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Japanese knotweed is a very considerable pest – 'indisputably the UK's most aggressive, destructive and invasive plant', according to the Environment Agency –as it can cause damage to buildings, spreads easily and is difficult to eradicate. As well as its potential for physical damage, its presence can also reduce the value of a property. It is the responsibility of an owner of land which has knotweed growing on it to control it and to prevent it from spreading to adjacent land. A recent case was brought by the owners of properties...

One of the requirements for a will to be accepted as valid is that the person who makes it must have 'knowledge and approval' of its contents...in other words, they must understand what the will says and what it means in practice. It might seem, therefore, that a will in a language the testator could not read would be difficult to validate, but that was not the view of the High Court in a recent case. The son of a couple who had executed 'mirror wills' contested his late mother's will....

It is normal for money, often considerable sums, to pass between family members. However, when this is done without legal advice, it is only too common for disputes to arise as to whether or not the sums concerned were meant as gifts. Disputes between family members often become particularly fractious. Exactly that happened in one case in which a mother and son ended up at loggerheads over ownership of properties worth £800,000. The case concerned a flat and a house which were both held in the son's sole name. A...

Despite strong representations from the professional community, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have decided that they will stick with a 30-day initial payment requirement for Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on residential property gains for disposals after April 2020. The payment will have to be lodged with HMRC within 30 days of the date of completion of the sale. The sale of one's primary residence in the UK is not generally taxable for UK residents, so the change will normally catch only those who are non-resident or who sell second properties. The...