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Legal News and Free information

Would you rather be a "Client" or a "Consumer"?

Nick Fluck
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The Chairman of the Legal Services Board, David Edmonds, at a recent Law Society Council meeting, confirmed he thinks the terms are synonymous.  This may prove to be unfortunate as he sets the agenda for twenty-first century regulation of legal services and their providers.  Would you rather take your chances with a "pile them high, sell them cheap" mentality or do you think it is still important to buy your legal services from a professional you can trust?

Supermarkets reign supreme when it comes to providing everyday articles. Their greater purchasing power and span of products enables them to undercut more traditional retail outlets and everything they sell is a familiar item, which a consumer can be confident in self-selecting. They are not without their critics though and low-demand more obscure items or higher-quality traditional items may be sacrificed to profitability and disappear in time.  Supermarkets dominance in the retail industry allows them to profile consumers and offer them a semblance of "what they want". In reality of course the consumer's purchase habits are monitored and the data gathered only shows what items the consumer selects from the stock the supermarket chooses for economic reasons to make available.

Legal services are not supermarket shelf-stock items though and this creates a serious problem for the public when considered by reference to  Edmonds' vision of the future.  The "consumer" of legal services frequently suffers from a severe knowledge imbalance. The "product" they need to select is not familiar to them and in some cases the consumer may know only that they need legal help, but have no idea what product to select.  If legal services are to be sold in new and innovative ways, and in Edmonds' view by slick corporate providers, what assurance will there be for the public of being able to select the right product at the right price?

Solicitors have indemnity insurance to protect their clients.  Solicitors are bound by the toughest codes of professional ethics and genuinely have only their clients' best interests at heart. Every client gets an individual service tailored to their needs.  So don't settle for being a "consumer" of legal services - become a client of a Solicitor (no previous experience or training necessary, quality assured - and we'll be pleased to help you too).

 

HIPS are gone - Hurray!

News Desk
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So one of the first acts of the new Condem Government was to abolish the Home Information Pack.  If you have your house on the market and already bought a (usually worthless) HIP this will not be good news especially if you plan to buy a house which has only just been advertised for sale and where the Seller will not be providing you with a HIP as a quid pro quo for the "investment" you made on behalf of your purchaser.

Is there anything you can do about this?  Sadly not. HIPS were here, HIPS were ineffective, (as Solicitors universally said they would be), and now HIPS are consigned to wherever failed government initiatives go when they die.  Mrs Balls legacy will hopefully haunt her although that will provide scant comfort to the many folk sucked into the non-industry HIPS seemed to promise with a government guarantee.

Just for the record if anyone tells you you need a HIP or even, as we have already seen presumably increasingly desperate HIP companies saying that "having a HIP will speed up your sale" don't believe them.  The requirement to have a HIP is suspended, and when parliamentary time permits the primary legislation (in the Housing Act 2004 if you are interested) will be repealed.

You will still require an Energy Performance Certificate if you plan to construct, reconstruct, sell or let a residential property and do not already have an EPC which is less than ten years old in place.  EPCs are a creature of European law and cannot be abolished by our National Government. In reality the EPC is of no more use than the HIP.  It was founded on the presumption that forcing sellers or landlords to reveal the energy performance of their buildings would somehow magically lead to the energy performance of those buildings being improved. In practice the pretty coloured bar charts influence no-ones decision to buy or rent and obviously neither Sellers nor Landlords have any incentive to improve the energy performance of the buildings they are on the point of selling or letting.

If you want to speed up your sale for a fraction of the expense of a HIP we can provide a package of truly useful documents which will be accepted by Buyers' Solicitors and Lenders.

Contact our Mrs Laycock via the contacts link for more details.

 

Are you vulnerable to fraud at the Land Registry?

Nick Fluck
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Government figures have recently been released showing tens of millions of pounds worth of property fraud has taken place since the Land Registry introduced open public access and disposed of the requirements for a physical title document. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Registry may in certain circumstances seek to avoid its liability under the Government's guarantee of registered titles and seek instead to foist the blame upon individual owners or their solicitors.

What can you do to make sure you are not at risk?

Register to read more...
 

When did you last update your Will?

Brian Haite
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If you haven't made or updated your Will there are some recent important inheritance tax changes which have affected most Will-makers and their beneficiaries. Making a good Will and keeping it up to date is the last best thing you can do for your intended beneficiaries. Why leave the State to decide who will benefit from your life-savings?  Make a Will and you keep control of the process. A good Will can save tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds of tax and gives you the certainty of knowing your estate will be dealt with in accordance with your wishes.

Making a Will can also help to ring-fence some or all of your expectant estate from claims for Nursing Home fees and the like

See further details of the latest taxation changes and top reasons for reviewing your Will in our Wills Trust and Probate section under the "Areas of Law" link.

 

Access to Justice - Is the High Street Law Firm doomed?

Nick Fluck
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The last few weeks have seen some notable broadsheet journalists reporting on the likely impacts of the establishment and costs of new regulatory structures for High Street Law firms, especially those with only one or two partners which have traditionally supplied the bulk of local generalist legal advice.

Apparently it is likely that these local firms may find it hard to survive in the new marketplace envisaged by the Legal Services Board, which prefers new model larger and "more efficient" regional firms where much of the work is done by cheaper to hire unqualified staff.  It is certainly a fact that small local firms pay the most for their indemnity insurance and thus are already bearing a higher costs overhead than larger law-factory firms which, not being structured around face to face contact with clients, can afford to cherry-pick legal areas with high value returns and target remote clients in which to specialise whilst servicing those clients with fewer and fewer qualified staff.

Will the LSB hold true to its remit for supporting and promoting access to justice at all levels and if so when can we expect to see support measures for local law firms with qualified solicitor staff to assist them in maintaining truly local access to justice?

Stapleton & Son are pleased to confirm we are still alive and well* - providing quality legal advice from well-qualified staff at affordable prices.

*so far - fingers crossed! 

 
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