Legal Article
21/12/21
Is a tribunal entitled to strike out a response when, due to the Respondent's non-compliance, it is no longer possible to conduct a fair trial in the trial window? Yes, held the EAT in Emuemukoro v Croma Vigilant (Scotland) Ltd. The case confirmed the importance of following case management…
Legal Article
21/12/21
For Regulated Providers of Social Housing (RPs), development will always carry it a degree of risk. This is, however, usually mitigated by careful management and effective governance. The Regulator of Social Housing (the Regulator) recently published a Sector Risk Profile 2021 (the Report) outlining the…
Legal Article
14/12/21
Britain's pubs, shops, cafes, restaurants, small businesses are the beating heart of our economy, and it remains as a priority to protect and support businesses during these unprecedented times. In most cases, businesses have not been able to open and function as usual due to COVID-19 and therefore…
Forbes News
30/11/21
Since 2018, Forbes Solicitors have been focusing upon the role of Registered Housing Providers when tackling organised crime in our neighbourhoods. We have worked closely with a number of Police Forces throughout the UK to raise awareness, gain an understanding of threat levels and operational…
Forbes News
24/11/21
Developers are still hoping that planning reforms on the horizon in England could still be good news. Early announcements suggested reforms would aim to streamline the current planning application process and introduce a zone system that would automatically grant development rights to some areas.…
Forbes News
16/11/21
Forbes Solicitors are delighted to announce that Lachlan McLean, Partner in the Housing & Regeneration (Litigation) team, has been appointed as a Fee-Paid Judge of the First-tier Tribunal, assigned to the Property Chamber. The First-tier Tribunal is a specialist division within HM Courts and…
Legal Article
11/11/21
On 10 November 2021, the Supreme Court delivered its long-awaited judgment in the case of Lloyd v Google. The judgment will be welcomed by our clients and data controllers as it brings clarification to the rapid rise in claims being made for compensation following a data breach. However, whilst the…
Legal Article
30/09/21
The Land Registry (HMLR) is to pilot the use of qualified electronic signatures (QES) that does not need to be witnessed. If successful, it is set to be a real gamechanger in the property market. The move comes just over a year after HMLR allowed deeds to be signed electronically to be registered…
Legal Article
30/09/21
The Charter for Social Housing Residents: Social Housing White Paper was published on 17 November 2020 announcing a review of the Decent Homes Standard. Part 1 of the review of the definition is to conclude in Autumn 2021; if it is found that a change should be implemented, Part 2 will run from Autumn…
Forbes News
24/09/21
On 07 September 2021, the Information Commissioner's Office published an enforcement notice against First Choice Selection Services Ltd for failing to comply with a subject access request made during the course of employment tribunal proceedings. Background An individual originally…
Forbes News
21/09/21
Tackling Cannabis Use in Residential Properties Roundtable Event On Wednesday 15th September 2021, almost 650 delegates from Housing, Police, Local Authorities and other agencies across the UK attended a roundtable discussion to explore a range of approaches for responding to the issue of cannabis…
Forbes News
21/09/21
The housing and regeneration team at Forbes Solicitors is expanding its team across the North West as performance exceeds pre-pandemic levels. Having recruited six new team members since March 2020 to take its total headcount to 48 professionals, the team is now in the process of adding another 15…
Legal Article
18/08/21
The planning laws are there to monitor what can and can't be built in certain areas to keep within the local policy and that of the country as a whole. Permitted development rights are, to some degree self-explanatory, as they are those rules that allow certain aspects of development to progress…
Legal Article
18/08/21
What is the "repair free" period? A new 10 year "repair free" period has been introduced by the new shared ownership model lease, during which time shared owners of new builds will receive support from their landlord to pay for essential repairs. Following this 10 year period,…
Legal Article
18/08/21
2021 has already seen the introduction of rigorous new energy efficiency standards for homes, in the Government's attempt to lower energy consumption and bills, furthering their legally binding target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. Now, with the help of the Future Homes Task…
Forbes News
16/08/21
This month the ICO has announced that it has opened its public consultation for the revised version of its Employment Practices Code ('the Code'). The existing version of the Employment Practices Code was published in November 2011 and so pre-dates the introduction of the UK GDPR and the…
Legal Article
27/07/21
As part of National ASB Awareness Week, we teamed up with colleagues at The Guinness Partnership and West Yorkshire Police on Friday 23rd July 2021 to focus on locally-based initiatives for tackling cuckooing in our neighbourhoods. This partnership-focussed session was able to capture the essence…
Legal Article
14/07/21
CCTV and ASB: Do Perpetrators have a Right to Privacy? The Court of Appeal has recently heard a case where the defendant argued that a breach of his injunction, proved by his neighbour's CCTV, breached his right to privacy. The Court of Appeal has dismissed this argument and decided that the…
Legal Article
13/07/21
Following the disappointment of the Euro 2020 Final, many no doubt expected they would be getting up the morning after to an influx of press articles and social media posts centred around a technical critique of the football skills on display in the final along side messages of support for the players.…
Legal Article
22/06/21
The First Homes scheme, launching in June 2021, is a mechanism for selling discounted affordable housing to first-time buyers - it does not apply in Wales or Scotland; and to reserve it for those most in need, it won't apply if the buyers' combined household income is over £80,000, or &…
Legal Article
22/06/21
The recent findings in the case of Knight v Fernley and another [2021] EWHC 1343 (Ch) (19 March 2020) are a stark reminder of the importance of registering plot transfers on a development prior to any common areas being transferred to a management company or other third party. In this case, a…
Legal Article
22/06/21
Building Safety Bill The government published its Building Safety Bill in July 2020 to respond to long-standing concerns surrounding fire safety, quality and competence, and to respond to recommendations from the Hackitt review which concluded that the whole system needed major reform. The…
Legal Article
20/05/21
What's new? Two sets of regulations have been laid before Parliament, which have brought further changes to the notice periods to be given in respect of possession proceedings for residential tenancies and the corresponding forms of notice to be served by landlords. To give them their long…
Legal Article
18/05/21
What must the government's independent review of construction frameworks consider to benefit both the public sector and contractors. An independent review of public sector construction frameworks should have happened before the publication of the Construction Playbook and should take a project-…
Legal Article
18/05/21
"Free Movement" to and from the EU ended on 31 December 2020. As a result of this, new rules came into force on 1 January 2021 which affect who can receive help with benefits, housing allocation and homelessness. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens and their family members must now apply to the EU…
Legal Article
11/05/21
A new prescribed form of Notice Seeking Possession (under section 8 of the Housing Act 1988) has been introduced. Landlords in England are required to use this latest form for any Notice Seeking Possession served on or after 04 May 2021. It has no effect on landlords in Wales. Below is a link to…
Legal Article
20/04/21
As the lockdown restrictions begin to ease and employers are making plans for staff to return to the office, we have been contacted by a number of RP clients to ask whether or not it is lawful to collect information from staff about whether or not they have been vaccinated against Covd-19. The…
Legal Article
20/04/21
First launched in 2018, Homes England's Strategic Partnership model has enabled housing providers an alternative way to access grant funding by allowing partners to enter into a multi-year grant agreement to deliver affordable housing. Since then, Homes England have signed 23 partnerships with 27…
Legal Article
20/04/21
The Housing (Shared Ownership Leases) (Exclusion from Leasehold Reform Act 1967 and Rent Act 1977) (England) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/212) (Regulations) were made on 1 March 2021 and came into force on 1 April 2021. The Regulations amend Schedule 4A of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 (LRA 1967) and…
Legal Article
30/03/21
As schools break up for the Easter holidays this week - and chocolate filled weekends approach for many, this has got our team thinking about the contribution chocolatiers Cadbury have made to the housing sector… The chocolate box village of Bournville adopts a unique approach to development and…
Legal Article
30/03/21
The proposed changes to the Right to Buy (RTB) policy put forward by the housing sector a couple of years ago has been published by the government in recent weeks. While the changes are welcomed, experts in the housing sector are of the view that an opportunity has been missed to go even further.…
Legal Article
30/03/21
The Public Health (Coronavirus) (Protection from Eviction) (England) (No. 2) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 were due to be in force until 31 March 2021. That has now been extended to 31 May 2021. To recap, the Regulations ban most evictions unless the notice, writ or warrant of possession relates to…
Legal Article
29/03/21
On 8th July 2020, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a temporary stamp duty holiday for properties in England and Northern Ireland that cut the rate of stamp duty to zero percent for all properties £500,000 or under until 31st March 2021. Rishi Sunak has now confirmed an extension until…
Legal Article
18/03/21
On 3 March 2021, the UK Budget was announced for the financial year 2021/2022. Included in this was the announcement that the Government intended to launch a Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) taskforce, backed by £10 million of seed funding. This announcement not only highlights the Government…
Legal Article
24/02/21
New build properties often get bad press with stories of poor quality making the headlines, highlighted in the recently published story of the Developer who was forced to rebuild all four external walls of a property. The New Homes Quality Board (NHQB) has launched this week, led by Natalie Elphicke…
Legal Article
24/02/21
Forbes' Merseyside County Lines & Social Housing Conference took place over two days on 9th and 10th February 2021 in conjunction with Merseyside Police. With over 400 attendees across the two day conference, it was clear to see the importance of tackling cuckooing and county lines across…
Legal Article
24/02/21
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court handed down its long-anticipated judgment in relation to the action brought against Uber by drivers claiming to be workers as opposed to self-employed contractors. The judgment provides the answer to whether 'gig economy' workers can be classed as '…
Legal Article
24/02/21
The Housing Secretary, Robert Jenrick, has announced the ban on evictions, save for exceptional cases, will be extended to 31 March 2021. It had been due to end on 21 February so we expect to see updated Regulations released shortly. There were some changes to the exceptions when the ban was…
Legal Article
24/02/21
Building insurance / warranties are an essential consideration for any development. There are a variety of providers available, all with their own products and add-ons which should be considered to ensure you choose a policy which suits your development's needs. It is important to have discussions…
Legal Article
12/02/21
On 4 February 2021, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) handed down judgment in the case of Allay v Gehlen. The case not only addresses the issue of discrimination and workplace harassment but also highlights the importance of providing appropriate training to employees. Training needs to be adequate…
Legal Article
11/02/21
The government has revealed that it is investing an extra £3.5billion in addition to the £1.6billion already pledged towards the removal of unsafe cladding in high-rise buildings which are taller than 18 metres. This will mean that leaseholders in such buildings will not be charged "for…
Legal Article
10/02/21
National Apprenticeship Week began on 8 February. This year's theme is 'Build The Future.' With 20 years of experience in progressing employees through apprenticeships, Forbes Solicitors has helped build futures and this year has been no different and has been as successful, despite the…
Legal Article
19/01/21
A claim to an employment tribunal must usually be made within 3 months less 1 day. This is known as the 'limitation date'. For example, if an employee wants to claim for unfair dismissal, they have 3 months less 1 day from the date their employment ended to make the claim. However this is with…
Forbes News
19/01/21
London Borough of Southwark v Ludgate House Ltd & Anor (2020) EWCA Civ 1637 Ludgate House Limited ("LHL"), the owner of Ludgate House, has been in a longstanding dispute with Southwark over the rates to be paid on the office block. The case started at the Valuation Tribunal in…
Legal Article
19/01/21
The existing Help to Buy Equity Loan Scheme is set to be replaced with a new Help to Buy Equity Loan (2021 - 2023) on 1 April 2021. The new scheme will be extended to first-time buyers only along with the introduction of regional price limits. First-time buyers who apply for the loan must use it towards…
Forbes News
19/01/21
The Metropolitan Police announced in December 2020 that Bellway Homes had admitted damaging or destroying a breeding site or resting place for bats at a construction site in Greenwich, London. Bellway were fined £600,000, which is a record fine and the largest fine ever issued by a court in…
Legal Article
14/01/21
In 2017, the government announced plans to tackle leasehold exploitation following an investigation by The Guardian in 2016, which found that some developers were using contracts on leasehold houses to double ground rents every 10 years, thus making it difficult for leaseholders to sell their homes on.…
Forbes News
05/01/21
Following last night's announcement The Forbes Housing and Regeneration Team want to reassure our clients that we are here to help you get through this, we have done it before and we will do it again. We will work together with you during this evolving situation to ensure your needs are met. We…
Forbes News
05/01/21
Addressing a rise in Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) during COVID-19 topped the agenda during the first meeting of the Housing Best Practice Partnership Network for West Yorkshire. The Network has brought together more than 40 different organisations so far including registered providers of housing,…
