A new property tax is being considered for people buying property in parts of the UK who are non-UK residents as part of the government’s effort to help control the rise of house prices. The Treasury has launched a consultation into proposals to add 1% onto the stamp duty paid when buying a home in
No-fault divorces are to be introduced into law. Justice Secretary, David Gauke, confirmed he will bring in legislation enacting the reform in the next session of parliament, removing the need for separating couples to wait for years or allocate blame for the collapse of their relationship. Under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 in England and
A new report suggests city living is at its least affordable levels for home buyers since 2007. The study by Lloyds Bank found that the average house price in a UK city in 2018 equated to 7.2 times average annual earnings. This makes the cost of buying a home the least affordable since 2007. The
The Law Commission are proposing a shakeup of immigration rules in order to make them easier to understand. The aim is to simplify the current 1,100 pages of regulations. The proposals include an audit of overlapping rules and a limit to the number of times a year the rules are changed. The Law Commission believes
The government is working on a new house sale agreement aimed at speeding up the buying process which will be trialled later this year, according to Housing Minister Heather Wheeler. Wheeler said the aim is to develop a standard reservation agreement and officials are working with the industry led Home Buying and Selling Group. Furthermore,
The Council of Europe has said Muslim couples getting married in the UK should be legally required to civilly register their union before or during the Islamic ceremony. The organisation raised concerns about the role of sharia councils in family, inheritance and commercial law and called for obstacles stopping Muslim women from accessing justice to be removed. British authorities were asked
Jersey residents have been asked by their government how their 70-year old divorce law should be changed in a public consultation. Views were sought on whether people should be allowed to divorce before their 3rd year of marriage. The public were also asked if the age of marriage should be increased to 18 years of
Recent statistics reveal an increasing number of couples are choosing to marry prior to one of the couple dying. In recent years there has been a distinct increase in cohabiting couples living as common law husband and wife. However, many of these common law spouses do not make their partnership legal. Many are unaware that
A Scottish aristocrat has won the right to take his case to the Supreme Court. Charles Villiers, 55, accused his former spouse, Emma, 60, of “trying it on” in the English courts as a divorce tourist, claiming she only moved to London when they separated in order to apply for maintenance via the more generous
Official figures show divorced women over the age of 50 end up with a pension worth £100,000 less than that of their former husband. According to a survey of over-50s divorced people and married couples across Britain by the Office for National Statistics, the average pension pot of divorced women totals £131,000, compared to the