http://www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk/blog/ The latest Blog feeds from www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk en-us Sat, 04 Apr 2026 05:48:53 +0100 Rocketspark http://www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk/blog/post/26038/what-future-for-flat-owners-under-the-commonhold-and-leasehold-reforms-bill/ What is 'ground rent'Ground rent is the fee that is paid by the leaseholder to the freeholder in order to have the right to occupy the land that the property is built on. This especially affects owners of flats in England and Wales, because flats are usually owned on a leasehold basis.Lower costsThese reforms mean that ground rent bills will be significantly lower for leaseholders in the future. Those who are paying more than £250.00 ground rent per year will experience immediate cost relief an... Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk/blog/#post26038 http://www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk/blog/post/23670/april-2025--stamp-duty-land-tax-changes/ Under the current SDLT regime, the following SDLT rates apply:Property or Lease Premium or Transfer ValueSDLT Rate          Up to £250,000.000%The next £675,000.00 (proportion from £250,001.00 to £925,000.00)5%The next £575,000.00 (proportion from £925,000.00 to £1.5 million)10%The remaining amount (proportion over £1.5 million)12%In addition to the above rates, buyers of additional residential properties will attract a further 5% SDLT charge.First-time buye... Mon, 03 Feb 2025 17:17:13 +0000 http://www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk/blog/#post23670 http://www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk/blog/post/22114/leasehold-and-freehold-reform-act-2024-update/ Anyone who has been following the journey of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill will be aware that the Bill received Royal Assent as the last piece of legislation to be passed on 24 May 2024 before Parliament dissolved in readiness for the upcoming general election. (Rather frustratingly, despite being passed on 24 May 2024, the full wording of the Act was not published online until 5 June 2024 hence the slight delay in this post!).On 24 May 2024, news outlets reported on the fact that the L... Thu, 13 Jun 2024 12:28:44 +0100 http://www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk/blog/#post22114 http://www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk/blog/post/20496/world-mental-health-day-2023/ Both generally, as legal professionals, and specifically within our firm, we understand the importance of mental health, and the significance of bringing attention to all types of mental health by way of World Mental Health Day - a date which falls today and on 10 October each year. As lawyers, we are acutely aware of some of the unique challenges that come with our demanding profession, including long hours; perfectionism and the pressures of representing our clients to the best of our abi... Tue, 10 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk/blog/#post20496 http://www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk/blog/post/18879/uk-menopause-law-change-rejected-as-it-could-discriminate-against-men--can-we-believe-everything-we-read/ The Government has recently published its Response to recommendations made in respect of policy changes surrounding Menopause and the Workplace.One of the recommendations proposed was that: “...the Government should launch a consultation on how to amend the Equality Act to introduce a new protected characteristic of menopause, including a duty to provide reasonable adjustments for menopausal employees”.The Government rejected this, on the basis that legislation to protect against menopause d... Tue, 31 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk/blog/#post18879 http://www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk/blog/post/18043/are-you-giving-your-employees-less-time-off-than-they-are-owed--aka-the-brazel-judgment-explained/ The recent Surpreme Court Judgment of Harpur Trust v Brazel (commonly referred to as “the Brazel judgment”) has impacted how holiday entitlement and holiday pay is to be calculated. This impacts both employers and employees significantly, particularly those working part-time or atypical hours, or who only work for part of the year, such as teachers.... Tue, 06 Sep 2022 13:01:50 +0100 http://www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk/blog/#post18043 http://www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk/blog/post/17860/what-are-your-rights-as-an-unmarried-couple-or-parties-who-have-purchased-a-property-together-in-relation-to-a-property-dispute/ Here at Jamieson Alexander, we understand that separating from a partner is difficult at the best of times let alone when both parties own a property together and a dispute arises over how the property should be dealt with as part of any separation.  Whilst married couples can rely on family law legislation, this is not the case for unmarried couples or parties that have purchased a property together.  The legislation that applies in these circumstances is the Trusts of Land and Appoin... Tue, 09 Aug 2022 15:47:39 +0100 http://www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk/blog/#post17860 http://www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk/blog/post/16844/an-end-to-rising-ground-rents-in-residential-leases/ In the recent past there has been much publicity (for good reason) surrounding ground rents in long residential leases. Some leaseholders entered into leases when purchasing their homes with ground rent obligations which at first seemed affordable and were not considered an issue, but which later became substantially more expensive. Those ground rent obligations that attracted the most attention were known as “doubling” ground rents, where the amount payable doubled at fixed intervals throug... Tue, 10 May 2022 10:37:15 +0100 http://www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk/blog/#post16844 http://www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk/blog/post/16224/the-future-of-residential-leasehold-reform/ A year ago, the government announced its forthcoming plans to reform the future of homeownership in England and Wales, being noted as the “biggest reform to property law in a generation”. In recent months, there have been some moderate developments with The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill and the Government opening a consultation, running for 6 weeks, on its latest and wide-ranging proposals to reform the leasehold and commonhold systems, although any significant reform is yet to be impl... Wed, 02 Mar 2022 06:17:33 +0000 http://www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk/blog/#post16224 http://www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk/blog/post/15968/court-of-appeal-rule-in-favour-of-landlords-and-letting-agents/ As many of our landlord and letting agent clients will know, before issuing possession proceedings, we are required to review a wide range of tenancy documents.  This is to ensure that everything is in order and that all the necessary documents are valid to support a possession claim. In recent years, we have had to advise that notices or prescribed information which have not been signed in accordance with section 44 of the Companies Act 2006 may be found to be invalid during a Court hearin... Fri, 04 Feb 2022 13:15:40 +0000 http://www.jamiesonalexander.co.uk/blog/#post15968