Inheritance tax receipts are set to increase by more than 20% this year, according to the Office for National Statistics. The latest figures show that death duties are on track to bring in £4.6 billion in the 12 months to February. That compares with the £3.8 billion for the same period last year. Rising house
Several new regulations affecting landlords have now come into force. These are some of the most significant: Tenant right to request energy efficiency improvements Tenants can now request consent from their landlord to install energy efficiency improvements in the property they rent. The landlord cannot unreasonably refuse consent, as long as the requested improvement is
The government has announced plans to build 200,000 starter homes for first time buyers under the age of 40. It’s part of an overall plan to build a million homes by 2020. Ministers say the figure will be achieved by ensuring that 1 in 5 homes are starter homes on developments of more than 10
The BBC has recently reported that the “bank of Mum and Dad” lends approximately £5bn per year to help their children get onto the property ladder in the UK. This claim is based on data collated by the Legal and General who estimate that 25% of all UK mortgage transactions are financed by a buyers
A woman has been awarded £832,000 in a sexual harassment and sex discrimination case involving an NHS trust. Helen Marks was the Director of Workforce and Organisational Development at Derbyshire NHS Trust and earned just under £100,000 a year. The Employment Tribunal heard evidence that while she was working there she was approached by the
A wife who claimed her husband tore up a will that left her nothing has lost her legal battle to inherit his estate. The case involved an elderly Ukrainian man who made the will in 2010, a couple of years before he died and one year after his second marriage. The will left his estate
A court has ordered a husband who lied about his finances to pay in full the divorce settlement awarded to his former wife. The court heard that, during the initial divorce proceedings, the husband was ordered to pay the wife £80,000 by 5 February 2014. However, he then claimed that the wife had agreed to
The government has announced funding for a series of housing zones that will provide thousands of new homes across the country. More than £6m is being made available to enable local councils to establish partnerships with private developers and speed up the development of brownfield sites. It’s hoped the project will help to deliver up
With the summer holiday season fast approaching, many parents are starting to think about foreign travel destinations and where they are going to take their children on holiday this year. For many parents, once the foreign travel destination is selected, booking the holiday is relatively straightforward and the family can start to look forward to
The dispute over whether a woman’s estate should pass to her daughter or to a number of charities is to be settled in the Supreme Court. The case involved a woman who fell out with her daughter because she eloped with a boyfriend when she was 17. The daughter later married the boyfriend and now