Mander Hadley has recently bolstered its commercial property offering with the appointment of a new lawyer.

Emma Wood joins the firm as a Commercial Property Executive and will be based at our offices in Coventry.

Directors owe numerous duties to a company.  These duties were developed by the courts over a long period of time before some were enshrined in the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006). The duties of a director set out in the CA 2006 sections 171-177 are often known as the general duties.

The general duties include the duty to promote the success of the company, the duty to exercise independent judgment, the duty to exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence, the duty to avoid conflicts of interest, the duty not to accept benefits from third parties and the duty to declare interests in proposed transactions or arrangements. It is a criminal offence to fail to declare an interest in existing transactions or arrangements.

The Government’s plans to push through changes to probate fees have been met with a highly critical response from the House of Lords.

Peers voted in favour of a motion to ‘regret the proposed changes’. This does not prevent the Government from pushing through its plans, but it does allow members of the House of Lords to put their dissent on record.

The Government are considering the idea of requiring homeowners to maintain logbooks relating to their properties. This log book will contain a comprehensive record of any works or improvements to a property and will be available to a potential buyer. The log book will then be passed to the new owner to update.

Matt Prior, an official at the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, suggested the proposal when speaking at the UK Finance Annual Mortgage Conference.

Preparations continue in readiness for our firm’s most ambitious charity challenge to date. On 18 May, three of our intrepid fundraisers will attempt to conquer the Three Peaks - Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon – in just 24 hours.

Our resolute trio of trekkers are Solicitors Andriy Buniak, Matthew Riding and our former Senior Accounts Assistant, Gemma Hoskin – who will be ably supported on the day by a team of drivers who include Managing Director, Jonathan Hall; Director, Elizabeth Jennings; and Accounts Manager, Laura Dale.