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The Treasury has agreed to make changes to the administration of Inheritance Tax following complaints from the public that it is too complex, old fashioned and needs to be simplified. The announcement comes after more than 3,500 people responded to a public consultation carried out by the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) on behalf of
Two major home builders have been told to remove contract terms that mean leaseholders have to pay ground rents that double every 10 or 15 years. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched enforcement action against 4 housing developers in September 2020. These included Countryside Properties and Taylor Wimpey, for using possibly unfair contract terms,
The wishes of a 12-year-old boy were not enough to prevent him from being returned to his father, especially as it was likely that he had been unduly influenced by his mother. That was the decision of the Court of Appeal in a case involving a boy who was born in England and had lived
Britain has an enviable record of supporting good causes, yet many people are still unaware that they can use their wills to give to their favourite charities and gain some tax benefits at the same time. A survey carried out by the Law Society just after the first lockdown restrictions began to ease showed that
Local councils in England have been given new powers to encourage them to build more affordable homes for first time buyers in their communities. The government has introduced a package of measures that will enable councils to fund homes using Right to Buy receipts, including homes for social rent, and give them greater flexibility over
The High Court has ruled that a wife had not been entitled to access her husband’s private information during divorce proceedings. In giving the ruling, the judge warned couples not to resort to unlawful practices to gain an unfair advantage. The issue arose after the husband suspected that the wife had accessed and misused his
The Countrywide estate agency group has won a contract dispute involving the £38m sale of one of its subsidiaries. The court heard evidence that Countrywide had agreed to sell its subsidiary, Lambert Smith Hampton Limited (“LSH”), to John Bengt Moeller in a share purchase agreement. Countrywide claimed that Moeller failed to pay £38 million needed to complete
A surgeon who accidentally set one of his patients on fire during an operation has won his case of unfair dismissal and been awarded £67,000. Dr O Iwuchukwu worked at City Hospitals Sunderland, part of South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, from 2005 until his dismissal in 2015. In August 2013, he was operating
A director who had conducted the affairs of a night club in a way that had unfairly prejudiced a minority shareholder has been ordered to make an interim payment to her of £200,000. The figure could be much higher once a further hearing takes place. A judge had found that the company’s affairs had been
The Government has extended its temporary insolvency measures to support businesses struggling during the pandemic. The measures were introduced in the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act in March 2020, including protecting businesses from aggressive creditor enforcement and removing personal liability on company directors. They are being extended till the end of June 2021. The extension