David Cameron’s latest policy will allow approximately two million social tenants to buy their properties with a discount of up to £75,000. The £75,000 discount will be a quadrupled figure discount in London and a trebling in the...
We all know that money is tight, and the Government is not immune to these feelings. Cuts are being made to what seems like every integral part of our community. Does it seem fair though that these cuts once again hit those who are most vulnerable ...No, so...
If you don’t know by now that the 2012 Olympic Games will be held in London then surely you have been living under a rock for the last few years. This much publicised event will be taking place 27th July to 12th August under a global spotlight and...
A report from Which?, the consumer organisation, highlights enormous difficulties and problems facing the estimated 500,000 or more older and disabled people, many of whom are faced with substandard home care services, according to the report. The...
News from the USA this week provides a worrying insight into the ethics of companies looking to make a quick buck. A New York advertising agency is currently using 13 street homeless people in Austin, Texas as Wi-Fi antennas and has termed the project...
It has been reported this week that tenants who rent from private sector landlords are living in poor conditions and that the condition of privately rented accommodation has deteriorated. This is at a time when more reliance than ever is placed on private...
More than 600 people have died throughout Europe recently as a result of the cold snap we have been experiencing. Clearly this is having an effect on the 3 million people currently sleeping rough in Europe. According to statistics, the number of...
The Court of Appeal handed down their ruling in the case of Marley v Rawlings [2012] EWCA Civ 61 last week confirming that where couples sign the wrong Wills by mistake, those Wills are not valid and cannot be rectified by the Court. The case involved an...
The Welfare Reform Bill has returned to the House of Commons this week for MPs to vote on the various proposals. The Government’s aim by introducing these proposals was to cut the annual housing benefit bill by £500 million a year. The...
A scheme which has helped rough sleepers in London is to be launched in Liverpool and the surrounding area on 2nd February 2012. ‘No second night out’ is a government backed scheme which tries to ensure that rough sleepers spend no more than one...
Last week, the Government revealed proposed plans to change the inheritance rules, so that cohabiting couples may have the right to inherit from each other’s estates, if they die without making a Will. The current rules, called the ‘intestacy...
According to figures published by the Office for National Statistics this week, less than half the adult population in England and Wales are now married. Cohabitation amongst couples appears to have become the norm, and I must say, also applies to...
A Court of Appeal decision in LONDON TARA HOTEL LTD v KENSINGTON CLOSE HOTEL LTD [2011] EWCA Civ 1356 confirmed that a right of way could be obtained through reliance on third parties use of the land. Clients often approach me with queries regarding rights...
The new EU Consumer Rights Directive was adopted by Member States in the Council on 10/10/11 having been approved in the EU Parliament on 23/6/11. It is required to be translated into national law by the end of 2013. With current government rhetoric...
A survey by Which? has discovered that over 3 million people suffer with problem neighbours. As a solicitor specialising in neighbour disputes this comes as no big surprise to me. There are an astonishing number of issues that someone can have with their...
The legal world has now had time to reflect on the Judgment in Jones v Kernott which was handed down by the Supreme Court on 9 November 2011. I found the 30 page judgment a little repetitive in that a large portion of it set out the facts and findings of...
Last Friday, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) welcomed a Tribunal's decision to strike out appeals submitted by the UK's biggest logbook loan business, Nine Regions Limited and Log Book Loans Limited, who trade under the name Log Book Loans. In...
According to a study by consumer champions Which? this week, high street stores are dismissing customers who have legitimate complaints and denying them their legal statutory rights’ to have faulty goods fixed. Its researchers apparently visited 60...
After reading a parliamentary report released today, I was astonished at figures that show that British consumers are being conned out of nearly £7 billion a year. The report claimed that consumer law is being abused regionally and nationally, while...
This case has caught my eye this week as the Court of Appeal has been asked to reconsider the decision of the High Court earlier this year, which resulted in Terry Marley losing any inheritance from his parent’s estate. Terry Marley was...
It’s only two months until Christmas and already some people have thought in advance: they’ve purchased all their gifts and planned how they’ll spend the festive occasion. But for others, they may be worrying about how they are going to...
The High Court at the end of yesterday confirmed that Geoffrey Boycott’s case against his solicitors for professional negligence could not continue and was struck out. According to the Daily Mail, he was reportedly criticised by a judge for giving...
This case has caught my eye this week, after being reported in the news. Earlier this year, a claim was issued in the Royal Court of Guernsey by Patricia Assersohn, against the estate of her late father Patrick Edge, and against her sister Angela Herst. ...
In a very interesting benchmark decision, the Court of Appeal last month confirmed that if a spouse is only left a life interest in their husband or wife’s property on their death, this is not reasonable financial provision, and they should be entitled...
The rioting and looting which swept across many of our major cities last week has now ended but the debate about how to deal with the perpetrators is likely to be ongoing for some time. People are calling for the rioter’s benefits to be scrapped and...
This case that has just started in the High Court in London this week has caught my eye. Wealthy businessman George Wharton proposed to Maureen, his former mistress, as soon as he was diagnosed as terminally ill. They married in their sitting...
This very unusual case has caught my eye this week. The High Court has this week confirmed that the children of a bigamous aristocrat, and cousin to Princess Diana, can inherit his huge estate and fortune. Alexander Montagu, the 13th Duke of...
A friend of mine has just had an awful experience. Her Mum is very ill, and sensibly went to make a Will . Unfortunately she went to a high street bank. Without explaining the situation, the bank put themselves as executors and trustees on the...
A dispute between two neighbours over the boundary line separating their properties went up to the Court of Appeal last year and the dispute only ended when one of the parties were refused permission to appeal to the Supreme Court in November 2010. ...
A leaked letter, allegedly sent by Eric Pickles private secretary to the Prime Minister, has expressed concerns about the effects of the Government’s policy to cap benefit payments to any one household at £500 per week. It was...
Last month, my friends and I decided to book a last minute trip to Switzerland. We managed to find what appeared to be bargain flights through a particular budget airline. We spent over 10 minutes completing all of the various screens, and then got to the...
Last week, the High Court in London made a decision following a lengthy seven day trial, to uphold the Will of Mrs Helen Blofield, who died in October 2008. Mr Blofield had made her Will in November 2006, leaving everything to her former...
Today is Justice for All day, intended to highlight the impact of the cuts to legal aid. The following is an attempt to dispel some of the myths surrounding the circumstances of the proposed cuts. One of the justifications for the cuts is...
I have read news today of a new way of resolving disputes with neighbours , by buying the house next door. On first reading it appeared that American billionaire Larry Ellison had simply bought the neighbours house with whom he was in the...
The news has been flooded today with two powerful stories related to the provision of care to vulnerable people. On the one hand, the ongoing saga of Southern Cross, one of the larger providers of residential and nursing care in the country, has...
Ok, I admit it, I'm 38, turning 39 in October. The big 4 zero is looming, and I'm already getting grief from younger colleagues both at work and in the hockey team. Our midfield is so bald it looks like a box of eggs in plain view. ...
An 80-year-old widow is facing eviction after a boundary dispute spanning more than a decade over 3 inches of land. Milica Markos of Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, took her former neighbour, Alan Goodfellow, to court in 1999 because he had encroached on...
A dispute has arisen over a share of the multi-million pound estate left by the deceased actress Elizabeth Taylor. The actress left £50,000 of her estate to her former husband in order to provide for his care in his current state of ill...
It has emerged this week that the rate of mortgage repossessions in the first quarter of 2011 has risen 15% from the last quarter of 2010. The Council of Mortgage Lenders has revealed a sharp rise in repossessions, the first in more than two...
In May last year I blogged about the case of Kernott v Jones after the Court of Appeal overturned an earlier High Court decision and awarded Mr Kernott half of the property in which he has previously resided with Ms Jones. Now the case is before the...
UK banks have today lost a judicial review that could have a major impact on whether more compensation has to be paid by them in relation to mis-sold loan insurance . The High Court handed down their judgment today, which means that banks will now have to...
I was very interested to note that this week, watchdog Consumer Focus, has openly called for an overhaul of legal expenses insurance (LEI), highlighting that many people are unaware of what it covers, or have difficulty using it. LEI gives people...
The Norwich and Peterborough Building Society has this week been fined £1.4m, after the Financial Services Authority (FSA) found the society had failed to give their customers suitable advice. On top of this fine, the society has also agreed to make...
The Court of Appeal has today handed down a very interesting decision, which may open the gates for many people to contest their parents’ Wills and estates. Heather Ilott, aged 50, of Great Munden, Hertfordshire, fell out with her mother...
Many people pay for boiler insurance to cover the costs of fixing broken boilers. However, such policies do not always provide the coverage expected by the consumer. It is important to read all the small print in the policy to find...
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has stated that it intends to investigate more businesses whose terms and conditions alter the position from what consumers would otherwise understand it to be. So, if the small print of the terms and conditions...
Last week, in the High Court in Mold, North Wales, Keith Harrison had his debt of £20,270 written off by the judge, Nicholas Chambers QC. The lender, MBNA bank, was criticised by a High Court judge for, as he put it, "torturing" a...
In the current economic climate it is only the lucky few who can feel truly secure in their employment. With the economic recovery by no means assured, and a wave of redundancies beginning across the public sector, more and more people are going to find...
The BBC2 series ‘Can’t take it with you’ has raised significant awareness of the need to plan properly for the future by making a Will. The series as a whole deals with the dilemmas people face when writing a Will and helps...
The BBC series ‘Can’t take it with you’ concluded on Friday with its 6th episode, showing on BBC2. The series as a whole has dealt with some of the emotional dilemmas people face when writing a Will and helps them with the...
The ex-girlfriend of a Royal Marine has successfully challenged her late boyfriend’s family in a bitter Will dispute . This week, a judge found in favour of the ex-girlfriend over the £290,000 Will, after his family had launched...
Judgment was delivered last week in the High Court in an inheritance dispute between a father and son over ownership of the family castle. Philip Howard took his father, sixth baronet Sir John Howard-Lawson, to court to challenge his ownership of...
As of the 1st February 2011, any lenders providing unsecured loans, which are regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974, are going to have to comply with strict new guidelines imposed by the Consumer Credit (EU Directive) Regulations 2010. This new...
A story in the news today caught my eye. Housing minister Grant Shapps has pledged to make it easier for well-known nuisance neighbours to be kicked out of their property. ‘Neighbours from hell’ make many people’s lives a...
Earlier this month, at the bitter end of a protracted four-year legal battle, a senior civil judge in the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s previous ruling that Dr Christine Gill is entitled to inherit her parent’s...
The number of people challenging contesting Wills left by their relatives or partners has risen by 38% over the past year, according to data from the High Court. This data shows that the number of court cases launched by people, including children,...
Figures released by Shelter recently made me sit up and take notice. They say the number of people who are struggling with their mortgage has surged by 78% in the last year. That's the equivalent of nearly three million home owners who...
Great news from the OFT this week. They have cracked down on charging orders. This is where a lender attaches a debt to someone's house. They can then try to sell the property. Lenders had been doing this for debts of £600 or less...
The Land Registry reported that House prices continued to slide in October in England and Wales. Prices fell by 0.8% compared with the previous month; this is the second month in a row that prices have fallen and also means that prices are now 3.4%...
In today’s society, there are an increasing number of couples choosing not to marry, and instead live as “cohabitees”. A recent report by the National Centre for Social Research, conducted at the request of the Law Commission, has...
It is important that when assisting consumers who are in substantial debt that they are not put in a worse financial situation than they were. The current economic climate has clearly led to an increased number of people facing serious debt issues. As a...
It seems that many unmarried people believe that following the breakdown of their relationship they must vacate the family home. This is incorrect especially in cases where children are involved. Where the property is owned jointly by a couple...
I have read with interest today that the FSA recently fined Redstone Mortgages Limited £630,000 for its poor treatment of its customers with mortgage arrears who were facing repossession. I have dealt with this company a few times and they and other...
It comes as no surprise that a recent poll identified seven out of ten consumers want a cap imposed on interest payable credit and store cards. The group ‘Consumer Focus’ has recently suggested that 1.2 million people are now taking out...
Following on from my blog on the 31st July, the High Court has now made a decision in the case regarding the hairdresser who stood to inherit nearly £390,000 from two of her customers, by applying the very rare doctrine of Mutual Wills. ...
For a while now many consumers have been complaining about mis-sold or compulsory payment protection policies contained within their loan agreements. We at Stephensons are certainly receiving a lot of enquires about this area. It is therefore not...
There was judgment in the case of Ashby v Kilduff [2010] EWHC 2034 (Ch) in the High Court yesterday. David Ashby is a well known former Conservative MP and it seems even he did not know his rights during his relationship with Dr Kilduff. ...
It seems that a day doesn’t go by without mortgage lenders being in the news. The latest statistics show that mortgage lenders are continuing to ration the size of their loans to homebuyers and people remortgaging. The number of deals on offer...
This ongoing Court case has caught my eye this week, currently in the High Court in London. The family of two sisters have launched a bitter legal battle over a £390,000 Will which left almost their entire inheritance to their hairdresser, Jill...
Further to yesterday’s blog, it seems a day doesn't pass without some form of survey on house prices. The Nationwide Building Society has said that its latest monthly survey shows that the amount by which house prices are increasing fell by...
I always seem to have at least one case where a couple’s relationship broke down years ago and one of the parties moved out. Following this, the person remaining in the property normally has been paying the full mortgage repayments and the...
The Land Registry has announced that house prices have now risen to similar prices to those seen in the summer of 2006. The Land Registry has also confirmed that the number of homes sold and the price of those homes has also risen within 2010. I...
In what I think is going to be a very welcome move forward, Lloyds TSB have today announced that they are going to stop selling Payment Protection Insurance (“ PPI ”) policies with their loans. PPI is supposed to help people...
I have just noticed this case which was decided in the High Court a couple of weeks ago. It caught my eye as being very similar to cases that I have had in the past where people have been trying to challenge a Will on the basis of another family...
I noticed this interesting Inheritance Dispute case which was heard last week in the High Court. Angela Salmon failed in her claim that her sister Jacqueline had forged their Mother’s Will, which had left Angela just £1 from her mother's...
While the recession is ‘technically’ over, new research by poverty charity Elizabeth Finn Care suggests that almost three quarters of the UK are still being kept awake at night by concerns about their finances. The charity’s...
I’ve recently settled a case following the breakdown of a couple’s relationship. The property was registered in the sole name of one of the parties, my client. He thought the relationship would last forever and didn’t think about...
Despite the recent unfair overdraft charges case not going the debtors’ way, it is good to see that consumers are still not prepared to simply accept unfair charges on their loans. I have read with interest this morning that Mr Parry, a...
I was surprised to find out today that Welcome Finance, have recently had a victory against another creditor in the name of Log Book Loans. It is highly unusual for creditors to be pursuing each other and as a result this judgment makes very interesting...
There was judgment in the case of LEONARD KERNOTT v PATRICIA JONES [2010] EWCA Civ 578 in the Court of Appeal yesterday. The Judgment highlights that you should take steps to deal with any property issues as soon as possible after your...
The New Coalition Government has now announced that Home Information Packs (HIPs) are to be banned and they have been suspended from 21st May 2010. Therefore, no properties being marketed for sale after this date have to pay for a HIP. It is...
The new coalition government have now revealed details of their new policies to the public. Most of you will remember the very high profile battle in the High Court at the end of last year, by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), who lost their claim to...
The record number of complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service about mis-sold Payment Protection Policies is not surprising in the current climate. Many people have become unemployed as result of the economic downturn and are looking to rely on the...
In the event of a relationship breakdown it is likely that one of the parties will vacate the family home. Sometimes the family home will be registered in the sole name of one of the parties. This normally happens when the property was...
The recession has seen the majority of this country’s banks and financial institutions struggling, and a lot of them have taken to calling in old debts, which some borrowers thought were long forgotten. If a property is repossessed and sold for...
In the event of a relationship breakdown it is extremely likely that one of the parties will vacate the family home. The majority of the time the family home is jointly owned between the parties. Common sense dictates that the parties...
The recession hit hard in 2009 and whilst we are told that we are now officially out of the darkest days the Insolvency Service reports more doom and gloom on the horizon. Insolvency Service figures show a 26% rise in insolvency...
So the new Supreme Court flexes its muscles, and the banks win on charges. Interesting; some consumers are laughing - it is estimated that hundreds of millions of bank charges were refunded before the test case. Others, who got in...
So the negotiations with the EU are done, and Lloyds has to sell 600 branches. So do you fancy running a bank? Several brands are looking at the market - how about "Virgin Finance" on your doorstep. Would they bring music and...
It’s a hard question. The Council of Mortgage Lenders has just revised their forecast from 75,000 down to 48,000. Whilst this is better, its not exactly good news is it? They also add the caveat that this number depends on interest...
Apparently better than expected unemployment figures came out yesterday - analysts are now revising forecasts that unemployment will hit three million in 2010. Thankfully it looks like the speed at which people are losing their jobs is...
Two articles in the Independent struck me over the weekend. Firstly the frightening figures from the Insolvency Service - there were 35,242 personal insolvencies in the 3 months to September. Up 28% on last year. Just...
Recently, the European Commission in Brussels accepted a new proposal to simplify dealing with a person’s assets in a country that is not their main residence. At the moment, if you own a holiday home in Malaga, but live in England,...
A recent case involving Stadium Capital Holdings (No.2) Ltd v St. Marylebone Property Company Plc (2009) illustrates the difficulties faced by those claiming ‘squatters’ rights’, also known as adverse possession. The case...
With marriage levels at an all time low and the Office for National statistics stating that the number of Civil Partnerships decreased by 18% between 2007 and 2008, it appears that growing numbers of people are choosing to simply co-habit rather than...
