Reforms of the Private Rental Sector
The Scottish Government has launched a consultation over plans to overhaul legislation governing the private rental sector. According to Housing Minister Margaret Burgess, the proposed reforms will remove the fear of eviction and help tenants to assert their rights. The current “no-fault” repossession clause that allows landlords to reclaim their property simply because a fixed […]
Insurance Bill Becomes Law
Legislation that implements reforms recommended by the Law Commissions of England and Wales and of Scotland to modernise and simplify insurance contract law across the UK has received Royal Assent. The Insurance Act 2015 will give effect to a number of reforms recommended by the Law Commissions, including: Under a new “duty of fair presentation”, […]
New Powers for Business Groups to Tackle Late Payment
The UK Government has announced its intention to introduce tough new laws and bulk up existing codes of practice to tackle the issues of late payment and other unfair payment practices. These measures include: consulting on ways to tackle poor payment practices, such as by giving representative bodies greater powers to challenge grossly unfair payment […]
Landlords Concerned About Rent Arrears
The issue of rent arrears continues to be a major problem for landlords in the UK, according to a recent study by the National Landlords Association (NLA). The research found that as many as a third (32%) have experienced rent arrears in the last 12 months, and that the average amount of outstanding rent owed […]
New Rules for Cross-Border Judgments
New EU rules came into force on 10th January that are designed to help businesses and consumers resolve cross-border legal disputes more easily and save an expected €48 million each year across the EU. The new rules abolish the previous procedure, which could be costly and lengthy but was apparently still used around 10,000 times […]
Government Consults Over New Tenancy Proposals
The Scottish Government has launched a new consultation over plans to give tenants more security of tenure. The New Tenancy for the Private Sector consultation aims to give tenants a greater sense of security, and provides appropriate safeguards for landlords, lenders and investors. Through the proposals landlords must offer a minimum tenancy of six months, […]
New Rights for Consumers
New rights came into force on 1st October 2014 that give consumers greater powers to challenge rogue traders and get their money back. Under the changes, consumers who are bullied or misled into buying services or goods they neither need nor want will now have a period of up to 90 days to take legal […]
Arguing Neighbours Top Nuisance List
As many as a quarter (27%) of people have had a problem with nuisance neighbours in the past year, according to new research from consumer rights organisation Which?. Loud voices and arguing (41%) top the list of annoyances caused by problem neighbours, followed by loud music and noisy TVs (29%), doors slamming (27%), people stomping […]
Contractual Rights and Doorstep Traders
In a decision that has been welcomed by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the Supreme Court has recently ruled that a consumer who entered into a doorstep selling contract was entitled to cancel his contract and get his money back when a trader failed to tell him about his legal right to cancel. The […]
Failure to Check can Cause Problems for Landlords
The failure to carry out basic checks on prospective tenants is leaving many UK landlords exposed to potential risks and problems, according to insurance company AXA. AXA’s research found that almost 60% of tenants admit to breaking the terms of their rental agreement, and a third had broken the law in relation to their rental. […]
