Buying your first home is an exciting prospect. In the past few years less people have been able to realise their dream of getting on the property ladder due to lack of sufficient mortgage availability, job uncertainty and the rise in property prices in many areas, particularly in Edinburgh and Glasgow. However the market is now picking up again - what advice for first time buyers should you be looking for?
If you are thinking of purchasing a property one of the first things you
It's inevitable that we will attempt some form of DIY in our lives. In many circumstances there will be that temptation to 'give it a go' whilst thoughts of "what's the worst that can happen?" run through our head but this can often end in disaster. A wobbly shelf or badly painted wall is one thing; but not leaving your hard earned money and possessions to who you want to is another. While on the topic of DIY, we are often asked - can I
It is estimated that one in four property transactions will involve a contribution (loans and gifts) from the Bank of Mum and Dad. There are various ways in which that help can be given, for example:
If you are considering making a gift you should first seek advice on the tax implications of doing so.
The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 requires all public bodies (including RSLs) to publish a procurement strategy, where their expenditure on regulated procurements for the next financial year will be at least 5m. All eligible public bodies were required to publish their first strategy by 31 December 2016. Public bodies must also notify the Scottish Government of the publication of their strategies.
The Act provides for the matters which must be covered by a procurement strategy, which include:
Under the Data Protection Act, employees can ask to see any personal data about them that their employers hold. These are?called a Subject Access Requests (SAR), and can create potential legal problems for employers. What are the risks around SARs? And how employers should handle them?
The Risks
A SAR will likely be time-consuming and costly to an employer. They may need to look through a lot of data in order to find all of the information required.
SAR?s can also be risky for employers
2016 has been a mixed year for property purchasers and sellers in Edinburgh and the Lothians. What are the current Edinburgh property market conditions? Some sellers have done very well in terms of attracting interest in their properties and achieving prices over their asking prices and home report values; but not everyone has benefited from what, generally speaking, was a positive year on the property market. The main problem for buyers and sellers is a lack of real choice on the market. Most people have
On 22 April 2016, further legislation augmenting and transforming rights and responsibilities governing land ownership in Scotland entered into force. Furthering the Scottish Government's aim of bringing an intended million acres of land into community ownership, the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 makes further provisions designed to engage communities in decision making and facilitate community ownership. How can Scottish Land Fund help community ownership?
The Scottish Government have announced that the Scottish Land Fund will continue until 2020 and have trebled support to £10 million
Landlords should be aware that the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 introduced the requirement in Scotland for landlords to have an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) carried out on all electrical installations, fixtures and fittings within their rental properties. The requirement has been in place since 1st December 2015 for any new tenancies entered into but from 1st December 2016, all tenancies must have a valid EICR, a copy of which must be provided to the tenant.
The EICR lasts for 5 years and
In Scotland, prescription is the law that regulates the period in which parties can pursue claims. If I was raising a court action - how long have I got?
Most claims in law prescribe after five years, which means that a party wishing to make a claim after that five year period may be prohibited from successfully raising that claim.
There are certain other categories of claim to which specific periods apply, such as product liability, defamation and harassment.
The purpose of allowing this period
Following the recent signing of the CETA free trade deal between the EU and Canada, many are asking what the UK has in store in relation to trade and, specifically, public procurement rules, upon withdrawal from the EU.
The public procurement rules which apply in Scotland come from the EU Procurement Directive therefore, once the UK has left the EU, does this mean the end for public procurement law in this country?
The possible scenarios for the UK?s exit from the EU include:
There were three significant changes to Judicial Review procedures brought in to effect by the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014. The 2014 Act made provision for wide-ranging reforms to the Scottish civil courts system in Scotland, as well as important reforms to the court procedure associated with judicial review in relation to time bar, permission to raise Judicial Review proceedings and the requirement to "front load" applications for Judicial Review.
Time bar
It is now a requirement that applications for judicial review are made
What do you need to know about the Uber Employment Tribunal Case and how will this affect employment rights?
In a landmark decision, an Employment Tribunal has held that Uber, popular smart-phone taxi app, must treat its drivers as 'workers' opposed to self-employed. This gives Uber drivers a range of employment rights whilst placing obligations on Uber to uphold these. However, this case is likely to have wide reaching implications. This blog will look at the key facts of the Uber case and tell
In 2015, 77% of university students worked to help fund their studies. With the new university year beginning, what do employers, and students, need to know about hiring students?
Most university students are over the age of 18, but some students may be younger. Workers under the age of 18 have additional employment rights. For example 16 & 17 year olds are entitled to a 30 minute rest break if they work more than 4.5 hours. It is
If you are considering making alterations to your property it is important to make sure that you have all necessary permissions before getting started.
Depending on what you are planning to do, you may need Planning Permission, a Building Warrant and/or Listed Building Consent from your local authority. Your architect can assist with this and with the completion of any necessary application forms.
Some alterations can be carried out as "permitted development" and therefore do not need permission but it is always best to check
In August 2016 a TUC survey of 1,500 women found that more than half of women of the women surveyed have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. Sexual harassment is a key issue in the workplace today that has a severe impact on employers and employees. With this in mind we look at what you need to know about sexual harassment at work.
What is Sexual Harassment?
Sexual Harassment is a broad term that covers a variety of situations. Both men and women can be
A power of Attorney is something often associated with the elderly and young people may ask - why would I need a power of attorney? However this important legal document is something everyone should consider putting in place. Accidents or illness can, unfortunately, occur at any age and granting Power of Attorney can ensure that someone you trust is able to manage your affairs and make important decisions about your health and well being if something was to happen to you in the future. In
You may be aware of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) updates that involved a request for all charities to report Notifiable Events. Whilst there is no legal requirement to report an event, OSCR are keen to encourage charities to report to them when there has been a significant event which may or may not have a negative impact on an individual charity or the wider charity sector.
Types of notifiable events can be as follows:-
You may be aware of developments requiring all UK private companies, including companies limited by guarantee and UK LLPs, to keep a Person of Significant Control (PSC) Register.
This has been introduced by the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 to increase corporate transparency by creating a full picture of the ownership of businesses.
Registered Social Landlord (RSL) - Co-operative and Community Benefit Society
Most RSLs are societies registered under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 (formerly the Industrial and Provident Societies
Earlier this month a Scottish letting agent pled guilty to an offence under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. What was perhaps surprising was that the 'offence' committed by the letting agents was the failure to lodge deposits with an approved tenancy deposit scheme on behalf one of their landlord clients.
In terms of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2011, a landlord has a duty to pay any deposit received from a tenant into an approved tenancy deposit scheme within 30 working
Notwithstanding the recent Brexit vote, the European Convention on Human Rights (EHCR) remains part of our law at least for now. It's impact on the social rented sector has been clear since the decision of the Supreme Court in Manchester City Council v Pinnock [2010] CSIH 78 (particularly Article 8: the right to respect to respect for private and family life). In short, in social rented eviction cases, the courts are required to balance the rights of the parties facing eviction and consider whether granting
In a year that has seen headlines dominated by strikes of junior doctors and Scotrail staff, the introduction of the Trade Union Act 2016, is likely to be of great interest to both employers and employees. The Trade Union Act 2016 (TUA), which is expected to come into force throughout the year, incorporates a number of changes for the Trade Union regime throughout the U.K.
The Key Changes
Balloting
Before industrial action can take place, a Trade Union must ballot its members. Members will cast
Trying to decide which career path to go down towards the end of my time at school was a difficult and somewhat daunting process, as is the case for a lot of school leavers. The decision lies between further education, such as college and university, or to go straight into the big bad world and get a job. I know first-hand how hard a choice this can be. I found the idea of further education very appealing however I wanted to be earning money. I
On Friday the 24th June 2016 the country woke up to the news that the majority of voters in the United Kingdom had voted to leave the European Union. Whilst the implications of this referendum will be far reaching, the question on a number of people's lips is how will Brexit affect employment law?
The UK will continue to remain a member of the EU until there is agreement on when we will leave. However, there are a number of employment issues that are
Solicitors, healthcare and social work professionals, and others need to be aware of the major changes in practice required to ensure compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. They must apply these changes now, within the framework of existing legislation, pending upgrading of the UK's adult incapacity and mental capacity legislation. The UK ratified the Convention without reservation in 2009. The UK also ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention, allowing citizens who claim to be victims of breach of
It has been over two years since the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 was passed by the Scottish parliament.
This Act proposes to introduce significant changes in many areas of housing management and practice for registered social landlords.
It would now appear that the implementation of the various proposals will commence this year.
Draft versions of guidance on the following topics will be available towards the end of June (edit September 2016: guidance not yet issued but should follow at some point this year).
In February of this year I began my Modern Apprenticeship with TC Young in Edinburgh. I am an Admin Assistant within the Property Department and the tasks I carry out as a modern apprentice can differ day to day. Some of the duties are:
People with intellectual disabilities are promised the same rights to control their own lives as everyone else by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. They are also promised the support needed to make this a reality. Supported decision-making is one way of doing that. Co-decision-making is another. But how can these be arranged in practice?
Your abilities to assert and achieve what you want may already be limited, or may become less in future. How can you ensure that you
The Department for Business Innovation and Skill (BIS), together with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), commissioned research exploring pregnancy and maternity related discrimination in the workplace. The research involved interviews with over 3,000 mothers and over 3,000 employers in Britain.
While you may not all have the time or inclination to read the full report, the information that stemmed from the research is worrying, considering rights in relation to maternity and pregnancy discrimination have been around for so long.
Some of the key
An area of employment law which is gaining more ground is the issue of managing employees working from home. In fact I have been asked by a number of clients about this issue given more employees are making flexible working requests to work from home. It is important that employers are aware of how to manage employees working from home and using their own devices.
Homeworking is a type of flexible working which, depending on the agreement between employer and employee, can be also used
Within the last few weeks, Scottish Ministers have advised stakeholders of their proposals for the training requirements for letting agents to go with the Code of Practice.
The training requirements will apply to the most senior person in a letting agency business (unless they have no input into the letting agency's day-to-day running) and all persons directly concerned with managing and supervising of a business letting agency work.
There must also be at least one person per office (where relevant letting agency work is carried
Most of the headlines for the Private Rented Sector (PRS) in Scotland have been grabbed by the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Bill, which was passed after the stage 3 debate this month and set to become an Act. However, before we get an entirely new tenancy regime for the PRS, the sector will have to grapple with mandatory letting agent registration and code of conduct.
Part 4 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 makes provision for the registration, regulation and training requirements for letting agents
The Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 17th March 2016. The stated aim of the legislation is to create simpler tenancies, offer stability and security for private tenants and ensure predictability over rent increases. It also fundamentally changes the nature of the relationship between landlords and tenants from contractual to statutory. We will get a new tenancy type called a 'Private Rented Tenancy' which will replace the current Assured and Short Assured regime. The Scottish Government has yet
We are often asked the question - how do I get divorced in Scotland? In order to obtain a divorce you must raise an action in a Court which has jurisdiction. Jurisdiction normally means that you raise the action in the Court nearest to you. Before contemplating where to raise an action you must determine whether you can raise a divorce action or not. In order to raise a divorce action, you must have the legal ground to do so. In Scotland there is one
Part 4 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 makes provision for the registration, regulation and training requirements for letting agents in Scotland. The provisions include a mandatory register of letting agents with an associated 'fit and proper' person test, training requirements, a code of practice to which all letting agents must adhere and enforcement through the new First- Tier tribunal.
In February 2016, The Letting Agent Code of Practice (Scotland) Regulations 2016 were laid before the Scottish Parliament and are set to come into force
We are often asked by landlords about joint tenancies under an assured or short assured tenancy (if you have joint tenants under a Private Residential Tenancy, read this blog). Particularly where one joint tenant wishes to leave a rented property and gives proper written notice, but the other joint tenant wishes to stay. What happens when a joint tenant leaves a property?
Technically, a vacating tenant who gives proper written notice in advance of a contractual end date or Ish, cannot create a situation where
The Scottish Government are anxious to ensure that all Scottish property is mapped on the Land Register as soon as possible. Mapping requirements are at the heart of the 2012 legislation. A cadastral map: a single unified map of all registered property in Scotland based on the ordinance survey map is being prepared. However, accurate plotting is not always straight forward. Old Title Deeds often have inadequate plans and for some the written description makes it difficult to plot the subjects described against physical
As you will have no doubt seen in newspaper headlines and Government advertising billboards, there is a 'new' rate of pay coming in - the National Living Wage. In this blog, we look at what this change is and what it will mean for businesses.
There are currently four different hourly rates of National Minimum Wage (NMW) for different categories of worker:
A New Year is a time for new ideas, and we are now looking for yours. As Scotland's only not-for-profit tenancy deposit scheme, we are in a unique position to give something back to the private rented sector and so we are delighted to announce the launch of the SafeDeposits Scotland Trust.
The Trust is a new grant-giving charity aimed at promoting education, training and best practice in Scotland's private rented sector, by funding projects which provide tangible benefits to landlords, letting agents and tenants
On 28 January the Scottish Government published the Land & Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill. This follows the announcement by Scotland's Finance Secretary in the Scottish budget in December 2015 that Scotland would follow the steps announced by the UK chancellor in charging additional Land & Building Transaction Tax (LBTT) (Scotland's equivalent of stamp duty) on second homes and buy to let properties.
Land & Building Transaction Tax rates
It is intended that the additional land & building transaction tax rates will apply
The Stage 1 report into the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Bill (the Bill) from the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee has been published along with their recommendations. Evidence has been taken from various stakeholders in the Private Rented Sector (PRS) and the report and its recommendations were debated in the Scottish Parliament earlier this month. How will this affect student letting in Scotland?
The report can be downloaded here.
The Report makes some significant recommendations regarding Student Tenancies. The policy objective behind the Bill
Employers routinely have to be live to changes to employment laws and practices to ensure that they operate within the scope of employment legislation. However, alongside these types of changes, employers should be aware of cultural changes which might have an impact on their place of work. One such cultural change which is becoming an issue for some is the rise in the use of legal highs. Following the release of Acas guidance on this subject, we look at this issue in more detail and
There have been a flurry of new developments in public procurement law in Scotland and we have provided a brief summary of these below. Please watch this space for further detail and more commentary on the changes!
1. Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015
The 2015 regulations were published on 22 December and are due to come into force on 18 April 2016. They will replace the existing 2012 regulations and are intended to transpose the new EU directive on public procurement into Scots law. These
With the introduction of bespoke software providers advertising the ability to execute residential leases electronically (digital signatures), we are regularly being asked - can such services be used in Scotland?
The Requirements of Writing (Scotland) Act 1995 (RWA) does recognise electronic signatures as 'writing', and has done so since the commencement of the relevant parts of the Land Registration (Scotland) Act 2012.
I would point out that, in terms of the RWA, there is no requirement for leases of less than 12mths to be
As we approach the end of 2015, it is a good time for employers to think about what HR issues they want to address before the end of the year and get prepared for the individual challenges that the oncoming festive period offers up. Here are our top things for an end of year checklist:
The Scottish Housing Minister maintained that proposed changes to private rented tenancies would not impact landlords tackling anti-social behaviour. Highlighting that anti-social behaviour was "unacceptable"; the Housing Minister stated that landlords would continue to be entitled to pursue eviction of tenants based on anti-social behaviour under the new Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Bill 2015 (the Bill).
Whilst still in the preliminary stages, the Bill is set to introduce a number of changes which will affect the management of tenancies; such as introducing a new tribunal
The Scottish Government has issued the first of its statutory guidance under the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (the Act), which addresses fair work practices in procurement. The guidance applies to all regulated procurements which commence on or after 1 November this year. A few provisions of the Act which are relevant to the guidance came into force on 28 September, including Section 2 which defines a 'regulated procurement' as any procedure carried out by a public body in relation to the award of a
The overlap of the laws of succession in different countries (e.g. in the country which you live and the country in which you own property) has caused a great deal of confusion and resulted in property owners putting two Wills in place - one in the country which they live in and the other in the country where they own property. Succession to property in Europe is now set to change
EU Regulation No 650/2012 (commonly known as "Brussels IV") was passed in 2012, but
Following on from our previous blog, the second instalment in our disciplinary series looks at the disciplinary hearing.
If, after a reasonable investigation, the employer takes the decision to proceed to a disciplinary hearing, the employee should be notified in writing of this. The notification should contain information about the time and venue of the formal meeting and advise the employee of their right to be accompanied. The letter is likely to state who will conduct the disciplinary hearing, and it should not be carried
The Summer Finance Bill sets out the changes to Inheritance Tax which were announced by the Chancellor in his Summer Budget. The Bill introduces an additional Main Residence Nil Rate Band (the Band) which will be introduced in stages from April 2017 until the full Band of £175,000 comes into force in April 2020. The Band will be in addition to the existing Nil Rate Band of £325,000.
When is the Band available?
The Band will apply when a qualifying residence (the qualifying residential interest)
It is likely that most managers will have to deal with a disciplinary matter at some point in their career. It is important that a fair procedure is followed otherwise they risk any subsequent dismissal being classed as unfair. In our two part blog series we look at the factors to be considered by employers when dealing with a disciplinary matter. Here we look at how a disciplinary investigation should be conducted.
The first thing employers must do is familiarise themselves with the Acas