Throughout my career as a banker and as an attorney, as well as through experiences with friends and their families, I have noticed that there is no topic more taboo than talking to someone about their death and how they intend to distribute their accumulated assets during their lifetime. It is incredible that, for many, this topic is so difficult to face with an objective mind to leave their estate affairs in order, no matter how small it may be ...
One of the most basic questions under the False Claims Act—what facts a relator must plead to state a claim—is also one of the most difficult to answer. The Supreme Court is considering multiple certiorari petitions seeking to resolve a circuit split in the application of Rule 9(b)’s heightened pleading standard to the FCA ...
Welcome to the first part in our series of articles on the Building Safety Act 2022. The Building Safety Act received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022. While many of the provisions will be implemented over the next 12-18 months, the industry is being urged to get ready now. Dame Judith Hackitt stated in a recent HSE Bulletin: “The clock is now ticking and the pace is accelerating. Change is going to happen this time – there’s no denying it anymore!” ...
The Guernsey Housing Association has recently advised that there are currently more than 500 people on the waiting list for affordable housing. Affordable housing is housing that is reserved for certain groups of people whose needs are not met by, or cannot afford to rent or buy property in, the private market ...
The Court of Appeal has given some much-needed clarity on this issue in the recent decision of Abbey Healthcare (Mill Hill) Limited v Simply Construct (UK) LLP [2022]. In a majority judgment, the Court of Appeal reversed the first instance decision and held that the collateral warranty in question was a construction contract within the meaning of s.104(1) of the Housing Grants, Construction & Regeneration Act 1996 (the Construction Act) ...
In 2019, the Oregon Legislature passed House Bill 2001, which was aimed at providing more affordable housing to Oregonians. To achieve that goal, HB 2001 made it easier to build denser housing in residential zones by requiring medium-size cities to allow duplexes on each lot or parcel zoned for residential use that allows single-family homes ...
Arbitration provisions are becoming more common in construction contracts, but a recent court decision reveals that enforcing these provisions requires more than just placing them in a contract. Contractors, especially those seeking to arbitrate claims involving multiple property owners or an entire homeowner or condominium association, must sufficiently establish that enough of the property owners agreed to arbitrate their claims. Mattamy Florida LLC .v ...
Much recent attention has been on Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis’ signing of extensive property insurance law changes in Florida. But on May 26, the governor also signed Senate Bill 4. While SB 4 primarily deals with condominium inspections and safety, the bill also changes part of the state law that enacts and governs Florida’s Building Code and changes the amount of a roof that must be brought up to current codes in the event of damage and repair ...
New Florida Statute Changes Building Code Requirements for Roof Repairs In May, Florida’s legislature met for a special session to address issues with property insurance claims and rates within the state ...
1. Introduction After a long consultation period, the European Commission recently published the new Block Exemption Regulation for Vertical Agreements (Regulation (EU) 2022/720 "VBER"). The regulation will enter into force on 1 June 2022. New Guidelines on vertical restraints ("Guidelines") will accompany the new VBER. Both replace the previous set of rules from 2010 ...
Following the launch of a real estate investment trust with buy-back condition (the “REIT buy-back”), which we extensively covered in our last article, “Overview of REITs with buy-back conditions: The new mechanisms to help real estate owners survive in the midst of Covid-19”, aiming to alleviate the woes that business operators, particularly the hospitality sector, have endured during the Covid-19 era, on May 10, 2022, according to information revealed by the Director of
Construction law is NOT boring, at least that’s what I tell my daughters. In these series of posts, I will explore some of the VERY interesting historical facts about construction law that can be used at your next motion hearing, family gathering, social event or fellow lawyer meeting. While these anecdotes may not keep your kids or significant others from rolling their eyes, hopefully they can provide a small respite from your (yes, I admit) sometimes boring life in construction law ...
Dear valued clients, colleagues and friends, In November 2020, Korean Air Lines Co Ltd had entered into a share subscription agreement with Asiana Airlines Inc which had been in a situation of financial distress. The merger of the two airlines required regulatory approval from competition and antitrust agencies of other jurisdictions, which included but were not limited to, Korea, UK, US, EU, Malaysia and Singapore ...
Aaron Harlow and Ian Hardman examine the tough new measures that are being taken to force the real estate industry to pay to remove cladding - protecting leaseholders from costs. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has requested that residential property developers fund and undertake all necessary remediation of buildings over 11m that they have had a role in developing. This includes buildings both 11-18m and 18m+ ...
Michael Bennett and Amber Wright explain the importance of reducing embodied carbon in construction - putting forward the case for legislative reform and how new technologies, methods and contracts are supporting the living sector’s move to net zero. To date much of the government’s focus to meet its net zero targets has been on creating more energy efficient homes and buildings ...
Local authorities will be given rights to let vacant high street premises under new powers contained in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill. Background The government wants to regenerate local high streets as part of its levelling up agenda. A key element of its proposals is to give local authorities the right to let vacant premises on their high streets following a rental auction process ...
While architects and engineers take responsibility for the safety of the buildings they design, they usually are not responsible for protecting the property or the people on-site during construction. If a finished building falls because of improper design, the architects and engineers who stamped the drawings will be the prime suspects for the failure ...
On February 4, 2022, President Biden issued Executive Order 14063, which requires federal agencies engaging in “large scale” federal construction contracts to include in their solicitation and construction contracts a provision requiring the prime federal contractor (and their subcontractors) to negotiate project labor agreements (PLAs) with local unions as a condition of receiving the contract ...
INTRODUCTION Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is fast becoming popular as a relatively easier method of resolving disputes across the world and intellectual property (“IP”) is not an exception. This is apparent from the rising number of disputes handled by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Centre over the past few years, from 136 cases in 2017, to 155 in 2018, 178 in 2019 and 182 in 2020 ...
