LDP - The Legal Week

Sore HIPs

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:39:28 +0000

A recent report commissioned for a number of bodies including the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), the National Association of Estate Agents and the Association of Residential Letting Agents (Arla) by the ex-head of the Office of Fair Trading, has recommended that HIPs become voluntary.

Don't bet your house on it

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:31:09 +0000

The mortgage market is in chaos. There’s no other word for it. Every lender seems to be taking a different approach to dealing with the credit crunch and the fallout from Northern Rock.

Last week NR revealed that it wants to get rid of 60% of its mortgage customers in the next couple of years so that it can repay all the government's emergency lending by 2010.

As a way of softening the blow, the bank has pledged to assist its customers in finding a new mortgage.

In a stable and well funded market this wouldn’t be a problem. Unfortunately for borrowers, this is not the case.

Taming the Wild West

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:49:21 +0000

The property market has become somewhat like the Wild West over the past few years. Anyone and everyone with a spare buck set out to stake their claim.

I’ve come across many an ill-informed amateur investor – from dentists to plumbers – buying on the assumption that “it’s property; it must go up in price�?.

You can’t blame them. Until recently, returns on property have outperformed bank interest and the stock market. But that was then.

In the red

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 09:58:53 +0000

Having just about come to terms with the derby injustice I felt able to accept an invitation to visit the director’s box at Anfield on Wednesday night for the Porto game.

I was a blue in enemy territory but I managed to keep my emotions in check, applauding mildly (but politely) at the appropriate times.

Fortified against the cold with a few pints of Guinness I took my seat, with the result carefully written on the betting slip in my pocket.

Carry on Christmas

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 11:27:26 +0000

At this time of year the invites come in thick and fast, with client Christmas parties, the annual Law Society and Lord Taverners Dinner and our own Christmas event all vying for space in the diary.

Now, being the delegator that I am I will be attending as many of these parties as I can, which does unfortunately leave me little time to arrange my own, much to the chagrin of my colleagues.

By Liverpool standards I’ve left the planning of the Rees-Roberts Christmas too late; my experience working at other law firms in my early career suggests that the Christmas do should be booked by the June solstice and the set menu decided by late August - there’s nothing quite like choosing your turkey and roast veg combo in the dwindling days of summer.

Capital Idea?

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:18:35 +0000

Part of the game at this time of year is to guess what the chancellor is thinking and what his intentions are leading up until the final budget next April according to the recent pre budget report.

Once the dust has settled and people stop taking such a reactive stance the professional sector will carefully analyse his proposal, before inevitably saving the day at the eleventh hour when they tell the government how much money they stand to lose in the long-term.

Tough Gig

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 10:48:42 +0000

We’re all capable of making a social faux pas. One of my favourite stories is the one about the Eastern European delegate at a UN dinner who finished an after dinner toast by saying “as the English like to say ‘early to bed and up with the cock’.�?

Fortunately, I’ve never made one quite so severe. But a recent trip to Dublin was a close call.

Kettle warning is tosh

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 17:51:00 +0000

So consumers have more rights when they buy a kettle than a newly-built home. That’s the latest ‘wisdom’ from the National Consumer Council. It wants a shake up in the way market is regulated.

The NCC claims that a statutory safeguard - along the lines of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 - would protect people against delays, poor after-sales service and snagging problems such as faulty wiring, badly fitting doors or leaking windows.

Blog: A bit of a do

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 13:42:31 +0000

Its been said that if you spend all day in the kitchen, doing your best to be Gordon Ramsay, chances are you won’t end up enjoying the meal you’ve laboured to create.

Is it a bit like that with throwing a party? Organising my practice’s recent fifth birthday bash has given me cause to wonder.