The Scottish Finance Secretary announced the rates at which Land and Buildings Transaction Tax Scotland will be charged. The New Land and Buildings Transaction Tax Scotland (LBTT), which replaces Stamp Duty (the lump-sum tax that anyone buying a property worth more than a certain amount is required to pay) for house purchases in Scotland from April 2015, will be charged at 2 per cent of the purchase price between £135,000 and £250,000, 10 per cent between £250,001 and £1million and 12 per cent on anything

To those who believe the legal profession to be a rather slow-moving and old fashioned beast it will come as something of a surprise to learn that we are about to enter a period of great upheaval in Scottish property law. Particularly in relation to the preservation of real burdens in title deeds.

Conveyancers are at present awaiting the provisions of the Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act 2012 taking effect on 8 December 2014. The Act represents the most significant change in land registration in

The Scottish Government has launched a consultation on proposed reforms to Private Rented Sector tenancies' in Scotland.

The consultation document proposes the most fundamental change to the private sector tenancy regime in Scotland since the introduction of Assured and Short Assured Tenancies in 1988.The proposals are wide reaching and could have a fundamental impact on the day-to-day operations of the Private Rented Sector throughout Scotland.

The stated aims of the proposed reforms are to improve security of tenure for tenants whilst giving suitable safeguards for

October 2014 brings with it a number of employment law changes for you to be aware of. We look at them in detail here.

1. National Minimum Wage increases

From the 1 October 2014, the national minimum wage increases from £6.31 to £6.50. The youth rate increases from £5.03 to £5.13 per hour. This is in line with the Low Pay Commission?s recommendation to the Government.

2. Equal Pay audits

Where an equal pay claim is submitted, and the employment tribunal finds that there has

Do you know the rights of expectant fathers and partners from 1 October 2014?

An expectant father, or the partner of a pregnant woman, will be entitled to take unpaid time off work to accompany her to a maximum of two of her antenatal appointments.? We take a look at how this change will affect employers and how best to plan for more frequent requests.

The Government is aiming to achieve greater involvement of both of the child's parents in the earlier stages of pregnancy.

Clients who come to us looking for advice on applying for Guardianship are often anxious that guardianship involves an application to the court and want to know what the Scottish Courts need.

Most are unaware of the procedures and timescales involved and are surprised to learn their application has to be supported by three independent Reports from:

- the adult's GP
- a psychiatrist
- a Mental Health Officer

Why are medical reports required?
The medical reports by the GP and psychiatrist confirm to the

In December 2013, Glasgow City Council and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, in partnership with our firm, launched the 'Start the Conversation' campaign to raise awareness of the importance of Powers of Attorney. You may have noticed television adverts and a social media campaign encouraging all members of the public to discuss Powers of Attorney with their friends and family. So why is a power of attorney important?

The television and online campaign has now re-launched and renamed 'My Power of Attorney'. You may even

The Housing Scotland Act 2014 has now completed its passage through the Scottish Parliament. Royal Assent was granted on 1 August 2014.

This Act will introduce significant changes to the rules which govern tenancies in the public sector in Scotland. Two parts have direct effect on social housing.

Part 1 of the Act will lead to the complete abolition of the Right to Buy. We expect abolition to be effective on 1 August 2016.

Part 2 of the Act will include the following amendments to

Do you know what happens' at an Employment Tribunal?

The Employment Tribunal procedure is designed to deal with claims brought against employers by employees, which have not been resolved by informal discussions or through the mandatory ACAS Early Conciliation procedure. Although Employment Tribunal hearings are not as formal as court hearings, attending an Employment Tribunal can be a daunting experience for claimants, respondents and witnesses. Here we have a look at what to expect on the day.

Who will hear the case?

If the case

The new Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 ('the 2014 Act') came into force on 1 August 2014.

The 2014 Act affects some existing societies, and changes how new societies are registered by:-

1. Replacing the 'industrial and provident society' legal form with two new legal forms:-

• Co-operative society
• Community benefit society

2. Repealing and replacing previous industrial and provident society legislation including:

• Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965 (including the 1967, 1975, 1978 and 2002 Acts)
• Friendly and Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1968
• Co-operative

The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Bill proposes amending Part 2 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 which will enable certain bodies to buy abandoned or neglected land and to make such land work for the benefit of the community.

The Bill will allow communities to identify any public sector land or buildings that they feel they could make better use of with a view to strengthening community participation, community empowerment and encouraging community development.

There will also be new duties for community planning so that

One of the most frequent problems faced by landlords is how they access a property when their tenant refuses to let them in. This is more common when the landlord/tenant relationship has broken down! What are landlord legal rights - accessing property is always a tricky issue.

Routine Access

Most tenancies should have a specific clause covering landlord's access to the property. Most of these clauses say that the tenant agrees to give the landlord access:

-  To carry out maintenance, repair or inspection
- 

Unfortunately it's not like it appears on TV! The reality of the court system in Scotland is very different and here we give landlords five tips on how to prepare for court appearances.

Sometimes it feels as if I've spent most of my life in court, but for landlords raising their own eviction or payment actions against tenants, the court can often be a scary place. Here are some handy tips to hopefully help calm any nerves.

1.Your Clothes
Sadly, some courts will judge a

There is urgent need for advice and guidance following a landmark ruling in the Supreme Court which means that far more vulnerable adults than previously realised may have suffered a deprivation of liberty. It also calls into question the use of standard procedures of moving people into nursing homes.

The case concerned the rights of disabled people living in care facilities in England. The Supreme Court judgement was in respect of two conjoined appeals; which analysed the cases of two sisters with learning difficulties and

The Government made an announcement that they will be clamping down on the use of zero hours contracts and putting an outright ban on the use of exclusivity clauses within these contracts in the Small Businesses Bill which will be pushed through before the general election in 2015.

The term zero hours is not defined in legislation but is generally understood to be an employment contract between an employer and a worker, which means the employer is not obliged to provide the worker with any

Buying and selling property in Scotland has traditionally been based on the premise that you should 'let the buyer beware' - caveat emptor - with the onus being on the purchaser to satisfy themselves on the condition of a property. This central tenet of residential property law has been dealt something of a blow recently, due to the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Almost by stealth, the Consumer Protection Regulations have replaced the previous legislation (the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991) and now

Following on from my previous blog on the subject of flexible working requests, changes to request flexible working requests come into place on the 30 June 2014. When they took office, the Coalition Government made it part of their agenda to introduce flexible working for all employees. What are these changes and how might they affect you?

The change to flexible working affects more than working parents and carers alone. The right to flexible working will now apply to all employees with 26 weeks' continuous

The recent European Court Justice (ECJ) decision made a number of employers sit up and take notice due to the way in which the ECJ dealt with the calculation of holiday pay and commission. Are you getting it right?

Employers will know that the Working Time Regulations (WTR) state that all workers receive 5.6 weeks paid annual leave throughout the year. However, it does not specify how statutory holiday pay should be calculated. Theoretically, this is left to national legislation or practice. For each week

From April 2015, Scottish care in the community will lose full NHS funding. Patients with complicated long-term healthcare problems will no longer have access to full NHS funding if they are cared for in the community as opposed to in hospital.

Currently, the 'NHS Continuing Healthcare' scheme operates so that patients with chronic conditions being treated in a care home setting or in their own home are entitled to have their care funded by the NHS.

This operates in addition to free personal care which

Are actions of division and sale fair? If one or more persons have title to a property in Scotland all of them need to consent if there is to be a sale of that property. If the parties cannot agree on a sale or one or more of them simply 'disappears' then Scots law provides a remedy for a co-owner who wants to dispose of their interest. The remedy is an action of Division and Sale. In circumstances where the property cannot be divided, as