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Families inheriting estates valued at more than £2m will have to pay probate fees of £20,000 under new proposals being put forward by the government. The move would also see the beneficiaries of much smaller estates paying no fee at all. Under the current system, all estates worth more than £5,000 pay a standard probate
A quarter of a million first time buyers have opened a Help to Buy ISA since they became available last December. More than half of them are aged 30 or under. Some people have already claimed the bonus offered by the ISAs and are using them to help buy their first home. Help to Buy
A husband has lost his appeal against an unequal divorce settlement that gave his wife a greater share of the marital assets. The couple had separated after 15 years’ of marriage due to difficulties caused by the husband’s addictive behaviour. The wife remained in their London flat and the husband moved to a rented flat
A woman has won her legal battle to keep the home she shared with her partner despite opposition from his estranged wife. The court heard that Joy Williams and her partner Norman Martin had owned their home as tenants in common for 18 years. Mr Martin had separated from his wife but they had not
The government has announced that 600 acres of publicly owned land is being made available to build new homes. It has identified 80 sites that will be put up for sale over the next 18 months. It is estimated these sites will support more than 5,000 homes as well as land for industry and business.
284,000 landlords risk being fined over tenant deposits New research has revealed that 284,000 landlords are at risk of being fined because they have failed to protect tenants’ deposits in an approved scheme. The survey by the Centre for Economics Business Research (CEBR) suggests that more than £500m worth of tenancy deposits are being held
Two company directors have been held personally liable for the costs involved in mounting a no-hope defence against a winding-up petition. The court heard that HMRC brought a petition to wind up the company based on an alleged liability for VAT of £1.6m, and because of a number of tax issues. The company applied for
The High Court has removed an arbitrator from a construction dispute because he may have been biased towards one of the parties involved. The case involved a developer and an integrated services company. A dispute arose during a construction project and the matter had to go to arbitration. The arbitrator was appointed by the Chartered
A football club has won a dispute with a contractor brought in to improve the standard of its pitches. The court heard that Yeovil Town played in League 1 but hoped to be promoted to the Championship, the league above. It hired a contractor to bring its pitches up to Championship standard. The work was
Shop staff are to be given more freedom to opt out of Sunday working following a government decision to devolve some control to local councils. The new measures will enable councils to “zone” any relaxation of Sunday trading laws so they will be able to prioritise high streets and city centres. This will enable them