NEWS & ANALYSIS FMJ.CO.UK
LEGAL VIEW - DISCLAIMERS
6 DECEMBER/JANUARY 2021
UNUSED OFFICE SPACE POSTCOVID
COULD COST LONDON
BUSINESSES ALMOST £13BN
Unused o ice space a er
Coronavirus could cost Londonbased
businesses almost £13 billion
according to a new report by Space
Three Two, a new o ice timeshare
marketplace born out of lockdown.
According to a survey of London
o ice workers, employees want
to spend an average of 2.7 days
back in the o ice once all Covid-19
restrictions have been li ed, on
the basis they had the resources
to work from home comfortably (e.g. the right equipment, home o ice set-up
etc). One in 10 workers (11 per cent) said they didn’t want to go back to the
o ice at all.
The total London commercial rental market according to commercial real
estate information provider, Costar, is worth an approximate £17.9 billion.
Prior to Coronavirus, o ice workers spent an average of 4.2 days a week
in the o ice. If this drops to an average of 2.7 days a er Coronavirus, the
utilisation rate per o ice (e.g. the percentage of time that desks in any given
o ice is in use), would drop from 44 per cent pre-COVID to 28 per cent post-
COVID.
Insights from the report show London o ices are only using desks 28 per
cent of the time, equating to a 72 per cent rate of wastage. As a result, unused
desks could cost businesses £12.84 billion in total. This means 72 per cent of all
o ice rent paid by businesses in London would be spent on empty desks.
Analysing o ice rental data from Costar, along with pre-COVID-19 utilisation
rates provided by the British Council for O ices, shows that a combination of
factors could be about to lead to a seismic shi in the way that the commercial
property sector functions.
The study suggests that London businesses are currently carrying
unnecessary, unsustainable costs which look to have the potential to
devastate the profitability of thousands of businesses across the capital.
It is this combined financial and logistical challenge that has led to the
emergence of this brand-new category of o ice timeshare.
BUSINESSES REMAIN UNCLEAR ON BREXIT
A new engineering survey has revealed
that one in three businesses (30 per cent)
have said they are still not clear about the
forthcoming business implications of Brexit.
Only a further one third (28 per cent) said
they are ‘fully clear’ about the implications of
the Brexit transition.
Three quarters (75 per cent) of respondents
expect the cost of electrical and electronic products to either stay the same or rise
a er the transition deadline of 31 December 2020.
However, although over 40 per cent of respondents said product availability
was a major factor on the horizon, fewer than one in five (17 per cent) said they
expected product availability to be negatively impacted. Half (49 per cent) replied
that they expect availability to broadly stay the same.
Rob Driscoll, ECA Director of Legal and Business, said: “It is perhaps no surprise
that uncertainty remains a central theme as we inch closer to the Brexit deadline.
However, these figures also reveal a degree of confidence in the sector – confidence
in the availability of materials, and of skilled and competent individuals, once we
are no longer part of the EU.” Two thirds (66 per cent) of businesses did not believe
skills would be a significant problem a er Brexit.
THE IMPORTANCE OF EMAIL
DISCLAIMERS IN BUSINESS
BY MARIA DAHLQVIST CANTON,
VP MARKETING, EXCLAIMER
Emails are vital for businesses, and research shows 20 per
cent more of them are being sent when compared to this time
last year. This research suggests this is due to the increase in
remote working since the outbreak of COVID-19. However,
many businesses don’t recognise the importance of legal
disclaimers within their email signatures and there can be
serious consequences for companies if these are not drafted
or displayed correctly.
IT’S THE LAW
The requirement to have an email disclaimer varies per
region, with the UK, North America, and Europe having
particularly stringent regulations. For example, under The
UK Companies Act, it’s against the law not to have an email
disclaimer. Failure to comply puts a company at risk of
a £1,000 fi ne. Under this same act, UK law dictates email
disclaimers must have, as a bare minimum, a company
registration number, the place of registration (e.g. Scotland
or England & Wales), and a registered offi ce address to
remain compliant. Any legal disclaimers used in individual
emails also need to be included on an organisation’s website,
or else fi nes can still be issued.
PROTECTION FROM LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
An email sent to the wrong person at the wrong time can
cause no end of trouble for the sender. On top of being a
serious legal and security issue, emails can create a legally
binding contract before the sender is even aware a message
has been sent. Most notably, a recent news story revealed an
email was legally binding because it was signed off with an
automated signature. To combat situations like this, ensure
every email disclaimer contains text explicitly stating that
the email isn’t to be taken as a legally binding contract.
Where possible, avoid ‘contract terminology’ including words
like ‘off er’, ‘accept’ or ‘agree’ – unless it’s explicitly stating
that the email isn’t to be used as a signature.
ENSURES COMPLIANCE
Surprisingly, over 200,000 emails from large corporations
are sent to the wrong people each year in the UK, which
leaves them open to legal issues or accusations of data
mismanagement. To safeguard your business against any
accidents that occur, make sure there is a clearly written
privacy policy included in your signature that complies with
GDPR. The best disclaimers and company security standards
are GDPR compliant, meaning they adhere to some of the
strictest data regulations found anywhere on the globe.
As GDPR is one of the most comprehensive data privacy
standards to date, using a compliant email disclaimer makes
your company appear more trustworthy and shows recipients
the steps you have taken to comply with the law. It’s best
practice to feature a direct link to the policy in your email
disclaimer to improve reader visibility.
INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
Whether it’s for client or internal purposes, email disclaimers
should be tailored to fi t the needs of each department. For
example, fi nancial departments have to ensure disclaimers
emphasise the importance of confi dentiality and security,
as they are sending more sensitive data out to third parties.
Employees should also use separate email disclaimers for
internal communications. When drafting these disclaimers,
you should focus on employee liability and personal
responsibility in the workplace. Employees can fi nd
themselves running into legal trouble for things such as
circulating off ensive content through email so generating a
disclaimer should be a priority.