September 2017 – Latin Tag Axed. Third Party Rights Reborn
The Contract (Third Party Rights)(Scotland) Bill (“the Bill”) The Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 21st September. 109 votes were cast in favour; there were no votes against; and no abstentions. Something so uncontroversial does sound a bit … More
August 2017 – Property Factors and Who is a “homeowner”
The Bullet Point Update for October 2013 gave an outline of the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011. By way of a brief re-cap, before the 2011 Act was passed property factors in Scotland were not subject to regulation or any minimum standards … More
July 2017 – Private tenancies – Old and New
The Bullet Point Updates for April 2016 and May 2016 gave an outline of the radical re-vamp of private residential tenancies under the Private Housing (Tenancies)(Scotland) Act 2016) (“the new Act”) which is expected to have effect from December this year. … More
June 2017 – Rectifying A Wayward Will
Rectifying contracts and other deeds Since 1985 there have been statutory provisions in place so that where: a contractual document fails to express accurately the common intention of the parties when the agreement was made; or a document intended, for … More
May 2017 – “Fixing a blip with ADS” – The Additional Dwelling Supplement & Second Homes
Something was said about Additional Dwelling Supplement in Bullet Point Update 1 of 2016 (“Second homes & Land and Buildings Transaction Tax”). This note focuses exclusively on a particular forthcoming change to the rules about ADS concerning cases where a … More
April 2017 – “April is the cruellest month” – Burial and Cremation (Scotland ) Act 2016
The quote from T S Eliot’s The Wasteland is hardly cheerful but seems an apt title for the subject matter of this month’s update: burial and cremation. The subject is not entirely topical except that this month is the anniversary … More
March 2017 – Letting Agents Register & Code of Practice
Section 29 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 requires the setting up of a mandatory register of letting agents and section 43 gave Scottish Ministers power to set out a code of practice about letting agency work. The Letting Agent … More
February 2017 – In terrorem “Penalty clauses” in contracts – the Scottish Law Commission review
The Scottish Law Commission is currently reviewing the law on “penalty clauses” in contracts. Their consultation exercise closes at the end of this month. It’s worth outlining what “penalty clauses” are; the current state of the law; and what the … More
January 2017 – Charities becoming SCIOs (Scottish Charitable Incorporated Association)
There are over 24,000 charities registered with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (“OSCR”). These come in all shapes and sizes and are constituted in various forms. In the main, charities will be set up in the form of … More