Kent Solicitors

A buyer usually forfeits his deposit if he fails to complete a land purchase - this is not regarded as an unenforceable penalty

The court does have power to order the repayment but it will only do so in exceptional circumstances

The amount of money does not make a case exceptional - a recent case involved a 400k pounds deposit on a 4m pounds transaction

The fact that the seller later sells at a better price is irrelevant

Failing to get or renew a mortgage offer is not sufficient.

Contact: Simon M. Scott (Solicitor, Partner) Mobile: 07979 916619
email: ss@kaslers.co.uk

Labels: mortgage offer, unenforceable penalty

In many cases assets owned in the joint names of the deceased and somebody else, pass automatically to the joint owner regardless of what is written in any Will or the Intestacy Rules. However, this does not mean that such assets are exempt from Inheritance Tax.

Inheritance Tax is payable on the value of the Deceaseds estate over 325,000 pounds at the rate of 40%. (Tax year 2009/10). This includes all the Deceased assets including those held in joint names.

Failure to disclose any assets whether held in sole or joint names may lead to penalties of up to 100% of the additional tax payable.

For further information contact Vanessa Adamson at Kaslers Solicitors LLP on 01622 844607

Labels: Will intestacy assets inheritance tax

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has recently fined (August 2009) three HSBC firms over 3 million pounds for failing to comply with FSA data security requirements.

The FSA found that the firms did not have adequate systems and controls in place to protect their customers confidential details from being lost or stolen. Despite warnings, a catalogue of errors occurred, including the loss of an unencrypted CD containing the details of 180,000 policyholders and sending large amounts of unencrypted customer details via Royal Mail.
Further breaches included storing confidential information on open shelves or in unlocked cabinets and not giving staff sufficient training on how to identify and manage risks like identity theft.

The FSA fines would have been around a third more, had the HSBC companies not settled with the FSA at an early stage.

Companies need to factor the cost of managing and cooperating with an FSA investigation into their running costs.

Finally, the possibility of customers bringing civil claims should they suffer an alleged loss could be an additional substantial cost.

What should I do about Data Protection?

Companies can protect themselves by making basic initial enquiries about their security procedures. For instance:

Is it under lock and key or on open shelves?

Where is your hard copy information kept and is there back-up for it?

Can information be freely downloaded to portable devices?

Are staff regularly trained on identifying and managing data risks?

Is encryption routinely used on electronic equipment and recording devices?

Is training required for encryption?

Labels: Data Protection procedures, encryption, security