Fiona McKinnon

Retailers will be all too familiar with the term “service charge” and tenants will be accustomed to service charge clauses in leases. The important question is, do you fully understand the implications of the service charge clauses in your lease? The recent judgement of Sara & Hossein Asset Holdings Ltd v Black Outdoor Retail Ltd [2023] UKSC 2 highlighted the importance of carefully carving out clauses and ensuring parties understand the implications of clauses within leases they are a party to.

In August 2023 there were 112 company insolvencies registered in Scotland, six percent higher than the number in August 2022 and 44% higher than the pre-Covid figures of August 2019. Official statistics released by the Insolvency Service demonstrate that the retail sector continues to follow this upward insolvency trajectory – evidence that baking banana bread and family zoom quizzes aren’t the only trends to have fallen out of fashion post-covid.

A man who beat three sisters with a claw hammer in a London hotel while their children slept alongside them has been found guilty of attempted murder. Philip Spence, 32, bludgeoned the trio from the United Arab Emirates in the Cumberland Hotel, Marble Arch, on 6 April, Southwark Crown Court heard. Spence had admitted the attack, but denied attempted murder. One of his victims was hit with such force her skull split open. She was left with just 5% brain function.