Solent Legal Services

03/03/2021

Rishi Sunak has just announced that the stamp duty holiday will be extended until June 31st 2021. Furthermore to ease the transition the nil rate band will be set at £250,000 which is double the normal rate until the end of September. The standard rate of £125,000 won’t return until October 1st 2021.

“A tapered extension of the stamp duty holiday until 30 September, helping more people to purchase their homes before the deadline and supporting jobs. ”

26/02/2021

The Times has received word that Rishi Sunak is working on a plan to extend the stamp duty holiday until the end of June. This could mean the current stamp duty holiday meant to end on March 31st be extended by a further 3 months to now end on the 30th June 2020. The new budget plans for the UK economy will be announced on the 3rd March at around 12:30pm.

The stamp duty threshold has been temporarily increased to £500,000 for property sales in England and Northern Ireland.

16/02/2021

Ban on bailiff evictions extended

The government has confirmed that ban on bailiff evictions will continue until 31 March 2021 in order to protect renters during the coronavirus pandemic. The exceptions to this remain for the most serious cases – antisocial behaviour, illegal occupation, death of a tenant where the property is unoccupied, fraud, perpetrators of domestic abuse in social housing and arrears of six months’ rent or more.

Renters will continue to be supported during the ongoing national lockdown restrictions, with an extension to the ban on bailiff evictions.

27/01/2021

How has the Covid pandemic affected rent prices in the UK?

Research conducted by Keller Williams indicates that average rent prices have dropped throughout most of England due to Covid 19. 15 major cities were researched with the worst affected city being Bournemouth seeing a decline of 4.4%, London by 3.4%, east of England 2.4% and the South East a 1.6% drop. The research states that the North East has seen an increase in rent prices of 3% in 2020 with Newcastle seeing a dramatic increase in rent prices of 16.6%. Read the full article and the chief executive of the estate agency responsible for the research, Keller Williams, comments here:

Research by lettings agency Keller Williams suggests that the Coronavirus crisis has led to a small dip in rents across the UK - but a larger fall in London.

08/01/2021

Legal help when it's needed most.

16/12/2020

The welsh government has just announced the suspension of evictions until January 11th 2021 as it follows in the footsteps of England where evictions have already been suspended due to the covid pandemic. Welsh Housing and local Government minister Julie James has stated “One of the best ways of tackling homelessness is to prevent it happening to begin with and this is just one of the steps we are taking as many people face uncertainty.” Low cost loans have been made available to renters in Wales facing difficulties paying what they owe where the loan would be paid directly to the Landlord to prevent eviction. The loan carries a 1% interest rate, can be repaid over 5 years and the amount received is based on the total amount of rent arrears owed and what the renter can afford to borrow.

Emergency legislation will form part of efforts to protect public health and support renters this Christmas, Minister for Housing and Local Government, Julie James has confirmed.

16/12/2020

The Citizens advice bureau has called for the government to prioritise tenants that have fallen into rent arrears in England as they are the most credible victims of the pandemic. The bureau specifically calls for a system of government backed loans and grants which have been made available in Scotland and Wales. Citizens Advice’s research claims that 62% of the population believe that those who have got into debt due to coronavirus should receive help from the government to pay it back.

Some one in seven (14%) of people have fallen behind on essential bills - the equivalent of seven million people in the UK, according to new research from Citizens Advice.

15/12/2020

Check out our new website, launched today! www.solentlegalservices.co.uk

10/12/2020

Continued government support for businesses – the ban on business evictions extended until end of March 2021. The current commercial landlord and tenant legislation is going to be reviewed, to consider how to improve collaboration between commercial landlords and tenants and how to improve the business leasing process to help the high street and town centres thrive as the country recovers from the pandemic and beyond.

Business owners affected by the pandemic will be protected from eviction until the end of March 2021.

10/12/2020

The government has updated its “How to Rent guide” today – this is a document landlords or agents must issue to tenants failing which any section 21 notice proceedings will be invalid. The most recent previous version was dated 7 August 2019 so this one is now out of date.

This guide is for people who are looking for a house or flat to rent.

02/12/2020

Lastminute .com to refund over £7m following cancellations amid coronavirus (COVID-19)

According to a government press release yesterday, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced that lastminute .com has committed to provide over £7million in refunds to around 9,000 customers following cancellations due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Lastminute .com has undertaken to pay at least half of these refunds by 16 December 2020 and the remaining by 31 January 2021. Lastminute .com will also be required to provide a refund for a holiday cancelled on or after 3 December 2020 within 14 days. CMA Chief Executive, Andrea Coscelli, stated that: ‘The CMA is continuing to investigate package holiday firms following concerns that people are not getting the refunds they’re entitled to when bookings can’t go ahead because of the pandemic. If we find that businesses are breaching consumer protection law, we will not hesitate to take further action.’

Following CMA action, lastminute.com has committed to pay out over £7m to customers waiting for money back after lastminute.com cancelled their holidays.