Author: bruceandholly

Uncategorized

Shared Ownership Leaseholders: New Protections Explained

bruceandholly
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Britain’s quarter million shared ownership leaseholders may be feeling that that little bit more secure with the coming into force of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 on 1st May 2026. The same with apply to any other leaseholder whose annual ground rent had escalated to more than £1,000 in Greater London or £250 elsewhere. Before the changes took effect, any of those leaseholders could have been thrown out of their properties if they fell behind in their rent by as little as 2 months. This was because annual ground rents above the £250 [£1,000] threshold were technically classed as assured tenancies under the Housing Act 1988, which meant that a ground landlord could end the tenancy on grounds of rent arrears by serving notice under Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 instead of going through a long-winded forfeiture process.Shared ownership leases which had not staircased to 100% were always caught within this trap because the rental element would always exceed the assured tenancy thresholds.

The change does not mean that shared ownership leaseholders or for that matter any other leaseholder cannot be evicted for rent arrears. It just means that the ground landlord has to go through the full forfeiture process which applies to all residential leases and which will always give a tenant relief against forfeiture if they can make up the rental shortfall and reimburse associated legal fees. What the Renters’ Rights Act did was to take any fixed term residential lease for more than 7 years outside the assured tenancy regime.

Shared ownership means that the residential leaseholder does not own their property outright until they have staircased to 100% but instead owns only their share in the property and pays a social rent on the remainder. The purpose of shared ownership is to enable anyone who cannot afford to buy outright, a means of getting on the housing ladder.

culture, Uncategorized

Like Old Soldiers – Imperial Measurements Will Never Die

bruceandholly
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Like old soldiers, our ancient system of Imperial measurements has been fading away since the 1970s. But will they ever die? I’m not going to bet on it.

The mandating away of our 1000-year-old system of measurements has always been in fits and starts. It started with a push in the early ’70s before stalling in the ’80s and ’90s until it became illegal in the Millennium year to sell loose goods in pounds and ounces or equivalent linear measures. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t sell you a pound of apples, so long as I measure them out on metric scales and mark them as 454 grammes. There is also nothing to stop me buying a pound of jam (sorry 454 grammes) from my local supermarket, just so long as I don’t call it a pound of jam.

It’s also strange that whilst we cherish other parts of our ancient heritage, like sea shanties or steam engines, it’s somehow ‘uncool’ to talk about feet and inches or gallons. As if it’s something only old people do. And of course editorial policy now dictates that all UK news and weather has to be delivered in metric terms. So how long do you think that it’s going to be before imperial measurements fade out completely from our language? Here is some food for thought.

The rationale for metrification has always been that Britain carries out most of its trade with Europe and therefore has to provide manufactured goods to a metric specification. But isn’t that also true for America, the world’s largest economy, if it wants to trade with Europe? Yet Americans remain wedded to US Customary Units which, with some variations, follows British Imperial units. It’s why if I step out of Orlando Airport I can buy my quarter pound of fudge and eat it in 90° heat whilst stroking an alligator. It’s also why it will always take 9 million pounds of thrust to launch a NASA moon rocket, never 40 Mega Newtons. And here are a few more morsels for you to digest.

  • Every time you switch on your 56-in wide screen to watch an American movie or documentary you are immersed in another world of feet and inches, pounds and ounces and miles. Never kilometers.
  • Whilst American Tech dominates the world, US Customary Units will always remain supreme. Even the AI on your computer.
  • Have you noticed the way that Americanisms are creeping back into our language. Like corporate counsel instead of company solicitor? Many of these are Old English words like ‘attorney’ which traveled across the Atlantic two centuries ago but are now making a reappearance, including some UK firms now styling themselves ‘Attorneys at Law’. How cool is that?
  • And remember that it will only take one UK broadcaster to change its editorial policy.

Just one other thing. There is one part of our culture which has never been metricated. Look at any clock face and you will see an ancient system of measurement dating back to the Babylonians. Likewise the 360° in a circle.

Law

The Dangers of Relying on AI for Legal Cases

bruceandholly
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Using AI is like taking legal advice from a man in a pub. You might come away with some good tips. Though you wouldn’t want to trust his advice without first checking it out. Particularly if you are preparing a case for trial. But so many lawyers seem to do just that. Particularly those still at the learning end. They’re the ones getting caught out. But it is usually their employer who gets the grief.

Think of AI as an advanced search engine. It does more than simply searching out internet content and presenting it to you as a series of links. It goes further by mashing up that content and then reconstituting it as its own work. So is it surprising that AI sometimes gets it wrong? And there’s another thing. Everything downloadable from the internet is somebody else’s intellectual property. So when you are reusing that mashed up content and passing it off as your own work, you are opening yourself up to a damages claim.

Don’t get me wrong. I sometimes use AI myself. But only a starting point. I might ask it to list out some cases relevant to the matter with which I am dealing. I will then go on to the BAILII website and search out those cases and download the PDFs. But sometimes my AI has responded with an answer which I know is wrong. So I will always defer to my own professional judgment. Because that’s what I’m paid to do. And yes – I can always sense when something has been written by AI.

Uncategorized

Understanding the 60% Tax Trap: Strategies to Mitigate Liability

bruceandholly
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It’s that time of year again. The P60s have arrived. So it’s time to get on with filing that self-assessment tax return. Why do so many people leave it to the last minute? I just don’t understand. I’ve already generated mine using the Government Gateway. It’s the second year I’ve used it to file my tax return. So much easier than going through an accountant as I had done in previous years. It means that I can rely on my own calculations instead of double-checking someone else’s arithmetic.

Of course not everyone has to file a self-assessment tax return. Only about one in three of us. But if filling out a tax return seems tiresome, at least it gives you an opportunity to review your tax affairs and make sure that you are only paying what you are required to pay. Nothing more. So remember to deduct those professional subscriptions. There are also some new kids on the block with which all of us need to be aware. One of them is not so new but it has just come to prominence because it is catching out so many people. About 2 million of us. I’m talking about the 60% tax trap.

The 60% tax trap was introduced in 2010 and applies if, taken together, your gross taxable income tops £100,000 but does not quite reach the 45% threshold which kicks in on anything above £125,000. Anything in between is doubly taxed because it is not only within the 40% higher rate tax band but you are also losing a deduction of £1 on your personal allowance for every £2 you earn above £100,000. Here are a few ways to mitigate that tax liability:

  • If you are below State pension age, increase your voluntary pension contributions sufficiently to bring your taxable pay below the £100,000 threshold.
  • Increase any Gift Aid charitable contributions you make, to reduce your taxable income. Giving to charity means that you CHOOSE who spends your hard earned money instead of having it taken out of your wage packet and wasted on something over which you have no control. Remember also that for every £40 you contribute in gift aid, your chosen charity gets £100
  • Think twice before working those extra hours. What is the point if you are going to lose 60% in tax?

There are other changes in the offing. Like a requirement for some self-employed business people and landlords to submit quarterly returns. Isn’t that another reason to get out of the residential lettings market? The government calls it ‘making tax digital’. I thought that my tax was already digital when I logged onto the Government Gateway

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