The Procurement Reform Scotland Bill was introduced in the Scottish Parliament on 3 October 2013. Once it becomes law, the Act will exist alongside the current procurement regulations, but will make some fundamental changes in the way public contracts are procured in Scotland.

Some of the main changes are:

• Increased regulation - supplies/services contracts with a value of £50,000 or more and works contracts with a value of £2,000,000 or more which are currently not covered by the procurement regulations are subject to the Bill;

Will introducing 'Help to Buy' in Scotland take us down the route of another housing bubble?

The controversy surrounding the Help to Buy Scheme south of the border has not prevented a similar government-backed scheme being introduced in Scotland. The Scottish Government announced investment of £220m over three years to provide financial assistance to eligible homebuyers in what it has described as a "game changing initiative" for the housing industry.

The Help to Buy scheme, which has the support of the Council of Mortgage

Are you up to date with the changes in TUPE regulations? In November 2011, the Department for Business, Skills and Innovation (BIS) published a call for evidence, seeking views on the effectiveness of the current TUPE regulations. This was on the basis that it was thought that the regulations 'gold-plated' the EU Directive.

Following this call for evidence, the Government announced how the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) Regulations 2006 will change. After deciding not to go ahead with two significant changes it

The 'bedroom tax' remains a topic of intense debate and public interest. Recently we saw the first tribunal decisions relating to bedroom tax appeals by tenants and we have had the astonishing sight of a United Nations "rapporteur" visiting Britain and suggesting that the bedroom tax may breach human rights.

A large protest also took place outside the Liberal Democrat party's Scottish Conference and Baroness Shirley Williams admitted to the conference that this policy was a "mistake".

The tribunal decisions were issued in Kirkcaldy where

What are grandparents rights to see their grandchildren following the breakdown of a relationship. While most parents have parental rights and responsibilities which allows them to seek a court order for contact with their children, what options are available to other family members who feel excluded from a child's life.

Applying for parental rights and responsibilities

Almost anyone can apply for parental rights and responsibilities provided they have an interest in the child's life. In practice they will have to show it will be in

What do you know about procurement regulations and time barred challenges? The case of Nationwide Gritting Services Limited (NGS) against the Scottish Ministers sheds some light on the challenge timescales under procurement regulations, but unfortunately does little to provide comfort to contracting authorities embarking on procurement exercises.

The 2006 regulations outlined that court proceedings for a breach of those regulations must be brought within 3 months from the date when grounds for bringing proceedings first arose. Under the new 2012 regulations, this is now 30

Two tenancy deposit scheme decisions issued by Edinburgh Sheriff Court have given some insight on how the courts are going to treat the sanctions available under the tenancy deposit scheme regulations in Scotland.

In Fraser and Pease v Meehan, the landlord had failed to lodge the deposit with the scheme and provide the prescribed information. He claimed he wasn't aware of the scheme and the duties that came with it, as he lived in Australia.

The Sheriff,

• reiterated the importance of the regulations in ensuring

Do you know your rights regarding maternity rights and holidays? I am regularly asked this question by both employees and employers.

Legislation states that all contractual terms (except pay) survive during both ordinary maternity leave (OML) and additional maternity leave (AML). Women are therefore entitled to accrue statutory and contractual leave while on maternity leave.

If they can't take all the leave they're entitled to during a particular year, they can carry it over to the following year. Many employers allow employees to add all

For all of those Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) who provide property management services, the deadline of 1^st October 2013 to provide your factored owners with a written statement of service is drawing near.

Many housing associations have been working throughout the summer months preparing their bespoke written statement for issue. However some RSLs are still in a quandary as to whether or not they do indeed provide factoring services, what services they provide and what the costs of that service should be.

We have

Landlords, both private and social, may require access to one of their tenanted properties for a variety of different reasons. So, can landlords force access to a property?

Landlords have a general duty to repair and maintain properties throughout the duration of a tenancy and are legally obliged to comply with gas and electricity safety regulations so access may be necessary on occasion.

A landlord may also wish to carry out a general inspection to ascertain the current condition of the property or may wish

The outbreak of Legionnaires Disease in the Renfrew area, following on from an Edinburgh outbreak in 2012, is a timely reminder to private landlords that they have obligations to carry out legionnaires risk assessments of water systems within their rental properties.

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) have an Approved Code of Practice and Guidance as regards Legionnaires Disease. The Code can be found here.

The Code confirms that private landlords have a duty to carry out legionnaires risk assessments on water systems in

Large employers such as Sports Direct, McDonalds and even Buckingham Palace have recently been 'exposed' as using zero hours contracts. So what are zero hours contracts?

What are zero hours contracts?

Zero hours contracts are generally contracts of employment between employer and worker with no minimum hours for the worker, and no obligation on the employer to provide any hours. It also means, in theory, that the worker is not obliged to accept the hours which are offered to them.

Workers are entitled to be

Who is eligible for child maintenance payments following separation?

Separation often results in one parent being responsible for the majority of the everyday care of the children. A common result of this is that they also end up being responsible for the everyday costs. Child maintenance is financial support paid by the parent who does not have day-to-day care of the children. It can be paid to the other parent, the child or a grandparent, or other guardian.

Child support payments are usually agreed between

It is, thankfully, relatively unusual for a seller of a property to be faced with a buyer who pulls out of a house sale and refuses to fulfil their obligations under a contract. But it sometimes it does! So what happens when a buyer pulls out of a house sale?

On the rare occasions that this does occur, it has generally been accepted that the seller's best option is to rescind the contract ('missives' as they are known in Scotland) and to claim damages from

On 1 August 2013, the Law Society of Scotland published new guidance on "Vulnerable Clients". This guide looks at situations where a solicitor's client may have impaired mental capacity or is vulnerable to being bullied into doing something. A second set of guidance covers the risks relating to granting a Power of Attorney.

New guidance was recommended by the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland (MWC) in a report published in 2012. This followed an investigation into the case of Mr and Mrs D, a couple

Guest blog by Dr John Pollock, Pollock & Galbraith Consulting Actuaries

Little in the pensions and divorce landscape has changed in recent years but there remain pitfalls for the unwary. Two key issues which are problematic are the valuation and sharing of pensions in payment and the apportionment of Cash Equivalent Values to exclude that part of the value attributable to membership of the scheme prior to marriage.

The valuation of pensions is covered in Regulation 3 of the Divorce etc (Pensions) (Scotland) Regulations 2000.

29 July 2013 marks a dramatic change to employment tribunals (ET) as we have known them, with the introduction of employment tribunal fees. Under these new rules, claimants will be required to pay an upfront fee when submitting their claim to the ET and a further 'hearing fee' 21 days before their hearing takes place.

From 29 July, claimants wishing to submit a claim to the ET will be required to pay £160 or £250 to lodge a claim with a further charge of either

Clive Betts MP recently launched a scathing attack on "cowboy" letting agents, accusing them of ripping off both landlords and agents. His proposals for a crackdown on the industry as a whole will only be applicable to England and Wales but the Scottish Government has made it clear that letting agent regulation is high on their agenda. Many agents in Scotland act within the law and provide an excellent service to landlords. However as with the "rogue" landlords, there are rogue letting agents who give

To most people the word servitude conjures images of slavery, although thankfully that way of life is long gone! In Scotland, however, a servitude is a right over a piece of land (the burdened property) for the benefit of another (the benefitted property). This longstanding concept is still very much relevant today.

What does that really mean?

A servitude can give someone else rights over your property. Conversely, it can give you rights over a property belonging to someone else. Common examples of servitudes include:

Is rent in advance legal? We blogged on the outcome of the English case of Johnson and Ors against Old, which concerned a tenant who had paid six months rent in advance. The court held that this payment of rent did not fall under the definition of a deposit. The decision was based on the wording of the Tenancy Agreement as well as the intentions of the landlords and tenant.

We've received many queries from clients regarding the issue of taking rent in advance. In