Once again, Marlow Chamber of Trade and Commerce are organising the hugely successful Late Night Shopping event on the 3rd December.

 

This event dates back nearly 20 years when The Chamber decided that they should increase the attractiveness of Marlow to both locals and visitors, the President at the time was John Chapman and together with help from Martin Spittle and Reg Markham, produced a ‘What’s on in Marlow’ notice and looked for concrete events to bring shoppers into the town.

 

Negotiating free parking on the 3 Thursdays leading up to Christmas led to support from local traders for a late night shopping event and the first evening took place in 1990, with the Town Mayor, Michael Bowater switching on the Christmas lights.

 

One of Michael’s fond memories of that evening was that when he and John Chapman visited the shops, banks and offices on the High Street they were all offering wine which certainly warmed them up on a chilly December evening!

 

The Late Night Shopping event commences at 6.00pm on Thursday the 3^rd December with the Christmas tree lights being turned on, accompanied by a short carol service.

 

The High Street is closed off from 4.00pm to enable an array of stalls, both charitable and commercial, to set up ready for the opening when they will then display and sell their goods.

 

A number of shops in the High Street, West Street and Spittal Street will be open until 9.00pm – the event is an excellent opportunity for Christmas shopping. 

 

This is a hugely popular event for families and really kicks off the Christmas celebrations in Marlow with an atmosphere of fun and music – fingers crossed for good weather!

 

Useful business information

Postal Scam

As Xmas is fast approaching - it has been confirmed by Royal Mail and The Trading Standards Office are making people aware of the following scam:

A card is posted through your door From a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service) suggesting that they were unable to deliver a parcel and that you need to contact them on 0906 6611911 (a Premium rate number). DO NOT call this number, as this is a mail scam originating from Belize. If you call the number and you start to hear a recorded message you will already have been billed £15 for the phone call. If you do receive a card with these details, then please contact Royal Mail Fraud on 02072396655 or ICSTIS (the Premium rate service regulator) at www.icstis.org.uk

Pitfalls of Residential Service Charges

 

Service charge demands are never welcome but it makes sense to check such demands and before challenging them, understand your rights and obligations. 

 

The first thing to understand is that your landlord can only make demands that are within the terms of your lease.  If the demand is unreasonable then it is unlikely that you will have to pay it but what you consider to be unreasonable may not be what the law considers to be unreasonable. 

 

A service charge demand must show the landlord’s name and address and be accompanied by a summary of your rights and obligations under the lease. 

 

You can not be charged for any item not referred to within the body of your residential lease.  In particular if improvements are being proposed to the building then make sure that the lease allows the landlord to carry out charge for such works.  An obligation on the landlord to maintain or repair the main structure and common parts of the building does not necessarily mean for example that they can build an extension, fence, porch or anything else where one did not previously exist.

 

Similarly, the landlord can not charge you a management fee for providing the service charge demand unless of course the lease allows them to. 

 

When requested, your landlord must provide a written summary of costs incurred from the previous accounting year or if there is not one, the 12 months up to the date of your request.  They must send it to you within 6 months of the end of the last accounting period or within 1 month of the request, whichever is later.  You can then even ask the landlord to inspect the accounts, receipts and other documents supporting the summary within 6 months of receiving it.

 

If you have checked all of the service charges and still believe they are unreasonable, then you will need to see whether they have been reasonably incurred and need only be paid for if those services or works are of a reasonable standard.  If you still believe that the service charges are unreasonable, then if all else fails you can  apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal asking it to determine the level of charge or whether the charge is payable at all.

 

Information from a HMRC press release 4^th November 2009

 

The 15% VAT rate is extended for pubs, clubs, restaurants and other retail businesses, which remain open past midnight on New Year’s Eve, to the time they close, or 6.00am on 1^st January 2010, whichever is the earlier. The same arrangement will apply to telecommunications companies in respect of calls and texts made up to 6.00am on 1^st January 2010. The Financial Secretary to the Treasury thought it might be difficult for such traders to change the VAT rate to 17.5% at midnight on 31^st December and hopes that businesses affected will find this arrangement helpful.

 

Further information about dealing with the change in the standard rate of VAT from 1^st January 2010 can be found at www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms-rates/rates/rate-changes.htm.