Publications

Buying a new-build- what if you can’t complete your purchase?

The legal process involved in buying an apartment in a new development differs significantly  from the purchase of an existing property from an individual seller. It is often the case that, at the time of exchange of contracts, when your signed contract is sent to the seller and you receive the seller’s signed version,  construction of the building and your apartment is not finished. Completion of construction normally takes place at a later date and is confirmed by a certificate sent to your property agent and your solicitors, together with a notice

Ten-Year continuous lawful residence settlement route – excessive absences

Now and again we see cases in the media where an eminently deserving person gets their visa application refused and it kicks up a storm. (Actually, a lot of other eminently deserving people who do not get into the media also have their visa applications refused, but that is a different story.)   Ms Asiya Islam was a Cambridge PhD student who applied to the Home Office for settlement on the basis of ten years’ continuous lawful residence. As some readers will

Ten-Year continuous lawful residence settlement route – overstaying

Many readers will be aware that there is a ten-year continuous lawful residence route to indefinite leave to remain. A migrant who has accumulated ten years’ continuous lawful immigration leave, on any combination of visas, may qualify. What does “lawful residence” mean in this context? Well, in the first place, and fairly obviously, it means that you must have a valid visa. But there is a more complex issue attached to this. Does it also mean that there should not be any

Is this goodbye to ‘no fault evictions’?

Are you a private landlord or private tenant in England? If so you will no doubt be interested to know that the Government has launched a consultation exercise on “no-fault evictions” in England. A no-fault eviction is where a landlord evicts a tenant who has not breached any of the conditions of the tenancy but the landlord nonetheless decides to re-possess the property. As the law stands at the moment, in many cases a landlord can re-possess a property subject to