Read our latest articles, news briefs and legal updates across all our different services.
The government is introducing new rules to ensure that new homes and buildings in England will have to produce significantly less carbon dioxide as part of the battle against climate change. Under the new regulations, CO2 emissions from new build homes must be around 30% lower than current standards and emissions from other new buildings,
The government is closing a loophole that allows owners of second homes to avoid paying tax by claiming their often-empty properties are holiday lets. The changes will target people who take advantage of the system to avoid paying their fair share towards local services in popular destinations such as Cornwall, Devon, the Lake District, Suffolk,
The government is providing an additional £1.3 million to enable more separating parents use the family mediation scheme. The extra investment is expected to help families resolve disputes away from court, such as those involving financial or contact arrangements for children and takes investment in the initiative to more than £3m since its launch in
The government is to allow vulnerable people to continue to be able to have their wills witnessed via video-link until 2024. The move extends measures brought in because of the pandemic. It’s designed to help people who are forced to isolate either with Covid or from another vulnerability. Ministers hope it will reassure all those
The High Court has outlined what constitutes a business partnership in law following a dispute between a couple who ran a business together. The case involved Ms Burnett and Mr Barker. Barker had set up a business as a sole trader offering fire safety services at events. Burnett was working for a company that dealt
A worker at a pet food shop has won her claim of unfair dismissal after she raised concerns over her employer’s Covid protocol. Leah Best worked for Embark on Raw, a pet food retailer owned by husband-and-wife team David and Andrea Fletcher. In March 2020, during the beginning of the pandemic, measures were put in
The late payment problem is getting worse and is now threatening to destroy thousands of small businesses, according to a survey carried out by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). The study of more than 1,200 business owners found that one in three businesses (30%) have seen late payment of invoices increase over the last
The Government offers a model assured shorthold tenancy (AST) agreement for private landlords to use which aims to strike a fair balance between landlords and tenants. In January 2021, the Government announced a change to the model tenancy agreement to assist renters with ‘well behaved pets’, who find it increasingly difficult to find landlords willing
Despite an ever growing proportion of the population choosing to cohabit rather than get married, nearly half (46%) of adults in England and Wales mistakenly think that couples acquire ‘common law’ rights after living together for a certain amount of time or having children together. These misconceptions can lead to one party being particularly vulnerable in the
Parliament has just passed The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 which will impose a peppercorn ground rent in new leases of flats. There will be a few exceptions such as shared ownership properties and in Islamic financing – they will continue to include rent. Ground rents will also be allowed to remain in flats