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The government is setting up a £26m fund to help developers speed up the process of providing starter homes for first-time buyers. The homes will be offered exclusively to buyers aged under 40 with a discount of 20% on market values. The £26m will be used to identify and purchase sites and prepare them over
The number of unmarried couples in the UK has more than doubled in the last 20 years, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics. Many cohabitants believe that they have the same legal protection as married couples but, unfortunately for them, this is not the case. They have few automatic legal rights,
The summer holiday season is drawing to a close. Employees have exhausted their holiday entitlement and are counting down to Xmas. Employers finally get a break from juggling workloads and arranging cover – but what about the employees who could not take their holiday because of sickness? Two scenarios that employers can face: 1. Your
A brother and sister have been removed as executors of their mother’s will because they could not work together and no longer trusted each other. The two siblings had been appointed as executors by their mother and were the main beneficiaries of her will. The brother lived in the same street where his mother had
Under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, a husband or wife can seek a divorce from their spouse if they can show that there has been an “irretrievable breakdown” of their marriage. This “irretrievable breakdown” has to be proven on one of five facts, either: 1. Adultery;2. Unreasonable behaviour;3. Desertion;4. Separation of two years with consent;
There has been an 11% increase in the number of landlords prepared to write off unpaid rent in order to speed up the process of eviction, according to figures released by Thomson Reuters. Researchers say the number of accelerated procedure notices jumped from 26,929 in 2013/14 to 29,821 in 2014/15. Speaking to the Solicitors Journal,
A hotel chef has won £11,000 compensation after he was “unfairly dismissed” for biting two police officers during a drunken row. The Employment Tribunal heard that James Harvey was the head chef at a hotel in Guernsey. Last March, he got into an argument with his girlfriend at the hotel and was accused of assaulting
A company had a multi-million pound contract terminated because it failed to foresee the extent of ground contamination on a development site and failed to carry out its own checks. The case involved a construction company that entered into a contract with the government of Gibraltar to construct a road and tunnel. The contract incorporated
The government is being urged to throw out the rulebook relating to late payments and start afresh if it really wants to tackle the problem that bedevils so many small businesses. The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has conducted a widespread study into the issue and produced a report, Ending Late Payment. It says
Two directors have been disqualified after a court heard how they tried to “buy time” for their ailing company by producing misleading accounts and VAT figures. The directors were sole shareholders in a company importing and supplying plywood and sheet materials. At first their company was successful but it suffered a downturn in 2009 and