ContractStore Legal Business Blog

The OFT (Office of Fair Trading) has issued High Court proceedings against a letting agent whose terms can potentially require landlords to pay the agent substantial sums in commission, where a tenant continues to occupy the landlord’s property after the initial fixed period of the tenancy has expired – even if the agent plays no part in persuading the tenant to stay, and no longer collects the rent or manages the property. The terms can also require the landlord to pay these sums after the landlord has sold the property as well as demanding commission where the landlord sells the property to the tenant, even where the agent has played no part in negotiating that sale.

The letting agent is Foxtons and the OFT’s action is for a declaration on the application of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations 1999 (UTCCRs) to certain terms in Foxtons’ lettings agreements with landlords. The OFT is also seeking an injunction against Foxtons preventing it from using the terms.

The action taken by the OFT is in response to consumer complaints. If successful in this case the OFT intends to enforce compliance with the law, as declared by the Court, throughout the letting industry wherever similar terms are being used.

Foxtons contends that its agreements with landlords are not unfair and continues to use these terms, and accordingly, the OFT has issued proceedings so the courts can decide the matter.

Very many businesses have no proper system for ordering goods and services so we have come up with a set of forms to remedy the problem.

This is to ensure help you keep a proper record of all your orders. This can be useful in many ways, especially to ensure that the key terms are complied with by your supplier.

The order form is prepared with a space for signature by both purchaser and supplier, so you should, ideally, issue two signed copies, one for each signatory.

There are four forms in the new collection:

• Purchase Order for Goods
• Purchase Order for Services
• Acceptance of Order for Goods
• Acceptance of Order for Services.

You can also download the full set and save about 50% of the price – click here.

Like all our documents they are in Word format so you can edit directly before use.

These are a key set of basic documents that are great to have especially if you are starting up.

If you have had a problem with purchase orders or similar agreements we’d like to hear about it.

The Government

Every Gulf country has laws governing the appointment of commercial agents, and an agency agreement may have to be registered with the Ministry of Economy or some other government department. Great care is needed in selecting an agent.

If you don

There are generally two pre-requisites of setting up an office in one of the Gulf States.

Firstly, unless you are exempt, you need to have a national of that country who is either an individual or a company wholly owned by nationals involved in your Gulf business to a greater or lesser extent. Exemptions are sometimes given to independent professionals.

Secondly, you will need a licence from the concerned authority in the country. In the UAE, for example, his is the Municipality in the Emirate in which your office is established. The licence is very important not only because it is illegal not to have one but also because without a licence, you won

There has been a massive amount of new legislation in the Gulf States. Most of the Gulf countries now have sophisticated commercial codes, laws dealing with the incorporation of companies as well as legislation governing copyright and trade marks. Property laws are developing rapidly. The process is continuing – the UAE now has some environmental legislation which is likely to impact on new industrial projects. The increase in project financing and moves towards privatisation, all of which involve international banks, is helping to bring the Gulf states in line with other jurisdictions with a longer history of legislation.

Giles has written an article about doing business in the Gulf and Middle East for the Telegraph Business Club, we’ll be publishing information based on this to the blog in 3 further segments:

• Opening an office in the Gulf
• Free Zones in the Gulf
• Appointing Agents In the Gulf

ContractStore supplies a range of legal documents to assist those wishing to trade in the Middle East, including two free documents:

• Drafting Agency Agreements in the Middle East
• Notes on Commercial Law in the Gulf

A man is suing William Hill for more than

If you receive dodgy offers through the post, you can help the authorities by taking part in the nationwide ‘Scamnesty’ campaign which is launched today by the Office of Fair Trading.

Scams cost the UK an estimated

Companies will have to look carefully at their employment and recruitment policies should an opinion of the EU issued yesterday be adopted by the full European Court. Sharon Coleman, a legal secretary, is suing her former employers, claiming that they failed to allow her time off to care for her severely disabled son. The opinion, handed down by an adviser to the European Court of Justice, holds that existing anti-discrimination laws which apply to the disabled also cover carers.

In other words, millions of workers who are forced to juggle fulltime care with their job would be able to demand more flexible working hours. About one in eight adults in the UK are carers.