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On 2 May 2024, the Fund Finance Association hosted its 8th Annual European Fund Finance Symposium at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London, bringing together participants from all corners of the fund finance community including GPs and fund managers, lenders, rating agencies, lawyers, and other advisers for a busy day of education and networking. Travers Smith was proud to once again be a Platinum sponsor, and our sincere thanks to the Fund Finance Association and all involved for their efforts in organising another fantastic Symposium.

Dispute Resolution Partner, Huw Jenkin, has been profiled in Financier Worldwide's International Arbitration 2024 Power Players publication. In this Q&A feature, Huw discusses his career to date as well as what motivates him.

The Court of Appeal has affirmed the Commercial Court's decision and its approach to the interpretation of a Warranty and Indemnity policy, rejecting the Insured's claim that there was an obvious mistake in the exclusion clause of the policy. This is an illuminating case for all parties in the W&I market.  

Since February 2024, most new planning permissions in England have been subject to a pre-commencement condition requiring a 'biodiversity gain plan' for the development. In this section of the Spring Briefing, we answer some frequently-asked questions about the new regime.

The biggest surprise in the Spring Budget was perhaps the raucous reaction given by the House to a fairly muted set of tax proposals. Perhaps it was the whiff of an election in the air that was the cause of excitement, so much so that the Deputy Speaker had to frequently intervene instructing all sides of the chamber to "shout more quietly".

The proposals in the Renters (Reform) Bill, which were first set out in the 2022 fairer private rented sector white paper, are intended to implement many of the proposals for improving the private rental sector ("PRS") for renters contained in the Government's 2017 white paper "Fixing our broken housing market". This includes the introduction of minimum standards for housing in the PRS, and the abolition of both the section 21 method of obtaining vacant possession and the assured shorthold tenancy.

As discussed here, this Bill was first mentioned in the King's Speech on 7 November 2023. It has recently completed its report stage in the House of Lords, meaning that its next stage will be its third reading when its provisions will be tidied up.

As explained here, the construction industry scheme ("CIS") was introduced to prevent perceived tax evasion in the construction industry. It is a type of withholding at source, like pay-as-you-earn, whereby parties who make payments for construction services (contractors) may be required to deduct income tax from payments to those who perform the services (sub-contractors). The CIS only applies to labour costs; no deduction is required in relation to payments for building materials.

There is an increasing awareness of the huge potential that the "internet of things" offers to building management practices, from monitoring and controlling energy consumption for ESG purposes, tracking performance in operation and lighting systems and pro-actively alerting maintenance teams about anomalies that might require repair. However, there is also a growing awareness of the digital risks that these technologies can pose to building occupiers and owners, including:

In this briefing we bring you up to date with seven changes in law and practice which we think will have ramifications for the commercial real estate sectors. Parliament has been busy reviewing two key pieces of legislation implementing the Government's residential reform agenda.

The European Commission has published a Summary Report summarising the responses to its September 2023 consultations on the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).   

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

On 22 April 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England (including the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), together the Bank) published updates on their approach to artificial intelligence (AI). The FCA's update is available here and the Bank's update is available here.

What happens where you're required to pay in a different currency from your own and exchange rate fluctuations mean that suddenly, the cost (in your own currency) has gone up considerably? We look at how the English courts have approached this issue and what you can do to protect yourself against this type of risk.

Introduction

On 23 April 2024, the FCA published FG24/3, its finalised non-handbook guidance on the new "anti-greenwashing rule" which was introduced as part of the package of measures establishing the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) regime (which we covered here).  The guidance, like the rule itself, will apply from 31 May 2024 – in just over a month's time.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal has rejected an application by the class representative ("CR") in opt-out collective proceedings against Google, for an order requiring Google to disclose "known adverse documents". The Tribunal concluded that the order sought was insufficiently focused, and would impose an onerous burden on Google, given the complexities of the litigation, and the associated difficulty in establishing whether a document is adverse to Google's case.

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