News Archive: legal issues

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07, 2009 April:

HSBC charges for mortgage advice

HSBC has announced plans to offer potential mortgage customers an impartial mortgage advisory service, for which it will charge £150...

06, 2009 April:

Taxing times in Malta

The Maltese Government has launched a new redemption scheme for property that is leased from the Government - which could means that homeowners stand to lose up to 25 per cent of the property's value as they have been prevented from applying for the ground rent redemption scheme for four years...

03, 2009 April:

HIPs change today

As of today, Monday April 6th, the rules around Home Information Packs (HIPS) are changing - vendors will now need to get a HIP before an estate agent can market the property - and industry experts are concerned this could prove yet another blow to an already ailing market...

02, 2009 April:

Lord and Lady Fake

Achilleas Kallakis who is under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) over an alleged £56 million property fraud has a previous conviction for selling fake British titles to wealthy Americans...

First day for Fridays

Leading Conveyancing Lawyers call on the Government to extend first day marketing for homeowners facing repossession...

01, 2009 April:

History made in Dubai court

An historic first ruling by the Dubai Property Court has boosted confidence in the system and resulted in more investors coming forward to have cases judged...

30, 2009 March:

Mortgagee sales reach new high

Mortgagee sale figures in New Zealand have reached a new high, with Auckland hardest hit, latest figures show...

Better protection for repossessed tenants

A number of organisations have formed a pressure group that is petitioning for new legislation to protect tenants in England and Wales, who are forced out of their homes because their landlord is repossessed...

27, 2009 March:

Feeling the pinch?

If you have had a credit or store card, secured or unsecured loan, HP agreement or car finance which you took out before April 6th 2007, these credit agreements may now be challenged on a number of issues due to recent changes to the Consumer Credit Act, even if they have already been paid off...

Masters degree needed for UK visa

The UK Border Agency has once again announced a further clamming of immigration law, set to adversely affect young aspiring professionals wishing to spread their wings and pursue a career abroad...

26, 2009 March:

Safe as houses

New research has found that the swanky London borough of Kensington & Chelsea is the safest place to live in England and Wales, with the risk of criminal damage, burglary and flooding said to be by far the lowest. At the other end of the spectrum was Doncaster, which was found to have the riskiest houses...

Facecrooks

Benefits bosses are using Facebook to catch housing and council tax cheats, it has been revealed...

Bid to protect borrowers in forced sales

New laws will stop banks and other lenders selling repossessed houses at less than their market value, the NSW Government says...

25, 2009 March:

Developer charged over fraud

A property developer has been charged over a £865,000 deception after a marathon civil legal battle over a failed retirement village development in Ocean Grove in Victoria, Australia...

Is courtesy dying out?

A funeral director is campaigning for landlords to give grieving families a week's grace to clear their loved ones' homes...

Squatter's rights

Lambeth Council has been made to hand over a list detailing around 800 empty properties to squatters, after they handed in a Freedom Of Information (FOI) request according to the Daily Mail...

24, 2009 March:

Stubborn NZ landlords

Complaints against landlords in New Zealand are increasing, with failure to carry out repairs or return bonds the biggest problems for renters...

Treasury took risks with Northern Rock

The National Audit Office has criticised the Treasury's handling of the Northern Rock crisis, saying that £800 million of money was loaned in risky mortgages for six months after being saved by taxpayers' money...

20, 2009 March:

The cult of money laundering

A land data group is urging solicitors to be extra vigilant over false paperwork connected with property deals after seven men appeared in court over a £4.6 million real estate scam dating back to 1998...

Clamp on landlords who exploit immigrants

Rogue landlords who pack large numbers of migrants into rented houses will be targeted by councils using new powers...

18, 2009 March:

Two year itch

European property investors involved in a major development in Dubai are asking the authorities to step in amid claims that no work has been carried out for more than two years...

17, 2009 March:

No place to hide

Following last week's decision by the Housing Minister, Margaret Beckett, to crackdown on the number of property owners who keep sites empty, councils have been given further advice from the Government...

Spanish savings

Around half of Spain's savings banks are joining together to create an 'estate agent' to sell defaulted property and developments worth £2.7 billion...

16, 2009 March:

Dispute resolution in Dubai

A new mediation centre for real estate disputes is to be set up in Dubai to settle as many claims as possible before they have to resort to the higher Property Court...

13, 2009 March:

Mortgage fraud suspects released

Nine people arrested over a suspected £40 million mortgage fraud in the UK have been released on bail. The eight men and one female are suspected of targeting Bradford and Bingley in a massive buy-to-let scam involving more than 500 properties...

12, 2009 March:

Run away with me

One of Julia Roberts' few poor choices in films, Runaway Bride was memorable for all the wrong reasons. Still, if I'd been forced into that frothy meringue of a wedding dress I probably would have been tempted to hotfoot it too. Now there's a new section of society attempting to renege on commitment as tenants abandon their properties to avoid paying the rent...

11, 2009 March:

Glass half empty

If your elderly parent has just died and you are dithering about what to do with their house, or you have moved out of your home and are trying to sell it during the current recession -don't delay too long. New legislation from the UK Government has announced that anyone who leaves their house empty for six months or more could have it removed by the state and rented to tenants...

New rules for Saudi

No longer can off-plan properties be marketed in Saudi Arabia - new rules introduced in the country which ban the promotion and sale of any developments that are at the planning stage aim to cut down speculation in the property sector and build investor's confidence...

British couple wins tax dispute

A British couple has won an unlikely legal battle against the Spanish Government over taxation...

05, 2009 March:

HIPS ‘out of date'

Homeowners face having to pay hundreds of pounds extra because Home Information Packs could be out of date by the time their properties are sold, MPs say...

Owners demand compensation

A block of apartments in Spain owned by British, Dutch and French property investors is to be demolished...

03, 2009 March:

Burglar Bill

Domestic burglaries increased by four per cent compared to the previous year's figures, according to Home Office crime statistics for July to September 2008...

02, 2009 March:

Asbos for estate agents?

Most of us are so used to seeing For Sale boards scattered around our neighbourhoods that we don't even notice them anymore - they are as much a part of the scenery as road signs and house numbers - but some councils have had enough of the rash of boards posted all over their boroughs and are taking action of the most modern kind - ASBOs...

25, 2009 February:

Cyprus: property rights ‘safeguarded'

Talks between opposition parties on the issue of property in Cyprus seem to be progressing well...

23, 2009 February:

Dubai tackles dodgy developers

Property developers in Dubai who fail to meet standards, don't deliver on time and construct poor quality buildings are to be named and shamed...

20, 2009 February:

MEPS tackle cowboy builders

Members of the European Parliament sent a strong message to the UK Government this week over VAT for building and repair maintenance work...

18, 2009 February:

Dubai considers visa plan

Overseas property owners in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) could soon be granted residency visas, it has been reported...

13, 2009 February:

Irish investors hit hard

Scores of Irish investors have been hit by the collapse of a UK-based agent specialising in Bulgarian properties...

12, 2009 February:

MPs condemn Spanish ‘demolition-derby’

Members of the European Parliament have launched a new offensive against notorious Spanish land laws that continue to wreck the holiday-home dreams of Brits in the Valencia region...

09, 2009 February:

FSA tackles ‘dodgy deals'

Sale and rent-back schemes are to be regulated by the FSA...

05, 2009 February:

Dubai's developers facing ratings cut

One of the Middle East's leading developers is facing a cut in ratings along with five other Dubai based companies, it has been revealed...

Is 2009 Turkey's Year?

On the overseas property investment radar, Turkey is still an emerging signal and the temporary suspension of Title Deed Act last year gave many investors the wrong signs. However, 2009 looks set to be the year when Turkey firmly establishes itself as a strong green light on the radar...

04, 2009 February:

Top wrestler guilty of mortgage fraud

HM Revenue & Customs has pinned down UK cage fighting champion Ian 'The Machine' Freeman over tax evasion and mortgage fraud...

02, 2009 February:

Under investigation

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is investigating the practices of 16 sale-and-rent-back firms...

26, 2009 January:

Dubai visa policy reconsidered

A delegation from the Dubai Property Society has urged the city's chamber of commerce to ask the Government to re-consider its visa policy for residential and commercial freehold property owners...

23, 2009 January:

Not worth the gamble

There has been a spate of ‘win a property' competitions recently as homeowners look for increasingly creative ways to offload their house during the credit crunch without losing out on price - but now, one New Zealand couple has fallen foul of the law by attempting to do just that...

22, 2009 January:

Networking, Japanese style

Bear with me here - this may well sound like the most ridiculous idea ever - but Japanese companies are heralding the mobile-phone-controlled-net-throwing-robot as a new dawn in office security and hope one day to roll it out to residential homes too...

Half and half

A recent survey of all local authorities in England by planning consultants Drivers Jonas, has found that more than 50 per cent of authorities are unlikely to implement the Government's proposals for the Community Infrastructure Levy...

16, 2009 January:

Bikini- and Speedo-clad tourists beware

The Caribbean island of Grenada says it recently began enforcing an indecent exposure law banning bathing suits away from the beach, as well as saggy pants that reveal the underwear...