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Landlords and developers will soon have to join new regulatory schemes under proposals drawn up by the government to protect tenants and homeowners. Communities Secretary James Brokenshire has announced that there’s to be a Housing Complaints Resolution Service for the entire housing market. Mr Brokenshire said that unlike other sectors such as financial services, the
The car manufacturer BMW has successfully defended its trademark after bringing a claim of infringement and passing off to the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. The other company in the case was BMW Telecommunications Ltd, whose owner had the initials BMW. It provided consulting services to railway companies regarding signalling and telecommunications. The car manufacturer claimed
The Justice Secretary, David Gauke, has confirmed that the government is planning to reform divorce law to end the ‘blame game’ that can cause so much stress for some couples when they separate. Under the current system, there are five reasons for being granted a divorce by the courts: adultery, unreasonable behaviour, desertion, two years
The government is introducing a new Housing Complaints Resolution Service to cover the entire housing market. It means that dissatisfied homeowners and tenants will have simple and quick access to help when things go wrong. Communities Secretary James Brokenshire said the new service will cover everything from broken boilers to cracks in the wall and
A bisexual prison officer who was taunted by colleagues as ‘gay’, ‘poof’ and ‘vermin’ was victimised and unfairly dismissed. That was the decision of the Employment Tribunal in a case involving 40-year-old Ben Plaistow and HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes. Mr Plaistow began working at the prison in September 2014. Within a few weeks he
A group of homeowners whose flats are overlooked by the Tate Gallery have lost their claim that their privacy was being infringed by tourists who were able to see into their balconies. The flats are in a development close to the Tate Modern art gallery in central London. Their living areas look directly on to
The High Court has allowed a family to correct an error in a trust fund that would have had costly tax implications. The case arose out of financial arrangements outlined in the will of a man who died in 2015. He bequeathed £4.2m to be held on trust for the benefit of his widow and
The government is considering a stamp duty surcharge for non-UK resident homebuyers to reduce house price inflation and provide funds to help the homeless. The Treasury is conducting a study to consider how a new 1% increase to stamp duty costs for non-UK residents buying residential property in England and Northern Ireland would work. This
The Family Court has ruled that a 10-year-old boy who was abducted by his father and taken to England should be returned to his mother in Portugal. The mother and father, who also had a daughter aged 16, had separated in 2009 and subsequently divorced. In 2014, the father relocated to England but travelled to
A campaign for the government’s Prompt Payment Code to be compulsory rather than voluntary as it is now has been gaining cross party support from MPs. The idea was put forward by the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT), which believes that the current voluntary system isn’t delivering for small businesses. The association has made three