Legal Blog

IS THERE A JUSTIFICATION FOR SHORT SENTENCES? For some considerable time there has been general agreement that, in the main, short sentences (6 months or less) have no real value.  Defendants are brought into custody, with an automatic release date...

The SRA Annual Report Indicates Increase in Conveyancing Fraud For the third year in a row, money paid out by the SRA on property related issues through the compensation fund has increased. Newly released data for the SRA’S 2017/18 annual review...

Application Requisitions Rise in Opening Quarter Of 2019 The HM Land Registry (HMLR) is returning more and more applications to conveyancers. The number of applications being returned has increased by 14.75%, most of the applications resulted in a...

What can you do to avoid getting involved in a building dispute? Here are some tips:- Choose a professionally qualified or accredited builder Obtain 3 Quotations (don’t just select the cheapest Quotation) Ask your friends or acquaintances for...

SPEED LIMITS AND BUILT UP AREAS It is not unusual for us to be contacted by people who have inadvertently fallen foul of the law whilst driving, and one of the most common misunderstandings relates to speed limits. The basic rule is that a dual...

We are all at risk of imprisonment As a young man at university I learned that in order to commit a crime a person had to have committed a guilty act (“actus reus”) and have a guilty mind (“mens rea”).  In other words, not...

Japanese Knotweed on the rise in London The warm and wet start to 2019 has enabled Japanese knotweed to thrive. 2019 has seen reports of up to 1 metre of growth already. Infestations have also been reported in some parts of outer London and the South...

Property owners now able to build larger extensions without planning permission. Temporary rules, which allowed bigger single-storey rear extensions without a full planning application, are being made permanent. Additions to terraced and semi-detached...

LANDLORDS BEWARE – CHARGING TENANTS Did you know that in June 2019 a new Bill is likely to pass through Parliament banning Landlords from charging their Tenants, for example, for supplying references, signing Contracts or viewing a property. A...

UK Property Register for foreign owned property Proposals for the first register of foreign owned property should be put into practice urgently according to MPs. More than £90 billion is estimated to be laundered illegally through the UK each year...