Allington Hughes Gains Legal Aid Contract for Housing Advice in Shropshire

Allington Hughes has been granted a contract by the Legal Aid Agency to provide free Housing advice to those who qualify in the Shropshire area.

Alongside being the only law firm in the Wrexham area that can offer this service, we can now deal with matters utilising Legal Aid for people who reside in the county of Shropshire, meaning Allington Hughes can provide access to free legal advice for a vastly increased amount of people.

Public funding is available for Housing matters such as: 

• Possession of the home (other than mortgage possession which is now referred to as debt);
• Eviction from home (including unlawful eviction);
• Seeking repairs to rented accommodation where the disrepair pose a serious risk of harm to health or safety;
• Anti-social behaviour orders.
• Homelessness assistance for persons who are homeless or threatened with homelessness;
• Injunctions under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 in the context of housing and ASBO matters in the County Court.

Our highly experienced Housing team is available to assist you in all of these cases and more, with or without the help of Legal Aid.

You can find out if you qualify for legal aid here.

For further information and assistance on this matter or any other, please call 01978 291000 for Wrexham, 01244 312166 for Chester or 01492 641222 for Llanrwst.

Director and Head of the Housing Department Alison Stace.

Help to Buy Scheme - Wales

As of January 2014 the Welsh Government has unveiled its new Help to Buy Scheme in a bid to boost the Welsh housing economy. Since the recent economic crisis, mortgage lenders have been very cautious about lending funds to prospective buyers and have been asking for larger deposits. The Help to Buy Wales scheme is designed to provide additional funds to prospective buyers so they can meet deposit requirements for mortgage companies. The scheme will do this by providing a shared equity loan to buyers of new-build houses.

The scheme allows buyers to obtain a mortgage with only a 5% deposit of the purchase price. The Help to Buy Wales (HtBW) scheme will then contribute up to a maximum of 20% of the purchase price. The main advantage of this scheme is that it puts people in a position to obtain a mortgage without having to save up for such a big deposit.

There are however limitations on the scheme and it will not be available in any of the following scenarios:

• those who can not afford a 5% deposit
•   those wishing to purchase a house which isn’t a new-build
•  those who currently own another house and wish to purchase a second
• those who wish to buy-to-let.
•  it must also be through a builder who is registered through the scheme.

A buyer must apply for the scheme through the HtBW website. HtBW will then assess the application and give authority to proceed if they deem your application affordable. After completion of the purchase of the property, HtBW register a legal charge against the property securing the amount they have contributed to the purchase. 

The loan is interest free for the first five years. After five years, the borrower is required to pay interest at 1.75% of the market value of the property at the time they purchased it, multiplied by the proportion of the HtBW loan bears to the market value of the property at the time purchased. Interest will also increase by Retail Price Index plus 1% from 1 April following the fifth year of the loan and each 1 April after that. There is also a £1 monthly fee which is a management fee payable to HtBW.

In conclusion, the scheme provides an opportunity to those looking to buy a new property who can afford mortgage repayments but just not the opening deposit. The initiative is only running until March 2016 but may finish earlier if all the funding is taken up. Allington Hughes can assist you with all steps of the transaction, providing expert legal advice to assist with what can be an exciting experience.

For more information on the Help to Buy Wales Scheme, or any other matter, please contact one of our offices on 01978 291000 for Wrexham, 01244 312166 for Chester or 01492 641222 for Llanrwst.

The Conveyancing Team in all three of our offices can assist with full details on all matters relating to the sale or purchase of a property.

Nant Conwy RFC Concert at the Clubhouse with Wynne Evans

Tonight, Wednesday 5th April, Clwb Rygbi Nant Conwy will be hosting a Charity Concert at their clubhouse in Llanrwst at 7.15pm.

They will be joined by Opera singer Wynne Evans of Go Compare and S4C fame, who has been training 6 of the Nant Conwy players to give it their all and sing Opera alongside him.

All proceeds of the concert are going to the clubs chosen charity for the year, Marie Curie Cancer Care.

The night promises to be one full of big voices, big smiles and hopefully big success for Marie Curie, so please head down to the clubhouse if you can and offer your support.

Clwb Rygbi Nant Conwy are sponsored by the Llanrwst office, Cyfraith JRL Law.

6 of the Nant Conwy players will be singing alongside Operatic Singer Wynne Evans to raise money for Marie Curie.

Trees and the Highway - Legal Issues

With considerable patches of high wind being a regular occurrence over the last couple of months, Director Edward Nutting of the Llanrwst office has produced an article surrounding the issue of falling trees on roads and public access points.

'Trees abutting a public highway may belong to the owner of the adjoining land or to the Highway Authority. However, the Highway Authority can treat trees growing on the side of the road as their property to ensure that they have sufficient control to cut down or lop trees that are causing an obstruction to the highway.

Under section 130 of the Highways Act 1980 (HA 1980), the Highway Authority has a general duty to “protect the rights of the public to the use and enjoyment of any highway for which they are the highway authority”.

Section 150 of the HA 1980 goes further and states that the Highway Authority is responsible for removing obstructions to the highway. The Highway Authority may however recover from the owner of the tree the expenses incurred in removing the obstruction, unless the owner proves he took reasonable steps to ensure that the tree or branch did not cause or contribute to the obstruction. In short this would mean that an owner of trees who has them regularly inspected and finds them healthy and safe would not be liable to pay the Highway Authority costs of removing the tree if for example the tree was to fall in strong wind.

Where trees that overhang the highway and endanger or obstruct the passage of vehicles or pedestrians, or interfere with the view of drivers, the Highway Authority can serve a notice on the owner of the tree requiring them within 14 days to lop or cut it. If the person who has been served with the notice does not comply with the notice within the specified period the Highway Authority can carry out the work itself and recover reasonable expenses from the person in default. (There is however a right to appeal against the notice to a Magistrates Court).

The owner of a tree falling on to the highway which causes injury to road users is not liable for the damage unless negligence can be proved against him. Liability will depend on whether the owner knew or should have known that the tree was likely to fall and cause injury. Owners of trees adjoining a highway should make periodic inspections and carry out any lopping necessary. It would also be prudent to insure against the risk of damage by trees falling on the highway.'

If we can help you with any queries you may have surrounding this topic, or anything other matter, then please feel free to contact Edward Nutting on 01492 641222, or any other member of our team.

Legal advice may be needed if a tree falls from your land onto a highway.

Edward Nutting is a Director at Allington Hughes Ltd based in the Llanrwst Cyfraith JRL Law office.