Flood risk alert for future home owners and coveyancers

Buying a property that may be within the range of a flood plain has become even riskier due to the news that around 200,000 homes at risk from flooding could face problems getting insurance from next year.

Properties that have a 75% chance of flooding in any one year are those most at risk. Boston and Skegness in Lincolnshire is the constituency with the most homes at significant risk of  flooding with 7,550 properties under threat, followed by the Vale of Clwyd (7,339 homes), Folkestone and Hythe (7,196), and Windsor (7,125). Some properties in Great Yarmouth also fall into this category.

The reason for this is that an existing deal with the Government expires in 2013 and time is running out for ongoing talks about a new safety net arrangement.

The Association of British Insurers’ director-general Otto Thoresen said: "Insurers want to make sure that every home has access to affordable insurance, should the worst happen, and we're concerned that those people most at risk will lose out unless the Government considers a safety net.

"We are frustrated with the progress of our talks with the Government on this issue and want it to look urgently at a model that would allow flood cover to remain widely available and competitively priced. No country in the world has an entirely free market providing universal affordable flood insurance, and action is needed now to avoid 200,000 high-risk homes struggling to afford cover."

The possible non - availability of insurance may make it more difficult for people to find a mortgage for properties in the affected area and may lead to current home owners in those areas feeling trapped. 

Those acting for prospective owners of such property need to keep a close eye on this development and to warn clients of the what is happening and how this could affect the future value of the property.    Looking more closely at environmental reports and assessing the risk of flooding will clearly be needed as will the requirement to report the risk if indentified to the lender.

Unless Government acts quickly to extend the current arrangement we could see a large number of transactions failing over the next 12 months. 

By David Pett Solicitor and Partner

Morgan Jones and Pett are solicitors who provide legal advice and services to clients based in England and Wales and who can be contacted on 01603877000 or via email at davidpett@m-j-p.co.uk

Legal aid under threat for clinical negligence claims - Appeal for Help

Keith Simpson MP

David Jones has specialsed in Clinical negligence cases for 27 years on behalf of legally aided clients is meeting with Keith Simpson MP on the 1st July, 20011 to discuss the Governments radical plans to change the way legal costs are dealt with impacting significantly on the future of legal aid.

If you have a point of view why legal aid should be retained or even extended, please email davidjones@m-j-p.co.uk or call David on 01603877000

Morgan Jones and Pett are solicitors who provide legal advice and services to clients based in England and Wales and who can be contacted on 01603877000 or via email at davidpett@m-j-p.co.uk

The changing face of Housing

Unlike the Continent we are a land where the majority of us aspire to owning our own home. In fact according to the Housing and Planning Statistics 2009 there are 22 million dwellings of which 68% are owner occupied.   There are only according to these statistics around 3 million properties which are privately rented.  Contrast this with Germany where half of the housing stock is occupied by tenants.

So why are we so obsessed with ownership?  For many of us it is how we have been brought up, to do well at school, to find a job and to then look to buy a property, normally as part of settling down and starting a family.  It’s part of our make up as well as being regarded by some as a symbol of success.  For others home ownership is about financial security at a time when pensions and other investments are constantly at risk form economic downturn.  

The tide may however be changing or about to change and there are many reasons for this, the main one of which are the austerity measures taken by the Government and the impact these will begin to have on how we live our lives in the future.

There are of course other factors such as affordability. The National Housing Federation reported an eight per cent rise in house prices and the continuing squeeze on lending means that would-be buyers in Cornwall now need to earn more than £54,000 a year to set foot on the property ladder.

The Government’s housing policy however is the main cause for change in the way we look at housing and could well see the end of the Country’s property owning democracy. The Government has as part of its recent Spending Review slashed the building budget for affordable homes by 60 per cent, and given only 140,000 new private houses will be built in the UK this year, we will soon be facing a major shortage of new housing stock.

The shortage of new housing combined with limited mortgage lending, insecurity about jobs and the worry of making long term lending commitments, and in some areas the high cost of getting onto the property market, can only lead to large property institutions seizing the opportunity this presents to invest in the building of property designed only for rental.

‘Build to let’ is the latest buzz phrase and we have already seen the likes of Legal & General, Aviva and ING making overtures in this direction.

Some private investors have already begun to purchase land in London with a view of creating ‘no thrill’ three bedroom family flats in complexes where heating and other services are shared.  Rents would be set at around £300 a week – surprisingly, just below the £340 housing benefit limit to be introduced next year for three-bedroom accommodation.  To me this all sounds similar to the Council Estates which exploded onto the scene in the 60’s and 70’s.

The Government’s agenda hidden in part behind the Spending Review is quite clear; it wishes to reduce the role of the State in housing and to open the door for the private sector to fill the gap.  The challenge for the private sector is to decide where demographically it will pitch its investment.  The risk is that those who were at one time looking to get on the housing ladder and who may be looking for rental property could be overlooked with the focus being on those eligible for housing benefit given the financial security and guaranteed return this presents.  Those who fall in between low income and the level of wage needed to purchase a home could find themselves even further out in the cold.

For this reason there must be stricter controls exercised through planning restrictions to ensure we do not end up as we did in the past with parts of the country where all those occupying property are from the same social background.  We must strive for a fairer distribution of our ever shrinking housing stock otherwise we face the risk of creating even deeper cracks in the social fabric of our country.

David Pett is a partner with Morgan Jones and Pett and can be contacted  HERE: CLICK TO E-MAIL

Government proposals for employment law changes can only serve to restrict access to justice

Prime Minister David Cameron and Business Secretary Vince Cable have today announced proposed reforms to our employment legislation that includes:

• A fee to lodge a claim 


• Compulsory mediation in all Tribunal claims

• An increase in the level of continuous employment for claims of unfair dismissal from one to two years

The Government considers this will encourage employers to hire more employees and to in doing so help to reduce unemployment.  Those who represent employees consider this to be nonsense saying employment legislation has never deterred employees from engaging new staff.

The Government estimates this will lead to 3,700 - 4,700 fewer claims. Also, the potential introduction of a fee, provided employers are not subjected to a similar burden, could help to guard against spurious claims, which inevitably cost employers time and money.

These changes will have no affect on discrimination law and the ability to claim protection from day one.

Although employers will clearly welcome these changes once must question whether the who original objective behind Employment Tribunals of making remedies easily accessible and ‘litigant in person’ friendly has now become rather lost.

There seems to be no rationale for change and the propose reforms seem to serve little purpose other than to restrict and frustrate access to justice.