Your legal questions answered by Fahmida Ismail, Partner, Sydney Mitchell. As published in the legal pages of the Birmingham Post, February 2013.
Q. I received a job application form which states in bold black ink “If there is an age limit on the vacancy you should put your date of birth in the box”. I was under the impression that it’s now discrimination to ask this question.
A. Putting an age limit on a job vacancy could fall foul of the Equality Act’s age discrimination provisions. If an employer sets a minimum or maximum age for a job vacancy, it would have to be able to justify it objectively and it’s something that could be challenged at a tribunal. It would, for example, be justifiable to insist on an age limit for applications to play a teenager on stage, but not to require air traffic controller recruits to be under 36. Often employers muddle age with fitness. That is potentially discriminatory as there is no guarantee that someone of, say 20, is physically fitter than someone of 50.
Q. I am a member of a residents’ association. One member (the only one who isn’t on a pension) refuses to pay his service charge and insurance when they’re due. After a lot of fuss he pays a little bit, but is always in arrears. What can be done to make him pay on time?
A. You will have to look at the rules of the association carefully. If you own your flats and are managing your properties in the role of landlord, the way the service charges are organised will be set out in each tenant’s lease or tenancy agreement. Ultimately where charges are unpaid you may be able to seek forfeiture of the lease and repossession, but this is a complicated area and you would probably need a solicitor’s advice. The other, and simpler, alternative where relatively small sums are involved is to sue in the small claims court.
Q. We have an office which has a shared entrance way at the front. We never use this, since we also have a side entrance. However we had a delivery of some computer equipment which was stolen, and now another occupant of the building says they may have left the entrance door open. Am I entitled to ask them for compensation?
A. Because your offices are linked you could argue that your neighbour owed you a duty of care to look after your property. By leaving the door open they should have been able to foresee that there was a possibility of theft of your belongings. You may therefore be able to sue them successfully for compensation for your losses. However if you signed for the delivery you will probably be at least partially to blame for not securing your goods. Any insurance you might have will almost certainly have been invalidated by the door being left open.
For further information on any of these issues, please contact the Sydney Mitchell team of specialised lawyers on 0121 746 3360 or fill in our online enquiry form.
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