Hannah Roberts of the Clarke & Son Social Committee, who organised the event, was delighted with the sale, “Lynn’s cakes were delicious and we raised £35.90 for GOSH, which is a great achievement in just one day.”

For further information, either e-mail Julie McKinney or Peter Turner direct, use our contact form or telephone 01256 320 555.

The Cancer Research ‘UK Free Will Services’ has been set up to provide easy public access to independent legal advice for will writing while also making it easier for those already thinking about leaving a legacy to charity in general or to Cancer Research UK specifically, to do so.

Roy Young, Clarke & Son says, “The Cancer Research UK scheme is an ideal opportunity for those over 55 who haven’t yet made a Will - and really should think about doing so – to benefit from both a free Will and also to give something back to charity if they so wish. At Clarke & Son, we are delighted to be able to support this excellent scheme as it enables us to give our expertise in aid of the charity.”

Potential clients who wish to make a Will should contact Roy Young as soon as possible as this is a time limited offer. The firm has been allocated a limited number of coupons from the charity on a first come, first served basis. Once they run out, the offer may no longer be available, so if you’re interested, please respond quickly.

For further information, either e-mail Roy Young direct or telephone Clarke & Son on 01256 320 555.

The proposals are that each HIP should include a Property Information Questionnaire and, for leasehold properties, a summary of key information relating to the lease.

For further information, either e-mail Paul Cowdery direct or telephone Clarke & Son on 01256 320 555.

Many parents are being forced to sell their family home when their spouse dies, just so they can pay the huge Inheritance Tax bill. The ‘intestacy’ laws in England and Wales state that, when someone dies without a Will, their spouse (or civil partner) will receive £125,000 (called the ’statutory legacy’) from their spouse’s estate. They will also get interest on half of the remainder of the estate.

If there are children over 18, then they will get the other half of the estate, but if they are minors, then this half will be put into trust. If there are no children but other surviving relatives, the surviving spouse receives the first £200,000.

These rates haven’t been changed since 1993 and, as a result, surviving parents are urging for an update in the law. They say that they are being forced to sell the family home when their spouse dies without a Will as they cannot afford to pay the hefty inheritance tax bill.

Only spouses and civil partners are exempt from Inheritance Tax. If the dependent children inherit directly from a deceased parent, they may have to pay tax of 40 per cent and the surviving parent may have to sell the family home to pay the bill.

Research by the Department for Constitutional Affairs has found that there could be up to 9,000 estates where the statutory legacy prevents the surviving spouse from receiving the whole estate, and out of this number, around 4,000 where the surviving spouse may be at risk of losing their home.

If someone dies without a Will, the surviving spouse can claim for more than the intestacy laws give them but, to do so, they have to make a claim from the court. And this means they could face a potential legal battle with their own children.

A consultation paper, drawn up by the Department for Constitutional Affairs in 2005, recommended that the statutory legacy should be increased to £350,000 where the deceased has children and up to £650,000 if they don’t.

The Ministry of Justice said that it will publish responses to the consultation “in due course”. The Law Commission for England and Wales also intends to start reviewing the intestacy laws in the autumn and it will publish its findings by 2011.

Roy Young of Clarke & Son LLP says, “These laws show just how important it is to make a Will to protect yourself financially.” He adds, “If you want to make sure that your spouse inherits all your assets on your death, then make a Will now. If you leave everything to your spouse in your Will then they can remain in the family home and they won’t have to pay any Inheritance Tax.”

If you’re looking for some help or advice on any aspect of Wills or Inheritance Tax, either e-mail Roy Young direct or telephone Clarke & Son on 01256 320 555.

For more information, read our information sheet on Making A Will (PDF).

(Adobe Acrobat required)

He adds, “Newly built homes are affected by HIPs but there are differences in the way the scheme operates for these types of properties, particularly in the way that energy performance information is presented.”

Since 6th April 2008, all new build properties marketed ‘off-plan’ or ‘complete’ require a HIP. Any off-plan property physically completed after the 6th April requires an ‘As Built EPC’ (‘Energy Performance Certificate’) regardless of whether there was a HIP produced at the point of marketing. This is needed for Building Control to issue final certification and a copy with the recommendation report presented to the buyer on completion.

New homes marketed “off-plan” before they are physically complete will not have a full Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) as these can only produced following a physical inspection of a completed building.

New build HIPs therefore differ from traditional HIPs with respect to the EPC which is replaced by a Predicted Energy Assessment (PEA) for plot sales marketed off-plan, or an ‘As Built EPC’ for completed properties. ‘As Built EPCs’ cannot be produced by Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) and can only be produced by qualified ‘On Construction Energy Assessors’.

Paul provides expert guidance on all legislation regarding Home Information Packs and how it affects home owners either as potential purchasers or as vendors.

If you’re looking for some help or advice on any aspect of Home Information Packs, either e-mail Paul Cowdery direct or telephone Clarke & Son on 01256 320 555.

1. Improvements need to be made to the residential property transaction process because problems have not been adequately addressed by the introduction of Home Information Packs (HIPs)
2. The current system of voluntary regulation and redress does not provide adequate protection or information for the consumer.

A long list of recommendations are included that focus largely on the need for formal regulation which would cover estate agents and letting agents, managing agents and landlords who do not use an agent.

The recommendations are also aimed at improving the provision of information for consumers and making property transactions quicker and less expensive. One finding is that HIPs have not helped and legislation should be amended to make HIPs voluntary.

Paul Cowdery, Conveyancing Partner with Clarke & Son, Basingstoke comments, “HIPs have assisted in practice to ensure that search information is available at an earlier stage but the more wide ranging problems in the present property market, such as difficulties in obtaining mortgage finance, have acted to negate any benefit.”

He adds, “The government has been committed to HIPs and the requirement for an Energy Performance Certificate will remain whatever the destiny of the HIP generally.”

If you wish to get in touch with Paul on any aspect of conveyancing, either contact him by e-mail or telephone Clarke & Son on 01256 320 555.

The survey also found that nearly half of the UK’s companies conducted investigations into e-mail leaks of confidential or sensitive data over the same period. These figures show that UK companies are more suspicious of and more rigorous in checking employees’ use of e-mail than their counterparts in Germany and France.

Research carried out by Forrester on behalf of e-mail security firm Proofpoint found that 44% of UK companies had fired employees in the past year because of violation of e-mail policies while 78% of them had disciplined workers for the same offence.

It also found that 53% of UK companies surveyed regularly audited outbound e-mail content while 47% have investigated a leak in the last year.

Companies’ principal worries about e-mail use are that employees could be breaking financial disclosure or corporate governance rules, could be leaking intellectual property or trade secrets, could be leaking sensitive memos or could be breaching privacy regulations.

The report highlights “the convenience and ubiquity of e-mail as a business communications tool” and acknowledges that e-mail has “exposed enterprises to a wide variety of legal, financial and regulatory risks associated with outbound email”. The report continues, “Enterprises continue to express a high level of concern about creating, managing and enforcing outbound messaging policies.”

The survey discovered that, whereas at one time only e-mails needed to be monitored in order to know what information was leaving the company, there was now an increase in the various ways that information could now be disseminated

Social networking sites were highlighted as exposing confidential or sensitive information for 16% of companies while 9% experienced the exposure of sensitive information via video or audio files posted on a media sharing site.

The report concludes, “The results clearly show that e-mail, web-mail, FTP, blogs, message boards, media sharing sites and social networking sites are a source of concern as well as real-world risk for IT professionals working in large enterprises.”

All digital traffic routed through company channels has the potential to inflict damage on businesses of any size and in a number of ways.

If you think that your business would benefit from expert guidance on how to put in place policies to minimise the impact resulting from improper use of company resources, contact Clarke & Son Solicitors today. We’re here to help.

In the wake of the credit crunch, 2008 will be remembered as a very weak year in the housing market. But our forecasts assume some indirect benefits from the Bank of England special liquidity scheme beginning to have an effect in the mortgage market in the later part of the year. Over the next few months, lending volumes will get worse before they get better. The market is still very uncertain, but lenders are working hard to ensure that borrowers coming off fixed rates remain on track, that arrears and repossessions are minimised, and that pricing is as attractive as they can make it in a market where they must manage the demand for lending with caution.

Paul Cowdery, Conveyancing Partner at Clarke & Son LLP, comments:

Our experience is that whilst activity has been quieter than usual, there is still movement in the Basingstoke market, particularly where properties are priced realistically.

However where there are long chains problems can arise as it only takes one party to have difficulties with mortgage finance for the whole chain to fall through.  We have found recently that more clients have considered chain breaking (i.e. selling their own property and going into temporary accommodation before purchasing) as an option.

The announcement means that the current arrangements will remain in force until 31st December 2008, and also requires that only the lease will be needed for leasehold properties.

Each DEC will contain an indication of the annual carbon dioxide emissions from the building. The aim of DECs is to enable the public to compare the energy performance of public buildings and to promote improved energy use.