Blog | Mitchells Roberton

Government Urged To Remove VAT On Charitable Wills
Charity Consortium, Remember a Charity, has urged the UK Government to exempt VAT from the cost of writing a Will containing a charitable bequest. The consortium predicts a VAT exemption on charitable wills would double the number of people leaving a gift to charity, generating a further £800m for the voluntary sector. Rob Cope, Remember a Charity ...
Keep Your Options Open
Ross Leatham, Partner in our Commercial Property Department explains what an option agreement is and why the parties involved in a land purchase transaction may want one: An option agreement is an agreement between a landowner and a potential developer of the landowner’s property. Mostly the prospective purchaser will pay an agreed price to the landowner ...
A Legal Update for Landlords
The private rental sector will face significant changes over the next year with the introduction of the new ‘Private Residential Tenancy’ and the ‘Letting Agent’ Regulations but there are a number of other recent legal developments that landlords should be aware of. Creation of the First-tier Tribunal Housing and Property Chamber The Housing and Property Chamber which ...
Gender Pay Gap
When you “make a bold statement”, you express an opinion in a brave way or it might be “bold” because the opinion is uncommon or controversial. In the wake of International Women’s Day I am going to be bold. There exists a gender pay gap (GPG) which the World Economic Forum predicts will not be closed until 2186. ...
New Residence Nil Rate Band
From April 2017 a new IHT- free allowance has being introduced. It is to be known as the Residence Nil Rate Band (RNRB) and will apply if you leave your residence to your “direct descendants”. The objective of the policy according to the Government is to “reduce the burden of IHT for most families by making ...
Families Matter
The Scottish Family Business Association exists to support, nurture and help develop the full potential of all our Scottish family businesses. Research, expertise and experience from across the globe show that by adopting specific best practices family businesses can overcome inherent challenges and flourish both as businesses and as families. Although it is not always recognised ...
A new Bill to tackle psychological domestic abuse has been published
The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill aims to strengthen the law against people who psychologically abuse their partners using coercive and controlling behaviour. For the first time, the Bill will create a statutory offence of domestic abuse by recognising the damage which non- physical abuse can cause. Such behaviour could include subordination, humiliation, isolating a partner from ...
Government Urged to Act on Retirement Housing
Two separate organisations representing the interests of older people have called for a “revolution” in the provision of housing to better meet the needs of those in retirement. Saga has called on the Chancellor to introduce a Stamp Duty (in Scotland Land Building Transaction Tax) exemption for those downsizing in retirement. Their recent research has provided ...
Should you consider a postnuptial agreement?
Marriage or civil partnership is a relationship that most of us will enter into at some point in our lives. Pre and post-nuptial agreements can be an effective and simple way of protecting the interests of both parties within such partnerships. Generally both types of agreement will determine the division of assets if a marriage ...
Voluntary Registration- Would it benefit you?
At the moment less than 30% of land in Scotland is registered in the Land Register of Scotland which is a digital map- based Register. The remainder of land is still recorded in the General Register of Sasines which is a Register of historic deeds. The Scottish Government has asked the Keeper of the Registers of ...