J.K

Just found it: Q. Can the company just have a sole director and no secretary? A. Yes, as long as it is a private company and from 1st October 2008 that the director is a natural person. Link

This is true, the requirement to have a company secretary is now optional. If you do only have one director, you should look more into your articles of association as they may state that you need at least 2 directors to establish a quorum in and board meetings and so technically any decisions you make that require a board resolution will be void.

Hi I think it looks like a great site, but I agree that there is something holding it back from looking really terrific. Maybe the light blue/cyan(ish) colour is too bright? All the other colours on the page are more of a pastel shade so maybe you could try altering the start shopping title to make it more pastle too? Just a thought.

Just to be clear, I completely agree and I think court would end up being a waste of your time and money. The work has already been done so you're not losing anything and as I said the court would probably conclude that there was an inferred 'free' licence to use the site as it is. There is still nothing wrong with writing to them and making yourself clear that you own the copyright and that they can't change it without your permission, but I think court at this stage is a waste I'm afraid.

Your rights as author of the work are automatic and last for 70 years unless there was an agreement in place to show otherwise so it shouldn't matter that there was nothing on the site. To qualify your work has to be regarded as original and exhibit a degree of labour, skill or judgement. Check Link for more details. You could say that they cannot display the website without an express licence from you and they need to pay you something for that licence, but they will probably say that there was an inferred licence to display your work as nothing was said in the beginning. If I were you, I'd write to the company letting them know that the work belongs to you and they cannot change the code without your express consent or it would be a breach of copyright. Then when it come to updating their website they either have to pay for a whole new site or they have to ask you for permission to modify it (where you say of course, but you have to pay me £xxx for the licence) or you can offer to do the work for your normal fee and end up with a new client. It unlikely that you will get anything from it unless you monitor the site to check for unauthorised changes, but for 5 minutes of writing the letter it may still be worth it.

Hi Tyler I have only read a few of the main posts on here but I will try to help as best I can. Do not take the below to be legal advice as it is not, but it is the basic gist. Firstly, as I'm sure you know, do not give him your clients details unless you get permission from the client as you could be breaching data protection laws (google information commissioner for more details). From an employment basis, how long a contract did you agree at your initial meeting? If you agreed that you would work for him until further notice i.e. no end date, then you will find it quite hard enforce the £18,000 pa as until you have worked for him for 365 days he can sack you pretty much on the spot (provided you are allowed to work or are paid for the duration of your notice period, usually a month) which if you push it, baring in mind that the relationship seems to be really sour already, he will do. If you agreed a specific term for your contract to run e.g. 6 months then it doesn't matter what he says, he is legally binded to honour that contract until the end unless he gives you your notice period. It sounds like the verbal employment contract was offered and agreed on when you originally met him about the job. This is all a very very grey area legally and it is too much to go into on here so I would advise you to contact a law firm for a conversation about what you can do. They should offer you a free initial discussion (if not, go somewhere else) and be able to tell you if you have any rights/advise you on what to do. Another thing is how much of your time while you were freelancing did you spend working just for him? There is case law on this and if a large enough percentage of your working week was spent just on his matters you may be able to claim that you were already an employee of his. If this means that you have technically been working for him for over 365 days you have inferred rights and protections, like the right not to be unfairly dismissed. Again a specialist employment law firm would be able to advise you on this. Whatever the outcome, I think you should be looking for another job too as he sounds like he would be horrible to work for on a full time basis. Good luck

I completely agree with RobertG. If you accept his offer, then it is all over, case closed. I think you should go and see a solicitor and get them to formally write a letter requesting full payment. It might be worth emailing the client before hand saying that you are seeking legal advice and they will be in contact with him in the near future. More often than not he will give up and pay as the threats are suddenly real. If it does get to the small claims court and you win, you will get your solicitors fees paid for by him. These can amount to a heck of a lot even for a seemingly simple case so he is likely to be advised by his solicitors to settle. Good luck.

Hi everyone Yet another newbie here wanting to get into the business so please forgive me if I'm asking a stupid question...I'm designing a website for a holiday rental flat near the coast in North Devon and I want to put a widget to show the times and wave heights of high and low tides on the page as the flat is rented out by surfers a lot of the time. Does anyone know where I might be able to find something for this or if it is likely to exist? I've checked the obvious places but I've come up empty. Thanks

Hi tobo I was looking at the CIW courses earlier this year too. The opinion of the courses on forums isn't good which put me off and having to pay for it myself meant it ended up as a no go. I'm using lynda.com at the moment which seems to be quite good although I don't know if it will cover all the same things.