Tag Archives: edinburgh law firms
Landlord legal advice – maintaining common areas
A recent decision by the Court of Session serves as a timely reminder for landlords regarding their duty to inspect and maintain common parts. Common parts are generally understood as shared areas common to all tenants such as staircases and paths, but which remain under the landlord’s control and their responsibility. In the case of
Can procurement process be used to deliver the Living Wage?
Public bodies are increasingly under pressure to get the most out of their procurement processes, including addressing social and economic challenges. The Scottish Living Wage Campaign aims to ensure that all employers in the public, private and voluntary sectors pay their workers no less than the Scottish Living Wage. The living wage is higher than
Acquiring Rights to Land by Way of Prescription
What is Prescription? This is the process of acquiring rights and in particular obtaining a good title to land as a result of the passage of time. The reasoning behind this is that a person who has enjoyed “quiet and uninterrupted” possession of land for a long period of time with a registered title should
LIBOR Rate-Fixing Scandal – how does this affect you?
If you open a newspaper or turn on your television, you are once again bombarded with headlines on yet another banking related scandal – this time LIBOR rate-fixing. With the resignation of Barclays’ chief executive and more revelations in relation to rate-fixing practices by the major banks, you may be wondering what it’s all about,
Property Factors Act 2011 & the Homeowners Housing Panel
The Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 will come into force on 1 October this year. It will introduce new rules and regulations for property factors in Scotland. Property factors will require to be registered and to comply with a Code of Conduct. It will also introduce a new dispute resolution procedure for complaints arising from
How will housing benefit changes affect Scottish landlords?
In October 2013, the UK government plans to introduce radical changes to the benefits system, including housing benefit, which will affect Scottish Landlords. The Government intends to introduce a single “universal” credit which will be paid to claimants of working age. The idea is to simplify the system for claimants, and make it easier for
Building Contracts – the importance of signing a contract
We are regularly consulted when there is a dispute regarding building contracts. In order to advise the client, we ask to see the signed contract, only to find that the contract was never actually executed (signed) by both parties. Sometimes there is a letter confirming acceptance of a tender, but the actual contract terms have
RSLs and Lenders’ Requirements – Obtaining Consent ….
Are lenders becoming more difficult with RSL’s about seemingly routine property matters? In recent times, it has seemed to me that the answer is “yes”. I often advise clients on the following matters:- – the grant of leases of office premises ; – the preparation of Deeds of Conditions for new affordable housing developments; – the
Is it possible to have an agreement to agree?
Is it really possible to have an agreement to agree? From the bus in the morning, to that mid-afternoon pick-me-up coffee, we constantly enter into informal “contracts” or “agreements” with others. These transactions benefit from certainty. Pay £1.40 and you will receive a bus ticket. Simple. But contracts can be much more complex than this.
Letting Agents: Ensure Deposits & Reference Fees are Lawful
Letting agents charge a number of different types of fees to tenants, under a variety of names such as: “holding deposits”, “referencing fees”, “administration fees”, to name but a few. The current legal position under the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 is that it is an offence to charge or receive any premium (over and above
