Whether you are a sceptic, a convert or a believer, there is undoubtedly compelling scientific evidence of global warming, and that climate change is upon us. Legislation enacted by both Westminster and Holyrood sets challenging targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions over the next decades. The carbon footprint of buildings is responsible for around 50% of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK ...
Introduction The term 'climate change' is now common parlance, but what role does green building play within the broader climate change picture? Well, emissions regulations post Kyoto are imminent and buildings are able to offer cost effective emissions cuts – there is therefore a possibility that the building sector may eventually be hit with emissions caps ...
Renewable energy sources, including wind power, represent 40 percent of the total energy production in Sweden. In order to curb climate change the European Union stated, as a part of the so called 2020-decision of the 23 of January 2009, that Sweden should increase its production of renewable energy to 49 percent by the year 2020 ...
AS HIGHLIGHTED BY QUÉBEC COURTS, SURETIES ARE KEY PLAYERS IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY. IN 2002, THE QUÉBEC COURT OF APPEAL ACKNOWLEDGED THEIR IMPORTANCE IN A DISPUTE BETWEEN A CONSTRUCTION COMPANY AND A SUPPLIER. THE COURT NOTED THAT THE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY’S LOSSES HAD BEEN EXACERBATED BY THE WITHDRAWAL OF ITS SURETY FACILITY ...
Over the past few years, the Ukrainian agromarket has been rapidly developing. The vast potential of our nation's agricultural sector together with the intensifying situation in the global foodstuffs market has furthered this process. Both international and domestic players have played an active role ...
More recently, the Québec Superior Court established that the active participation of a surety in the restructuring of a company under the Canadian Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (“CCAA”) was critical to determining whether a surety’s obligations could be reduced under the terms of an arrangement .2 accordingly, in Charles-Auguste Fortier inc ...
On July 24, 2009 the Colombian Congress approved the bill "by virtue of which new regulations are issued for the protection of competition". Some of the relevant provisions incorporated in the bill are the following: Single Antitrust Authority. The Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (“SIC”) is appointed as the only Antitrust Authority in Colombia ...
Auction sales can raise difficulties when determining whether the transaction is a transfer of a going concern (“TOGC”) as there are two possible situations at which the tax point occurs. If the deposit is being held as agent then the tax point is from the moment the auctioneer's hammer goes down ...
On 15 April 2009, the Law Society published an updated practice note on mortgage fraud ...
Service charges are going to be a major bone of contention between landlords and tenants during the recession, as landlords seek to maximise returns from property, and tenants seek to count every penny. This could lead to a mountain of litigation, all of it protracted, and all of it destined to sour landlord and tenant relations for many years to come ...
The British Property Federation (BPF) has published a guide for landlords and tenants explaining the Government's proposed Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC), and illustrating how expected additional costs might be shared. Around 5,000 large public and private organisations are likely to be full participants in CRC, and it has been estimated that energy costs will increase between 7% and 15%. The introductory phase is due to start in April 2010 ...
This is the second of a three-part report on “public private partnerships.” Also known as “PPP” or “P3” projects, there is an increasing amount of press regarding these projects, some of which is contradictory and some of which is just plain confusing. The purpose of this three-part report is to provide you with some useful information in identifying and analyzing P3 opportunities. The first part of the primer provided an introduction to the P3 concept ...
Things change over time. This is also the case in the timesharing business. The European legislator, who is well aware of this and already dealt with this type of business by adopting a directive on 26 October 1994, has recently adopted a new legislative act dealing with timesharing, thus bringing European legislation up-to-date. It was deemed necessary to modify the former European legislation to the evolutions in the business ...
Companies (listed and unlisted) spinning off real estate at Belgian or at both Belgian and European level is common practice. In comparison to the U.S. market, the trend is only just in its early stages here. Outsourcing often conceals widely varying realities:- a company shareholder may want to divide his corporate assets among his future heirs ...
In 1996, the case of Hindcastle v Barbara Attenborough Associates settled the effect of disclaimer on a lease guarantee but since then a new leasehold regime has been introduced. A recent case, Shaw v Doleman, has revisited the effect of disclaimer in this context. Original tenants of leasehold property paid a high price in the property crash of the 1990s ...
Environmental laws sweep broadly, regulating a wide range of business activities. Environmental laws create obligations and liabilities that affect not only ongoing businesses, but business transactions as well. They also may form the basis for, or otherwise be relevant to, litigation ...
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Industrial Revolution produced radical transformations not only in technology, including an ever increasing use of fossil fuels, but also in economic policies and social structure ...
THE FACTS Ezeflow is a company specialized in the manufacturing of pipe fittings intended for refineries, gas pipelines and offshore drilling platforms. in 1998, ezeflow entered into a contract with genoyer to manufacture 142 pipe fittings to be incorporated into drilling platforms belonging to sable. Kvaerner, in turn, was responsible for installing the fittings manufactured by ezeflow ...
Not something a landlord wants to hear. But what does it mean? Before a landlord can consider what remedial action is available against a defaulting tenant, it needs to understand the reason for the default. Where a tenant is insolvent, the precise nature of that insolvency needs to be established ...
The property industry will have an opportunity to assess the impact of the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) when a user guide and a consultation paper are issued by the Government, this month. The CRC is a UK-wide, legally binding scheme designed to reduce energy use, and a key component of the Government's strategy to reduce carbon emissions attributable to property ...
As Congress begins to work on the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (“MAP 21”), the bill to reauthorize highway funding for the next five years, policy makers are confronting the challenge of how to bridge the estimated $400 billion gap in funding between federal revenues and transportation infrastructure investment needs ...
The liability to remedy contamination is not limited in time but is only limited by the Environmental Code’s transitional rules, where a business operator can be held liable to take remedial actions if the actual operation of the business has been carried out after 30 June 1969. Further, a business operator can be held liable to take remedial actions if the operator has acquired contaminated property after 1 January 1999 ...
The Supreme Court of Canada ended a lengthy legal saga on November 20th(1) when it ordered St. Lawrence Cement Inc. to compensate residents of Beauport living near its cement plant. Comments on prescription, the assessment of damages and the granting of future damages follow. The facts “Dust they are, and unto dust they shall return, yet human beings have difficulty resigning themselves to living in dust ...
Its fair to say 2008 was an extremely challenging year for UK property. Anything between 25-50% has been wiped off values from their peak in mid 2007 ...
Many property agreements allow the developer to decide whether conditions attaching to planning permissions are onerous without imposing a parallel obligation to act reasonably.Despite this wide discretion, recent case law has confirmed that there is still an implied duty to act in good faith ...
