Empty units, falling yields and the spectre of tenant defaults are increasingly common issues that landlords have had to face in the current recession. To add to this landlords have also had to confront a number of high profile CVAs including JJB Sports (twice), Blacks Leisure, Stylo Group, Focus DIY, Fitness First and Travelodge to name a few.

As the prospects for business survival become ever tougher due to challenging economic conditions, administrators and liquidators are increasingly finding themselves having to justify to the courts whether or not costs should be treated as an expense of the administration or liquidation.

Sums incurred or paid as an expense of an administration or liquidation are, unlike debts incurred before the appointment of the administrator or liquidator, paid in preference to unsecured debts and also before the administrator or liquidator's fees and expenses.

Under European law, there are no general rules whit respect to the liability of a holding company for the debts of its insolvent subsidiary.

The Council Regulation (EC) N° 1346/2000 of 29 May 2000 on insolvency proceedings only provides for a common framework for insolvency proceedings in the European Union (EU). The harmonised rules on insolvency proceedings intend to prevent assets or judicial proceedings being transferred from one EU country to another for the purposes of obtaining a more favourable legal position to the detriment of creditors (“forum shopping”).

There have been a number of first instance decisions concerning the construction and effect of Section 2 (a) (iii) of the ISDA Master Agreement. The problem has been the conflicts between the various judgments, and in particular, with respect to the interpretation and effect of Section 2 (a) (iii). This has led to uncertainly as to how the Section is intended to operate.

Today, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) published Final Notices for Christchurch Investment Management Limited (Christchurch) and the firm's compliance officer, David Thornberry, for breaches of the FSA's client money rules (CASS rules).

Through its decision of 27 November 2008, the Belgian Constitutional Court declared netting arrangements in insolvency proceedings, which are explicitly allowed under the Belgian Financial Collateral Law of 15 December 2004, unconstitutional where such netting arrangements apply to non-merchants. Despite the numerous criticisms about this decision, the amended Belgian Financial Collateral Law, entered into force on 10 November 2011, now explicitly excludes non-merchants from its scope.

We have seen an increasing number of pre-packs over recent years, how does a pre-pack work?