Some new updates (remember that for full advice on these bulletins please ask to speak to one of our Solicitors on 020 8651 3118):-

• Important changes are introduced on 1st February 2009 to the rules on entitlement where one dies without having left a valid Will: click here for a note of the changes
• From 1st October 2007 it was no longer possible to make new Enduring Powers of Attorney, a new regime has been introduced creating what is known as the Lasting Power of Attorney.
• From 9th October 2007, any portion of Nil Rate Band unused when a spouse or civil partner dies may be transferred to the surviving spouse or civil partner and used when calculating their liability for Inheritance Tax when they die but normally this must be claimed within 24 months of the death of the surviving spouse unless there are exceptional circumstances and HMRC in their absolute discretion agree. 
• The Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced that Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) will not apply to purchases of residential property of £175,000 or less. This will provide an exemption from SDLT for land transactions consisting entirely of residential property where the chargeable consideration is not more than £175,000. This relief applies to transactions with an effective date on or before 31st December 2009.
• From 1st October 2008 all residential properties to be sold or let must be offered with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). We can arrange for that to be carried out for you as part of our property selling or letting service
• HIPS latest: Last December the Minister of State for Housing and Planning Margaret Beckett announced that from 6 April 2009 no property may be marketed without some form of HIP which must contain at least: the index, sale statement, Land Registry entries (or proof of title in the case of unregistered land), the Energy Performance Certificate, and a new Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ). If the local authority search (or personal search in some cases) and drainage search are not available at the first point of marketing the person responsible for compiling the HIP must produce evidence that they have been ordered, and they must be included within the rest of the HIP within 28 days of the first point of marketing point, at the latest. (Note that the term "first point of marketing" has a special meaning afforded to it under the HIP rules). The duty to update the HIP as soon as possible, according to the rules, continues regardless in all cases. If the property is a lease, then a copy of the lease must be included in the pack straight away and so must the answers to the leasehold questions in the PIQ.
• Please note that there are special rules for determining how to calculate when there is what is known as a "first point of marketing" and the consequences of that for the person responsible for the HIP: please ask us for more information as part of our property selling service.

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