It is trite law that where a petition debt is disputed in good faith and on substantial grounds, the Grant Court's ordinary practice is to dismiss or strike out the winding-up petition. However, this principle is more easily applied in theory than in practice, resulting in a remarkable amount of case law. That body of case law has been swelled in 2020 by a number of Grand Court decisions which provide further guidance as to whether a petition debt is to be considered genuinely disputed on substantial grounds.

The start of lockdown initiated a significant slowdown in the property market in early Spring 2020. Reassuringly, as Jersey came out of lockdown, there was an exponential increase in property transactions, which peaked in August 2020. If the rapid resurgence of the market seen in the summer is anything to go by, any reduction in transactions over the winter months which is beyond the seasonal norm may lead to a similar increase in activity and competition next spring.

The EU Fifth Anti-money Laundering Directive was enacted into UK law with effect from 10 January 2020. It requires art businesses to implement systems intended to prevent their potential use in money laundering or for various other offences. The rules apply to those trading, storing or acting as intermediaries in works of art, where the value involved is more than €10,000. This is a significant extension to the existing rules.