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HM Revenue and Customs says thousands of teenagers haven’t claimed money from their Child Trust Fund (CTF) savings accounts that were set up by the Labour government 20 years ago. The CTCs are long-term savings accounts set up for every child born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011. To encourage future saving and…

UK House prices continued to rise over the summer, according to the latest figures, although the rate of increase is slowing. The statistics from HM Land Registry show that house prices rose by 0.9% between July and August. The annual increase to August was 13.6%, compared with an annual increase of 16% in the year…

A 12-year-old boy has been granted £50,000 from his late aunt’s estate on the basis that he had been treated as a child of the family. The boy was taken in by his aunt shortly after his birth because his mother was unable to care for him herself. The aunt acted as the boy’s main…

The government has launched its Help to Build scheme, aiming to give thousands of people and families in England the opportunity to build their own homes. Making self and custom-designed homes can require huge sums up front, meaning it has not been a realistic option for many buyers. The average for a self and custom…

A judge has ruled that a mother did not have testamentary capacity at the time she wrote her will when she left everything to her son and nothing to her daughter. The woman died in 2017, and her wills, made in 2010 and 2013, left the bulk of her estate to her son. The wills…

Homebuyers are considering their options amid a flurry of activity that is having a major impact on the housing market. On the plus side, the government has announced a cut in stamp duty and extra help for first-time buyers, together with plans to release more land for newbuilds. On the negative side, the Bank of…

Thousands of new homes are to be created in England by making use of derelict and underused brownfield sites.   Councils are now able to apply for a share of the new £180 million Brownfield Land Release Fund 2, which will help to transform disused urban areas into 17,600 new homes and create around 54,000…

The trustees of a man’s will have been told they cannot put a time limit on his daughter’s right to bring a claim against them unless they provided all the facts that determined how the estate should be divided.   The case involved two siblings in dispute over the will of their late father.  …

A new insurance scheme has been developed to enable people living in high-rise buildings to sell their homes in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy.   Following the fire in 2017, mortgage lenders became reluctant to lend to buyers of flats in high-rise buildings, and sales dropped rapidly.   To provide assurance, a…

There were more than 37,000 new homes completed and construction begun on the same number during the last 12-month phase of the government’s Homes England initiative.   The programme enables private registered providers, house builders, community groups and local authorities to deliver affordable housing.   There were 38,436 new houses starting on-site and 37,164 houses…