A landlord has succeeded in legal action to prevent a leaseholder letting out his flat on short-term lets using websites such as Airbnb. The landlord was the freeholder of a building which had been converted into flats. Many of the flats had been sub-let by the leaseholders on assured shorthold tenancies, usually for a minimum
Campaigners have welcomed the government announcement that heterosexual couples will be allowed to enter into civil partnerships instead of getting married if that’s what they wish. Civil partnerships provide the same benefits and rights as marriage in terms of tax, inheritance and protections for each partner if the relationship breaks down. They have only been
Stamp duty for first-time buyers of shared-ownership homes costing up to £500,000 has been abolished by Chancellor Philip Hammond. Shared ownership is the system in which a person owns a percentage of a property, typically between 25 and 75%, and a housing association owns the rest. The scheme makes it possible to buy all the
Most newbuild homes will in future be sold as freehold, while leases will be capped at £10. The new measures are part of a government clampdown on unfair practices in the housing market. Communities Secretary James Brokenshire has launched a consultation on plans to improve the leaseholder sector, which will bring an end to the
The government has continued its crackdown on unfair letting fees by announcing that tenants in the private rented sector will no longer be forced to pay excessive fees for minor damages, The announcement is part of the Tenant Fees Bill and is a further measure to bring an end to costly fees imposed by a
Working parents who lose a child will soon be entitled to claim parental leave. The new Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay Act will give all employed parents the right to two weeks’ leave if they lose a child under the age of 18 or suffer a stillbirth from 24 weeks of pregnancy. Employed parents will
Most people in the UK are putting their future well-being at risk by neglecting to make legal preparations for their old age, according to a new report. The research shows that Britain is experiencing a ‘dementia crisis’, with an estimated 13 million people unprepared for the possibility that they may be suffering from some form
The High Court has settled a dispute between four siblings who couldn’t agree over the sale of their parents’ house. The issue arose after the parents died having left their family home in equal shares to their four children. The parents had expressed a wish that if one the children wanted to continue living in
Two sisters have been allowed to correct an error in a family trust that would have prevented them from benefiting in the way intended when the document was drawn up. The sisters were aged 58 and 56. When their mother died in 2005, they had inherited equally her 50% share of the house that she
The government is drawing up plans to end the ‘blame game’ for separating couples, which often sees one partner accusing the other of unreasonable behaviour to get a quick divorce. There are currently five reasons for being granted a divorce by the courts: adultery, unreasonable behaviour, desertion, two years separation if both agree to the