It has been some time since our last Chat with Chebseys and it is encouraging how many of you have asked when the next edition was coming out, which just goes to show that not only do you read it but also that you enjoy it and find it useful. Now that summer holidays are finished and children are back to school we can all get back to normal.

Last edition I briefly mentioned that we were going to open an office in Bath. I am delighted to be able to announce that on 1st August this happened. The office is right in the heart of the city, which is very convenient for clients in Bath and the surrounding area.

The address of the Bath office is seen to the right of this page and later on in this newsletter you can even read about how we came up with the logo for the Bath Office, which is being branded as Bath Law.

Since we opened the office in Bath I have been asked a lot why I chose the city to open an office. The simple answer is that I like the area, I have long been associated with the area (my daughter went to University there and I am a season ticket holder at the Rugby) and I see lots of potential there. We also already have existing business there as we have existing private and commercial clients in the area.

The office in Bath brings the number of offices that we have to five. My staff will be pleased to know that we don’t have any immediate plans to open any more offices in the future, but we will continue to develop and grow the business so that we can continue to provide our clients with the services that they expect from us and more.

M. Keith Chebsey
Director and Chairman
October 2010

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New office – Bath

As you will have read above we have added a new office in Bath. This is as a result of Simcox Associates becoming part of Chebsey & Co. This came into effect on 1st August.

The contact details of the Bath office are above or on the contacts page of our website. The office in Bath, whilst still forming an integral part of the Chebsey family will be marketed slightly differently from our other offices and will trade under the name “Bath Law”.

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Shadow Directors

The thought of a nice cosy non-executive directorship (NED) may be appealing for some people and certainly in the past many were regarded as undemanding stipends. However, the role of non-executives is being increasingly put under the microscope when companies fail and the new Companies Act 2006 provides further challenges for NEDs. This much is well known by now. What is less well known is that even where the appointment to the board is unofficial, the same dangers are present. The risk of being considered to be a shadow director depends on your role in the company. If you act as a director – in the sense that your instructions or directions are normally acted upon by the company – you are for some purposes in the same legal position as ‘proper’ directors of the company. People in this position are known as ‘shadow directors’.

Unfortunately for such people, danger lurks in shadow directorships because the main way in which their position resembles that of actual directors is that they can share the civil liabilities of other directors in the event of a corporate insolvency. This may lead to them being required to contribute funds to pay creditors of the company if it becomes insolvent. They also face the possibility of being disqualified from acting as a director, by the Department of Trade and Industry, where their conduct warrants such a ruling.

If you are asked to be a non-executive director or to participate at the decision-making level of a company’s management as a consultant or advisor, take care – especially if the company is in financial difficulty.

Recently, a shadow director of a company was ordered to repay over £850,000 plus compound interest after the company with which he was involved went into insolvent liquidation. For a shadow director, ignorance of one’s responsibilities is no defence.

Directors who fail to take actions to protect the interests of shareholders or who behave improperly can face significant penalties. In another recent case, a director who was aware of a fraud being repeatedly committed by a fellow director was banned from acting as a director for twelve years. In a third case, a director who misused a company credit card, took company property for his own use and committed a number of other improper acts had his civil evidence referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions with a view to criminal proceedings being brought.

The advice has to be take all your responsibilities seriously and behave as if you were actually a director.

For further information on these or other issues relating to Commercial Law contact Sue Bean (smb@chebsey.com) or Tom Crown (thc@chebsey.com) on 01494 670440.

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Changes to Assured Shorthold Tenancies

If you are a landlord or tenant of a tenancy agreement with a rent of over £25,000 then until recently these could not be assured shorthold tenancies (“AST”). As of 1st October tenancies up to £100,000 rent a year will become AST and this will apply retrospectively.

One of the benefits of a tenancy being an AST is that since 2007 landlord’s of AST must hold any deposit on a tenancy deposit protection scheme. There are three approved scheme:

• Deposit Protection Service
• My Deposits
• Tenancy Deposit Scheme

The schemes provide protection for the deposit and provide a free service for resolving disputes.

There is uncertainty at present as to whether landlord’s of existing tenancies over £25,000 will need to comply with this. It is however of course advisable for deposits to be protected.

For further information on AST or other property matters please contact Alistair Bertrand on 01628 660077.

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The Equality Act

Previously, British discrimination law was to be found in nine separate pieces of legislation, and provided an especially fragmented and piecemeal framework. The Equality Act 2010 is the single largest piece of legislation created in this country, and is engineered to harmonise, simplify and strengthen the existing law. It is intended to provide advanced protection for the rights for all individuals, embedding equality and fairness throughout the workplace, while alleviating the burden upon employers in clarifying their duties.

The core provisions of the Equality Act have now come into force throughout England, Scotland and Wales, as of 1st October 2010. Encompassing 90% of the Act, these key alterations and new provisions affect all employers and Include:

Discrimination: Changes and new rules have come into force concerning indirect, perceptive and associative discrimination covering age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion, sex and sexual orientation. In particular, indirect disability discrimination and a new concept of “discrimination arising from disability” have been introduced. Also, discrimination by association and/or perception is explicitly prohibited across the board.

Harassment: Protection from harassment has been extended, as employers will be liable in additional circumstances for harassment by third parties in the workplace.

Victimisation: Protection from victimisation has been extended, as the requirement for a comparator in victimisation cases has been removed.

Employment Tribunal Powers: Employment Tribunals will be given the power to make recommendations that benefit the wider workforce not just the claimant in a successful discrimination claim.

Pre Employment Health Questionnaires: Employers will not be able to ask pre-employment health questions of a job applicant other than in certain limited circumstances, such as to establish whether the applicant would be able to carry out a function that is intrinsic to the work concerned.

Secrecy Clauses: Such clauses (which require an employee to keep details of their pay secret, preventing them from discussing the issue of pay with colleagues) will be unenforceable against employees involved in “relevant pay disclosure”, to ensure that discriminatory pay-scales cannot be hidden.

It is therefore imperative that employers are aware of the further protection afforded by the new legislation to their employees to ensure that their practises and policies are aligned accordingly to remain fully compliant.

To find out more information regarding the above please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss any queries or concerns that you may have. Alternatively please note there is further information at the Government Equalities Office guidance, website.

Fixed-Fee Advice Clinic

As the financial climate becomes increasingly fraught, life for both employees and employers has become more and more complex. Yet despite their concerns, most are cautious in seeking legal advice, fearful of the extensive costs involved

We are here to help. Whether you are looking to establish whether your rights have been infringed in any way or how your contract affects you, or whether your employee is trying to ‘pull a fast one’ our employment law specialist team of solicitors is here to provide you with the best most cost effective advice via our recently launched fixed fee service.

If you have a general enquiry that you would like to discuss with us, please contact us on 01494 670440 to arrange a 30 minute fixed fee appointment. At just £75.00 plus VAT, we offer value for money without compromising our quality of service, and peace of mind in finding out precisely where you stand. Please bear in mind that time is limited and a fixed-fee appointment will not always be suitable, particularly for complex matters. Please call to discuss further.

For further information on these or other issues relating to Employment Law contact Laura Poole on (lcp@chebsey.com) on 01494 670440

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Capital Gains Tax and Trusts
By Julie Tompkins.

In the emergency budget in June the rate at which Executors and Trustees pay capital gains tax was increased from 18% to 28%.

It is now vital that both Executors and Trustees consider the options and allowances open to them when they are disposing of assets during the trust or administration period or perhaps even more importantly when the period of the administration of an estate or a trust comes to an end. By taking advice the Trustees may be able to reduce the tax payable especially where there are beneficiaries who are basic rate tax payers.

It should also be noted by Trustees of discretionary trusts that from this tax year income tax is payable at 50% on all income received by the trust. Again, trustees should take advice on ways of minimising the impact of this on the beneficiaries.

Lasting Powers of Attorney
Presentation at Sunrise Senior Living Beaconsfield

The Wills, Trusts, Probate & Elderly Client Department will be giving a talk on the benefits of a Lasting Powers of Attorney and will be available to answer any queries you may have regarding these at Sunrise Senior Living in Beaconsfield on Thursday 21st October from 6.30pm. Drinks and refreshments will be provided. All are welcome.

If you wish to attend or require any further information please contact either Peter Esders or Julie Tompkins at our Beaconsfield office on 01494 670440

Should you have any queries regarding trusts or the administration of estates please Julie Tompkins or Brian Wade (baw@chebsey.com) at our Beaconsfield office (01494 670440), Johanna Knott (jlk@chebsey.com) at our Croxley Green office (01923 775651) and Malcolm Tanner (mjt@chebsey.com) or Helen MacDiarmid (hlm@chebsey.com) at our Burnham office (01628 660077).

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Police station representation

Police Station Accredited Representative Alex Herowych (Crime and Regulatory trainee solicitor) has just successfully completed a portfolio of police station reports and so is now a ‘Police Station Accredited Representative’. This qualification allows him to advise suspects arrested and detained in police stations for the whole range of criminal offences, from shoplifting to murder. To become accredited Alex needed to attend the police station and observe our solicitors advising suspects on four occasions and produce a full write-up of what happened. He then needed to produce write-ups of 5 attendances without supervision as a ‘Probationary Representative’ for either-way offences only i.e. he could not deal with very serious offences such as robbery.

This portfolio of 9 cases then needed to be assessed by a law school to ensure that he had demonstrated a strong level of understanding of police station work. As well as the portfolio Alex was required to go to London and sit what is known as a ‘Critical Incidents Test’ which simulates a police station environment (as much as is possible through a tape cassette) to test the candidate’s tape-recorded responses to 15 or so scenarios e.g. in his case an aggressive policeman stating that he will get a confession from Alex’s client by any means necessary!

Traffic law - John Chatterton-Ross reports on an obscure offence connected to motor insurance

Most drivers will be aware that if bad driving takes place resulting in the death of another road user (or passenger) then the consequences can be severe for the offending driver. A very unusual offence was created by the Road Safety Act 2006. In this case the quality of the driving does not matter at all - it can be a situation where the driver is not at fault in any way, a pure accident. Or one where another road user - for example a jay walking pedestrian - brings about their own demise by walking out in front of a vehicle with no warning.

If however the driver is uninsured at the time of this event then, "causing death whilst driving uninsured" comes into play. The penalty? A maximum of two years imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine. Additionally disqualification from driving and an endorsement are obligatory. Clearly this offence was created to deter the habitual uninsured driver and statistics show these drivers have a poor road safety record. A person who intentionally drives without insurance usually has a cavalier attitude to everything else as well. It makes no difference though how it came about - if you unintentionally overlooked paying your premium and disaster strikes you will still be guilty.

Punishing people on the basis of "consequences" rather than "intention" is a controversial issue and one that goes to the heart of many debates about the basis of a legal code or system. Over the last forty years more of our criminal law has moved in this direction and this is yet one more example of the trend.

Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme

John Chatterton-Ross from our traffic law team also acts as an advisor to the FIM - the international motorcycle federation based in Switzerland. FIM's main purpose is the regulation of international motorcycle racing (as seen on television today) but also works in others areas. These include road safety projects undertaken worldwide, and supporting healthcare workers in west Africa. Closer to home the increasing influence of the European Union on traffic law is affecting motorcycling. John spoke at the recent conference held by the ifz - the German motorcycle safety organisation. The conference was held alongside the huge bi-annual motorcycle exhibition in Cologne. The EU has announced plans for further regulation of the motorcycle market, making anti lock braking systems a compulsory feature for new machines above 125cc to add to recent changes in licensing for riders.

For further information on these or other issues relating to Crime and Road Traffic Defence contact Caroline Dunne (cad@chebsey.com) or Graham Tolfts (gst@chebsey.com) on 01628 600850.

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Timeshare perpetuity

We have recently been getting a lot of calls from concerned owners of Timeshare weeks. They have the burden of the maintenance fees that they have to pay every year and even worse have been told by the Timeshare resort that when they die their children will have to pay the maintenance fees. They are told that they own the timeshare in perpetuity and that this means that their children are therefore also responsible.

It is correct that in many resorts the children of a person who owns a timeshare week can inherit that week or weeks. That is one of the advantages of timeshare – it can be passed to your children. It is also true that the owner of the timeshare weeks has to pay the maintenance each year, meaning that should your children inherit they will have to pay the maintenance fees. So essentially what the timeshare people are telling the clients is correct.

In the past this would not have been a problem. However, with maintenance fees having increased so much over the last few years those timeshare weeks which originally looked like a good idea are now often a burden that people don’t want to pass on. What the timeshare people don’t tell you is that your children don’t have to accept the inheritance of those weeks – they can renounce them. If they did this they would never become the owners of the weeks and therefore not be liable for the maintenance.

But I am the same person!

The difference in the way that two countries deal with certain issues can be fascinating but can also cause all sorts of problems unless you are aware of the issues and how to resolve them. One classic example is that in Spain official documents such as title deeds set out in detail your name, passport number and address as a way of identifying you. However, this can cause problems. Women in Spain unlike the UK do not change their surname when they get married. Spaniards keep one passport number for life, unlike us. Therefore Miss Brown living at 1 Acacia Avenue and who has passport number 12345 and who gets married, moves in with her husband and changes her passport to reflect her new name can, in the UK become Mrs Smith of 2 Magnolia Gardens with passport number 54321. She is actually the same person, but on paper to a Spaniard she looks like somebody completely different.

For further information relating to Spain contact Diego Rubio (drm@chebsey.com) or Peter Esders (pje@chebsey.com) on 01494 670 440

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Macmillan Coffee Morning

You may have heard of the Macmillan Cancer Support which they bill as the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning. The idea is to organise a coffee morning to raise money for this worthwhile cause.

Chebsey & Co hosted a Macmillan coffee morning at our Burnham office on Friday 8th October 2010 and raised over £218.29 for this worthwhile cause.

Dragon Boat Race

For the fourth year running, Chebsey & Co recently took part in the Dragon Boat Charity Race day, in an effort to raise money for the Wooden Spoon charity.

The Wooden Spoon charity works hard to make a positive impact upon the lives of mentally, physically and socially disadvantaged children and young people through their charitable work, and support people with a wide range of disabilities, including cancer, cystic fibrosis and autism. For more information please visit their website.

The event was held in the grounds of Oakley Court Hotel, Bray, on the banks of the River Thames, and enjoyed an impressive turnout from a wide range of locally based companies and charities. The Chebsey & Co rowers’ work finally paid off when we finished second out of a total of 19, being beaten by the winning team by just 0.06 of a second. The day was a great success and to date we have managed to raise more than £658.00 for this worthwhile cause. We are still collecting, and if you would like to make a donation, please contact us direct (or visit www.woodenspoon.com).

Player sponsorship

As many of you will already know we are the main sponsors of Beaconsfield Cricket Club. With the opening of the Bath office we wanted to do something similar.

Keith Chebsey has been a long time Bath Rugby fan and season ticket holder and therefore we have decided to maximise that association by sponsoring one of the players at Bath Rugby – David Flatman (knows as “Flats”). Flats is a prop on the team and has also played for England. He has been described as “one of the most destructive looseheads in Europe”.

Look out for news of Flats attendance at some of the events in the future.

Wycombe Business Expo

Chebsey & Co will be attending the Wycombe Business Expo. Not only will we have a stand there but will also be giving presentations.

Further details can be seen at the Business Expo website www.wycombebusinessexpo.com

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History of a logo

How many times have you seen a logo and wondered why it was chosen and what it represents? As you will have read above the Office in Bath will be trading as Bath Law. We couldn’t use the normal logo as “Bath Law” doesn’t have an “&” in it, so we had to come up with something new. Just having a yellow rectangle next to a blue one was clearly too boring so we got thinking and came up with a design concept entirely in house.

We wanted to keep the same basic concept and look as our “Chebsey” logo but obviously had to come up with something a little bit different.

The “pregnant bump”, as we affectionately call it internally, actually came about because of two separate concepts which happened to combine together well.

The first concept is that the “bump” actually reflects one of Bath’s most iconic views – the Royal Crescent. We wanted to have a shape that showed that we were proud to be in Bath and which reflected the rich culture of the city. The logo therefore reflects the view of the Royal Crescent as seen from vertically above.

The second concept behind the logo was to reflect some of the values that we stand for. We like to work with and for our clients and like to solve legal problems for them. Jigsaw pieces sprung to mind and seemed to fit the bill. By co-incidence the view of the Royal Crescent from above looks vaguely like two jigsaw pieces put together, so the two ideas went well together. We do admit, however, that it would probably be the easiest jigsaw puzzle ever if all pieces were that shape!

So there you have it – two separate ideas married together to create a pregnant bump conceived entirely in house for the latest addition to the Chebsey family of offices. Rumours that the Family department are claiming the logo for themselves are entirely without foundation.

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Jeff Thomas
Head of the Family Department

After qualifying as a Solicitor in 1987, Jeff joined a highly regarded firm in High Wycombe where he remained, as both an assistant Solicitor and then as a partner, until January 2003 when he joined Chebsey and Co. Until a few years ago, Jeff’s social life centred almost exclusively around Beaconsfield Rugby Club. His playing days now though are long behind him and his interests are confined now to reading, the cinema and theatre, trying to understand his sons’ obsession with PS3 video games (when they could be reading a good book!), and waiting patiently for Wales to winthe Rugby World Cup.

If Jeff were marooned on a desert island, his chosen book would be either The Code of the Woosters (P G Wodehouse) or David Copperfield (Charles Dickens). His luxury item would be an Espresso coffee machine, whilst musical choices would include:

• Born to Run (Bruce Springsteen)
• Sympathy for the Devil (The Rolling Stones)
• Alternative Ulster (Stiff Little Fingers)
• Teenage Kicks (The Undertones)
• Walk on By (The Stranglers)
• Rough Boys (Pete Townshend)
• My Sacrifice (Creed)
• Anything by Katherine Jenkins

Q. Why did you become a Solicitor?
A. There were no vacancies at Asda

Q. What is your favourite lawyer joke?
A. Client to lawyer - Is it true I can ask you three questions for £500?
Lawyer to client - Yes, it's true. What's your second question?

Q. What gets you up in the morning?
A. Errr, the shrill beep, beep, beep of a digital alarm clock followed very closely by my 7 year old son wanting to talk about football!
Q. What is your passion?
A. Apart from my family (I have to say that in case they ever read this!), reading crime/thriller novels, collecting signed first edition books and watching Wales play rugby.

Q. Other than Keith Chebsey, which famous person, dead or alive, would you most like to spend a day with?
A. It would come down to a choice between Julius Caesar, Oscar Wilde, Winston Churchill or Stephen Fry. I just can't decide who would have the edge!

Q. Tell us an interesting fact about yourself.
A. "Jeff Thomas" Macduff was particularly impressive when told of his wife and son's slaughter" - from a Bucks Free Press review of a Royal Grammar School production of Macbeth in or about 1978. Another interesting fact is that I cannot play a single musical instrument (there's always someone, when asked this same question, who says I play the piano or the French horn!)

Jeff is based at our Beaconsfield office and can be contacted on 01494 670440 or jmt@chebsey.com

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