Archive for November 2017

Many people are tempted to make a homemade will to save money but it can often lead to confusion and extra cost for grieving families, as in a recent case before the High Court. It involved a man who left three houses, one in London, one in Cardiff and one it Montenegro, to the Serbian…

The decision by Chancellor Philip Hammond to abolish stamp duty for most first-time home buyers in England and Wales has met with a mixed reaction from property experts and analysts. In the Budget, Mr Hammond announced that the first £300,000 of the price of a property will be exempt from tax for people entering the…

One of Britain’s leading judges has called for living wills to be made compulsory to prevent disputes about the kind of medical treatment offered to patients who are unconscious or unable to make their feelings known. A living will, also known as an advance decision, enables you to write down how you wish to be…

The government says it wants to streamline the process of buying and selling a home so that it’s easier, cheaper and less stressful for all concerned. It’s begun a public consultation seeking ideas on how to make the system work more smoothly. A survey of 2,000 people who have bought or sold a home recently…

The government has announced a £2.3 billion fund which will help unlock 100,000 new homes in areas of high demand. Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said hundreds of housing developments were being held up because of a lack of local infrastructure. The Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) will solve that problem by enabling the construction of roads,…