Answer: 1) The buyer of the property incurs Stamp Duty on Land (SDLT), which is payable within 14 days of completion of the transaction and is calculated according to the formula:

Property value, tiers,
Stamp Duty rate for a specific part of the residential property value

Up to £250,000 | 0%
From £250,001 to £925,000 | 5% (on the part of the value from £250,001 to £925,000)
From £925,001 to £1.5 mln | 10% (on the part of the value from £925,001 to £1.5 mln)
More than £1,5 mln | 12% on the remainder over £1,5 mln

However, if the buyer has not lived in the UK for 183 days in 12 months preceding the property purchase, this 'non-resident' buyer will pay Stamp Duty 2% higher than indicated in the table above.

2) A buyer of a commercial (non-residential) property may incur a VAT charge of 20% if such property has been owned by the seller for less than 3 years.

3) Capital Gains Tax (CGT) may arise on the property sale and must be paid within 60 days of transaction completion. The CGT rate varies according to the seller's income / tax band and the amount of gain (capital gain) achieved on the property sale. Capital Gains Tax on residential property can be 18% or 28% on the gain (not on the sale price).

Usually, sellers do not pay Capital Gains Tax on the sale of main residence, with some exceptions.

Answer: The consequences of a director's duties breach can be very severe. A director can be held personally liable for breach of duty. While a shareholder's liability is limited to the amount, if any, that remains unpaid on that shareholder's shares, a company director's activities carry significant risk.

A director may be held personally liable, including for breach of duties, to:
- the company;
- investors or shareholders who blame the director for their losses;
- employees for discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.

A director is also personally liable under health and safety legislation, environmental and anti-bribery legislation and so on.

Each director must keep himself / herself informed of the affairs of the company and supervise actions of the other directors. Even if a director has not actively participated in a breach of duty committed by the other directors, each director nevertheless has an overall responsibility for the management of the company.

Of course, the extent of each individual director's responsibility will depend on all of the circumstances and on the role each director has played in the company. The consequences for individual directors may be different.

Answer: First of all, it is important to check what the process for dismissal of a director is set out in the articles of association of the company. If the articles of association are model, not tailored, and the dismissal process is not prescribed therein, it is necessary to comply with s. 168 of the Companies Act 2006 which states that a director can be dismissed by a shareholders resolution passed by a simple majority (more than 50%).

A shareholder wishing to table such a resolution at a shareholders general meeting must give a special notice to the company. The company must then send this notice immediately to the director who is proposed to be dismissed. The directors of the company must then jointly convene a general meeting of shareholders within 28 days to vote on the dismissal and send a draft resolution to the shareholders.

However, in the absence of a quorum of 2 directors, the company will not be able to follow the above route and call a shareholders general meeting. In such scenario, shareholders themselves can force the company to call the shareholders general meeting to vote on the director’s dismissal within 21 days from the date of sending a notice under s. 303 of the Companies Act.

Subsequently, even when the second director is not cooperative, the process of his dismissal is inevitable, but may be delayed by at least 7 weeks.

Answer: Usually, a local authority’s consent is required for the development or renovation of a property. There are two types of consents (building regulations consent and planning permission) and it is important to know which one to apply for. It is advisable to apply for a preliminary consent before buying the property.

If a client intends to carry out development or change of use of the existing property from commercial to residential or vice versa, both consents – a planning permission and building regulation consent is likely to be required.

However, permission is deemed to have been given for certain kinds of development mostly of minor nature. Examples include the erection of fences (up to certain height), exterior painting of property (subject to not amounting to advertising), small extensions to most buildings such as a rear kitchen extension (subject to restrictions on size and position), re-roofing a house and converting retail to restaurants.

If, on the other hand, repairs will only be carried out internally (installing or replacing doors, windows, heating, air conditioning, fuse boxes, replacing electrics, plumbing, insulating walls, repairing the drainage system), it is likely that only building regulations consent will be required. To obtain this consent, an application must be submitted to the local authority or a private building inspector.

For routine repairs and maintenance, such as replacing a sink, toilet or bathtub, replacing lighting and socket outlets, no approval is required.

Answer: Since the client was not married to the deceased, unfortunately, she has no automatic right to inherit the late partner’s estate as there is no Will. Nevertheless, the client can make a claim for financial provision under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act. For the claim to be successful there are two factors to be satisfied: 1) she continued to live with the testator as his wife for 2 years preceding the date of his death; 2) the client was financially dependent on the testator immediately before the date of death.

The claim for financial maintenance must be filed within 6 months from the date of grant of representation issued by the court of probate.

The court will consider the following factors to make a decision:

- financial resources and needs of the client
- testator's moral obligations and responsibilities towards the client
- size and nature of the estate
- age, medical diagnoses of the client
- client's contribution to the family's well-being, her general conduct
- what she might reasonably expect to receive if the marriage/partnership had ended with divorce/dissolution - not death