAYE from sums paid to part-time bar staff in the belief that their earnings fell well below the taxable income threshold. In overturning £8,000 in penalties
