Chris Fick & Associates

Is the rental market succumbing to the punches?

As the property market continues to piece itself back together amid the ongoing pandemic, the rental market continues to feel the impact of the times more than any other sector in the real estate industry. While property sales have slowly picked up, and first-time homeowners are enjoying the advantages of a buyer’s market, empty rental properties continue to fill the market. With one […]

Our brave new world: Using Zoom for retrenchment consultations

The COVID-19 pandemic will doubtless lead to many new developments on the legal front. For example, with widespread employee retrenchment now an unfortunate reality in our struggling economy, all employers, employees and trade unions should know of an important new Labour Court decision validating the use of remote conferencing for the retrenchment consultation process. The […]

Directors and business rescue in the time of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown have opened up new avenues of profit for some businesses, but they have also subjected many others to the spectre of business failure. Unfortunately we can expect the level of bankruptcies to surge for some time to come, and the domino effect will multiply the numbers until our […]

Directors: Reckless Trading and Personal Liability in the Time of Coronavirus

The COVID-19 pandemic and its ongoing economic fallout have left many businesses struggling with cash flow and even viability challenges. The result is that an increasing number of companies are either trading in insolvent circumstances, or in grave danger of doing so. Reckless trading and your risk of personal liability To quote from the Companies […]

Leases, contracts and COVID-19: What is Force Majeure?

The COVID-19 crisis has changed everything. Our personal lives have been upended and our businesses hit hard. And with many businesses operating out of leased premises, a great many landlords and tenants are asking themselves what happens if the crisis leaves a tenant unable to pay the agreed rental. What follows is of necessity a […]

COVID-19: Small businesses, employment laws, and survival support

We can only guess at how the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak will end, but let’s all take whatever concrete steps we can right now to lessen its impact on our personal lives, on our businesses, and on our country. One of those steps is for businesses to find ways of continuing to operate as normally as […]