Clarke and Son News

One in 10 adults have fallen out with a family member over inheritance disputes reveals a recent poll by YouGov. The poll, of 2,294 people, found that the majority of the arguments were between brothers and sisters, which resulted in 42% never again speaking to one another.

Whilst 10% of those questioned said they would not wish to see their estate go to someone they didn’t like, 60% of those questioned had not made wills.  The triggers for those that had made wills were found to be the birth of a child or following on from a serious illness or a serious accident.

A few of the reasons given for the fallouts were…
•    20% stemmed from claims that the division of estates were unfair
•    5% occurred after it was discovered that a particular item, which had apparently been verbally promised to a family member, had not been listed in the will.

The Clarke and Son Wills and Probate team can advise you on creating or updating a current will.  You may also wish to speak to us about Living Wills.  Please feel free to contact Helen or James by e-mail if you would like to make an enquiry.

A hotel manager who was required to stay overnight at the hotel where he worked has won an employment appeal tribunal (EAT) ruling, which entitles him to receive pay for his time spent on-call.

The sleep over requirement was implemented after a disciplinary interview in 2003 at which William Andersen was given a verbal warning for leaving the Hotel for 30 minutes during a shift.  At this point Andersen was warned that further absence during a sleep-over would result in further disciplinary procedures.

Despite being called upon to work just one evening in a nine-month period the EAT ruled that the hotel was contractually obliged to pay for the time Andersen spent overnight at the hotel.

The hotel which is part of the Jarvis group claimed that the likelihood of Andersen being required to work whilst ‘on call’ was insignificant and as such shouldn’t be considered as working time.

The decision follows European Court of Justice rulings in the Jaeger & SiMAT cases, both of which involved hospital staff and both of which ruled that time spent on-call should be regarded as working time even if the staff were asleep for part of that period.

Yvette Cooper has announced a climbdown on the controversial Home Information Packs (HIPS) launched by John Prescott.  The Home Condition Report (HCR), which was aimed at informing prospective buyers as to the true condition of a property, will no longer be an inclusive part of the pack.

It had been argued that HIPS (previously estimated to cost around £1,000) would be useless to home buyers as loopholes meant that surveys would still be needed.  Without the HCR the HIPS are now estimated to cost sellers £600 - £700, although others in the industry have said that prices may fall  nearer to the £350 mark.

The consumer watchdog group Which? has now withdrawn its support from the scheme with Nick Stace, campaigns and communications Director stating, "The new ‘half-HIP’ will be a useless but very expensive waste of time."

Ms Cooper also announced that it was unlikely that the proposed 7,000 new home inspectors would be ready by next June when the scheme is to be launched.  A cross party commons motion was signed by 125 MP’s last week urging Gordon Brown to ditch the scheme.

If you have any queries related to HIPS then please contact Peter, Jenny or Paul who will be glad to assist you.

As of this week the government has introduced possible fines of up to £20,000, liable to landlords who fail to licence multiple occupancy properties (HMO’s).

An HMO is a property shared by three or more tenants who are not members of the same household but share some of or all of the living accommodation and/or amenities.  For example a house, which has been divided into bedsits with shared kitchen or bathroom, houses converted into self-contained flats and shared houses where tenants don’t occupy them as a typical family would.

The move is in part being done to manage health and safety levels in the private rented sector.  Should an HMO property not be licensed the local housing authority has the ability to seek an order for the repayment of up to 12 months housing benefit paid whilst the property was without a licence.  Tenants will also have the power to seek recovery of paid rent whilst the property was let without a licence. 

This move comes after a three-month period during which landlords were able to apply for a HMO licence without fear of facing a penalty for not already having done so.

In addition to this there are new procedures, which have been issued to councils allowing them to seek Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMO’s) from residential property tribunals in an attempt to combat the estimated 300,000 long-term empty properties in the UK.

In the event of attaining an EDMO a property must be empty for at least six months alongside there being no reasonable prospect of it being occupied in the near future.  There are exceptions to this however such as temporary absence, second homes, and inherited properties all of which will qualify for at least a six-month grant once probate is obtained.

The tribunals must consider the effect an EDMO would have on the owner as well as taking the communities’ interests into consideration.  It has been made clear that the EDMO would be a last resort after voluntary negotiations with owners had failed.  Its hoped that the move will help to combat housing needs, and to ensure returns on assets for the owners whilst also tackling other issues related to empty properties such as crime.

If you’d like advice on matters relating to this article then please contact Charles Marchant-White who will be glad to assist you.

Employers who continue to employ their core workers on fixed term contracts could soon fall foul of government legislation.  In 2002 the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations were introduced, this gave fixed-term contract workers the same employment rights as those on permanent contracts.  This covered aspects such as training, pension rights and pay.

It was announced in 2002 that employers had a period of four years to address their contracts of employment in a bid to reduce the number of fixed-term contracts.  As the law currently stands after four years of employment on two successive fixed term contracts an employees contract should become indefinite unless the employee can ‘objectively’ justify the renewal of a fixed-term contract.

Amongst those most likely to be affected are the construction and catering industries.  Should you have any queries relating to this matter whether from an employees or employers point of view then please contact Nick Bowers for assistance.