ContractStore Legal Business Blog

A draft Bill has been published by the Government to amend the Construction Act. This follows a long period of consultation within the industry and comes some 12 years after the Housing Grants, Construction & Regeneration Act introduced legislation affecting construction contracts in the UK.

Many of the clauses are designed to improve conditions for specialist and subcontractors, allowing them more easily to refer payment disputes to adjudication. The draft clauses would:

• Remove the requirement for the construction contract to be in writing in order for the Act to apply.
• Allow an adjudicator to overrule a clause in a contract that imposes an unreasonable burden on one of the parties with respect to the adjudicator
  

Over 30% of UK businesses are not using any professional help in drafting their company contracts, according to the recent ContractStore SME survey.

Better patent protection for innovators seems likely in the UK after a landmark decision of the House of Lords yesterday.

We’ve just released some new property contracts including shorthold tenancy agreements for furnished and unfurnished properties:

http://www.contractstore.com/shorthold-tenancy-agreement-furnished-house

http://www.contractstore.com/shorthold-tenancy-agreement-unfurnished-house

You are always welcome to comment on these or make suggestions for new contracts for the catalogue

As the largest national marketplace in the world, the United States is attractive for many overseas businesses. However, it is always a good idea to do your homework first.

ContractStore’s US legal expert Derek Devgun has prepared a checklist to help you consider the major considerations that apply when you are thinking of doing business in the United States.

You can download ‘Doing Business in the United States – A Survey of Legal Considerations’ for free from our website:

http://www.contractstore.com/business-in-united-states