Ladies were entertained with a make up demonstration from Estee Lauder, fashion shows from Rosalinds and Novia, and an indulgent massage demonstration from The Treatment Rooms. During breaks in the entertainment guests took advantage of Estee Lauder and The Treatment Rooms’ generosity by having free mini-treatments and were able to watch yoga demonstrations from Bikram Yoga Liverpool owner Estelle Carthedge who provided guests with fantastic offers on her traditional Bikram Yoga/Hot Yoga classes.

Morecrofts would like to thank everyone who helped to make the evening such a fabulous success and not least to Simon Peter Photography who kindly donated his time and photography skills so make sure you follow us on Facebook and twitter to see the pictures when they are put online later today! We would also like to thank Crosby Lakeside for their attention to detail, fabulous food and most importantly for keeping us topped up with wine and drinks all evening.

We were able to raise money through raffle ticket sales so a huge thank you to everyone who donated fabulous raffle prizes including Matty Lyons, Barbacoa, Malmaison, Hearts Gym Crosby and John Lewis Liverpool and of course to all of our exhibitors who also kindly donated prizes.

Most importantly a huge thank you to our guests who we hope will continue to support Sefton Women’s and Children’s Aid and Jospice and made last night a real success.

Morecrofts are extremely grateful for all your generous donations and continued support and we also hope that all of our guests not only enjoyed last night but will also remember that at Morecrofts we are more than just lawyers.

Angie Brown, who is a Family Solicitor and Mediator from the Crosby Office, has said “I am really looking forward to tonight. Its going to be a fantastic event. We have got some fabulous raffle prizes very kindly donated by local businesses and every guest will also get an exclusive goody bag full of all kinds of girly goodies”

The raffle is to raise money for 2 local charities supported by Morecrofts, Sefton Womens amnd Childrens Aid and Jospice, Thornton
Guests are invited to attend at 7pm for a 7:30pm start and there will be fashion shows, beauty treatments, drinks and nibbles.
Friends of Morecrofts are invited and it is not too late to book your last minute place on our guest list as the venue has been extended due to the popularity of the event.

It is going to be a fantastic evening!

The reason for this is, as you will appreciate, we have to pay our conveyancers and their support staff whether or not the sales or purchases complete. Therefore it follows that someone has to pay for this work having been carried out.

In our opinion it is unfair to expect clients whose sales or purchases complete to pay for work carried out on matters which do not complete. In a no sale, no legal fee arrangement this is exactly what happens. If we adopted such a policy, when setting out our legal fees, we would have to factor in a payment from matters which do proceed to completion to cover the costs from matters which do not complete. Therefore these clients would be paying for someone else as well as for their own matter.

Morecrofts have provided legal services and advice and have acted for clients in all aspects of the law for 199 years. Surely this shows our policy is successful, helps to maintain continuity and why so many of our clients consult us time and time again and refer our services to their friends and family.

If you have a legal problem or you would like to instruct us in a matter please call to speak to one of our legal experts.

Since 6 April 2007 a landlord who receives a deposit in relation to an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) must “protect” that deposit in a government approved scheme. The legislation appears to apply not only when a deposit is initially taken on the grant of an AST, but also where an investment property (e.g. a mixed use development) is sold subject to an AST and the deposit transferred from the seller to the buyer. If the landlord does not comply with the scheme, a fine may be imposed. The landlord may also find itself unable to recover possession of the property.

From the 6th April 2012 the period allowed for protecting a tenancy deposit in an authorised scheme and giving prescribed information to the tenant about the protection of the deposit has been extended from 14 days to 30 days

The penaty for not complying with the regulations was the tenant could be awarded three times the amount of the deposit. The court now has the discretion to reduce the penalty to between one and three times the depoist

Once the deposit has been protected, the landlord also has to provide certain “prescribed information” to the tenant about the protection of the deposit and the mechanics for its repayment at the end of the term. The deadline for the provision of this information has also been extended from 14 to 30 days. All deadlines begin to run from the date the deposit is “received” by the landlord.  

 The legislation has now been amended to make it clear that the tenant can apply to the court for sanctions to be applied if the landlord has not protected the deposit with an authorised scheme within 30 days.

Prior to 6 April, a landlord who protected the deposit within 14 days of receipt, but gave the tenant the prescribed information late, would not be liable to sanctions. An application could only be made by the tenant on the ground of failure to supply the prescribed information if either it had not been supplied at all, or incomplete information had been given. A tenant can now  apply to court if the prescribed information is given after the 30 day window. So a landlord who manages to protect the deposit within 30 days, but omits to give the tenant the prescribed information within 30 days, will now be liable to sanctions.

The sanctions that can be imposed are:-

The first sanction – a financial penalty

 The court can impose a penalty anywhere between one and three times the amount of the deposit.

The second sanction – restriction on ability to recover possession

Of more concern to many landlords will be that the landlord may be unable to recover possession of the premises. Under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, a landlord under an AST can ordinarily recover possession of the property on service of two months’ notice on the tenant, provided any fixed term of the tenancy has expired. The tenancy deposit legislation restricts a landlord’s right to serve a section 21 notice in certain circumstances.  

Where the default in question is not a failure to protect the deposit, but rather to give the tenant the prescribed information within the relevant time period, the legislation has always been clear that the right to serve a section 21 notice is simply suspended, so that once the prescribed information is given, the right to serve the Section 21 notice applies. However from the 6th April this year the landlord will not be able to serve a section 21 notice where a deposit was not protected within 30 days of receipt. It would appear that the restriction on serving a notice remains in place, even if the deposit is protected late.

Although this would seem rather a draconian sanction (which could have the effect of turning what would otherwise be an AST into a fully assured tenancy), it is tempered by the introduction of a “get-out” so that, if the deposit is simply repaid to the tenant, then the restriction on the right to serve a notice to recover possession will not apply. In many cases the potential cost to a landlord of repayment of the deposit will be outweighed by the benefit of being able to recover possession.  

In some respects landlords are worse off. In particular, a landlord who fails to protect a deposit within 30 days of receipt will not be able to recover possession of the property through the service of a section 21 notice unless it first repays the deposit back to the tenant.

Should you require advice on a residential tenancy or Tenants’ Deposit Scheme, please call our property experts.

This ruling is only likely to affect a pension which has not yet been drawn, but which a bankrupt could draw because they are of the ‘right age’. The money is then paid over to a Trustee under an Income Payments Order. Previously a bankrupt’s undrawn pension had been considered out of reach of creditors as it was not considered to be income.

 Consequently anyone who is considering making themselves bankrupt and who have reached their pension scheme’s retirement age, but have not reached their state pension age, and are still working, should seek advice urgently. 

Although this decision may be appealed, individuals (of a certain age in financial difficulties) will need to consider the effect of personal bankruptcy upon their pension savings.

As Morecrofts’ insolvency expert I have noticed a steep increase in the number of new instructions we are receiving from businesses seeking to restructure and reduce their overheads. This had led to our giving advice on exiting out of leases or renegotiating the terms of a lease, employment advice on redundancies or laying off staff, and advising on rescue procedures for insolvent businesses. Clearly the outlook is not good and businesses should take advice early to maximise their ability to trade through this unprecedented recession.

For further information please call 0800 949 9123, or alternatively you can email us via the website here.

Morecrofts property team will be on hand at stand 20 to give practical legal advice to first time buyers and to discuss the options available to them. We will be running a prize drawer to win a bottle of champagne and invite you to play a game of monopoly for your chance to win some great giveaways! We also have a free first time buyer information pack to give out so make sure you come down and see us at stand 20.

To download your free show ticket please click here

The scheme is available to potential buyers of new homes constructed by participating house builders where mortgages are sought from participating lenders. So you do not have a free choice of the new home you might wish to purchase or the lender who will be funding your purchase.

Buyers will be able to access 95% of the value of the new build property up to £500,000 in England and Wales.

The mortgage is indemnified through the house builder locking away cash indemnities of 3.5% of each of the property’s sale price in an established insurance company or fund which will then be backed by a Government  guarantee of 5.5%.

In the event that a house within the scheme is repossessed and sold at a loss within a seven year period following the sale lenders will receive compensation. The English scheme is so far the more detailed with the builder’s stake being accessed first but it is likely the Scottish scheme will operate in the same way.

So who will benefit most?

Probably the larger house builders will benefit most but the scheme could also have a negative as well a positive reaction where scarce government subsidy has to satisfy a diverse and increasing housing shortage.

Employment will also benefit. It has been suggested that thousands of new construction jobs and hundreds of apprenticeships could be created or saved  stimulating the wider economy.

First time buyers of new build homes will get a helping hand onto the first rung of the new build housing ladder. The social and environmental impact of new build housing investment are equally material and can be life changing for individual families.

However, there is some scepticism that the new homes will not really be additional, that house builders can choose which homes to include in the scheme and will be free to fix their prices knowing there are willing and able buyers. In other words schemes like this interfere with the free market and prevent house prices settling at an affordable level.

Again, is the scheme just another example of unfair preference being given to house builders with second hand sale homes suffering whilst their tax paying owners are paying for their competitors’ scheme?

Does the scheme creates unfair discrimination against small house builders and there would appear to be no role for social landlords?

To what extent the Government guarantee will be called on, when  tax payers money  would be actually  lost, will depend on variable unknown factors including a general house price fall of around 8% according to some analysts so hopefully the scheme is about confidence building as well as house building.

With immediate effect, the Government are putting non-Court based services on a par with Court services in trying to resolve disputes between people in respect of Family Law issues.

One of the key areas that the Government are going to provide additional funding is the amount of funding available for Legal Aid for Mediation. This will be increased from £10m to £25m. This means there will be a much greater focus on Mediation as a method of trying to resolve Family Law issues.

At Morecrofts we boast four professionally qualified Mediators, namely, Angela Eaton and Carole Brennan, based in our city-centre office; and also Angie Brown and Helen Broughton who are based in our Crosby office.

Morecrofts has a Legal Aid franchise to offer legally aided Mediation, to support anyone who would like to engage in those services.

You don’t have to come through a solicitor to engage in the Mediation process as our Mediators can contact the other party for you and set up Mediation appointments to suit you.

If you would like to know more about Mediation or wish to instruct one of our Mediators or have a chat with them about the Mediation Process, then please don’t hesitate to contact us, as we can arrange for the Mediation to take place in any of our offices to suit you.