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Beyond Pokémon: property test posed by virtual reality games

Experts across the world are focusing on property laws and how they will stand up to the shift to augmented reality gaming, following on from the global success of Pokémon Go. Businesses who found themselves inadvertently hosting the augmented-reality creatures were divided in their response to the Pokémon craze. Some welcomed the traffic, but for others the game posed the risk of potential trespass, or unwanted disturbance at the very least. More virtual reality games are expected to follow, which will see digital life further collide with reality, already raising…

Safeguarding design is a priority for small business

Cheaper registration fees are an opportunity for small businesses and designers to secure greater protection for their intellectual property in future, as well as being a route to protection in the UK post-Brexit. A registered design is one of the options available from the Intellectual Property Office, alongside trade marking, patenting and copyright. It protects the visual appearance of a product including the shape, texture, materials, colour and pattern and gives the right to prevent others from using the design for up to 25 years through a renewal process every five years. …

Getting rocky relationships through the New Year

The month of January can be a rocky one for families, in the post- Christmas period, which is often followed with news of unhappy couples who decide to call it quits, as family lawyers receive a surge of enquiries in the New Year.   According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the overall rates of divorce are continuing to fall. There were 111,169 divorces in 2014, a decrease of 3.1% compared with 2013 and 27% lower than 2003. Compared with data from 2004, divorce rates were…

When is Vacant Possession, vacant possession?

Two recent cases have highlighted the need to be (as ever) very careful when exercising a break clause. A break clause may only be exercised if any conditions attached to it have been satisfied. A break clause will often contain a condition that the tenant must give vacant possession. In the cases of (1) Riverside Park Limited –v- NHS Property Services Limited [2016] and (2) Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government –v- South Essex College of Further and Higher Education [2016] the two tenants had left partitions in…

What is the Residential Nil Rate Band? (RNRB)

From 6 April 2017, the Residential Nil Rate Band (RNRB) will be available for residences inherited by direct descendants (see below) in addition to the existing Nil-Rate Band (NRB) which is currently £325,000. From 2017/18 the RNRB will be phased in, at this point the sum which will be able to be claimed is £100,000, increasing by £25,000 each year until 2020/21 when it reaches £175,000. The current rate of NRB will be frozen at £325,000.00 during this period. As with the NRB, any unused RNRB can be transferred to…

Buy to let Landlords beware – letting prevented by lease user restriction

The Upper Tribunal has held that a flat owner was prevented from letting out their flat due to the terms of the lease restriction as to the use of the property. The landlord successfully appealed against a decision at first instance that the flat owner was not in breach of covenant. In the case of Roundlistic Limited v Jones and Seymour [2016] UKUT 325 (LC), a restrictive covenant confirmed the maisonette's use to occupation by the tenant and their family. This was held to mean meant that only the flat…

Jammy and dodgers focus of Hammond’s first and last – Autumn Budget Statement 2016

The first steps towards preparing the UK for a post-Brexit future were announced by Chancellor Philip Hammond in his Autumn Budget statement, with a focus on lower income households and business tax avoidance. The new Chancellor announced a reduced growth target and predicted a tougher economic period during the transition towards Brexit. The target set out by his predecessor to achieve a surplus by 2020 has been set aside, with growth predicted to fall to 1.4% in 2017 and cumulative borrowing over the next five years predicted to be £122bn…

Changes: Are you eligible for Legal Aid?

The legal aid system drastically changed since 1 April 2013. This was when the Legal Services Commission was replaced by the Legal Aid Agency, and the cuts imposed by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act 2012 took effect. LASPO implements substantial scope cuts to civil legal aid. Domestic violence: trigger evidence Under the new family legal aid rules, most private law services are only available to the victims of domestic violence. In order to be entitled to legal aid, the client has to prove that they…

Crowd-funding property investments: open to anyone with a spare £10

Successive political, cultural and financial developments over recent years have led to the emergence of a generation of people for whom property ownership is a distant dream. For some, property ownership is not appealing in itself. For others, the chance of saving a meaningful deposit is so remote that the prospect isn't even entertained. Even successful Landlords with vast and profitable property portfolios are losing interest in the sector, as taxation and regulatory disincentives dampen the mood (is the age of the amateur landlord over?). The good news is that…

Keeping children safe as the days get darker

The clocks will be going back at 2am on Sunday 30th October, bringing lighter mornings and darker evenings, and parents are being encouraged to take a safety check with children in readiness for the change. This year marks the centenary for daylight saving, a practice introduced during the First World War to save on energy costs and offer people more time outdoors. But even though it’s been around for 100 years, the change still catches many people out, particularly when it comes to the darker end to the school day.…

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