Brit Law Blog

Boiler Breakdown – Is Your Heating Covered?

britlawblog — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:13:31 +0000

Heating your home isn’t so much of a problem in the summer, but unless you’re in the habit of only taking cold showers and boiling the kettle every time you wash up, you could be left high and dry if your boiler breaks down. The boiler is a part of the home which is rarely, if ever, thought of, until it stops working. Suddenly it becomes a very prominent and rather expensive piece of essential equipment.

If you rent your home, you won’t have to worry about having some money aside for boiler repairs; your landlord will cover it. But if you’re a homeowner, you may want to think about putting a little aside to cover the costs should anything go wrong.

If your boiler is over ten years old, it might be worth investing in a new model; this can cut your fuel costs down considerably, especially if you get a high-efficiency model. Depending on the amount of space in your home, the size of your family and the existing boiler, you would have a choice as to the type of boiler to go for. A combi boiler is the most widely known, and is good for small homes with few people, or people who don’t want to wait for their hot water. A combi boiler draws water and heats it through the mains, doing away with the need for a storage tank. Hot water is instant and on demand; but if someone runs a hot tap while you’re having a nice hot shower, be prepared to jump out quickly!

The Unpleasant Business Of Evicting Tenants

britlawblog — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:45:23 +0000

(via The UK Law Blog)

For a landlord, evicting tenants can be a very unpleasant and daunting process to go through, if the correct procedures are not adhered to a landlord can end up losing money or the right to evict their tenant(s). And at the extreme end of the spectrum a landlord could even end up being sued by the tenant. There can be any number of reasons why tenant eviction needs to occur, and some of the most common reasons include rent arrears, unsociable tenant behaviour or other breaches of the tenancy agreement. Of all of these, rent arrears is the single most common reason for tenant eviction. If a tenant is unable or unwilling to pay you the rent that is due after a number of warnings, then eviction may be the only option left. However, before going ahead with eviction you should seek advice.

Whiplash Compensation Claims

britlawblog — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:10:19 +0000

(via Shannans Blog)

Claiming compensation for whiplash is your civil right. If someone collides with your car and you suffer whiplash as a result then you are entitled to receive compensation. Most personal injury solicitor will have dealt with a whiplash claim so would be able to advice you. You may have taken some time off work or in severe cases have to deal with an immobilising disability. And if the accident was not your fault then you would be daft not to take legal action. There are now “no win no fee” agreements where solicitors take on a case for nothing and only get paid at the end if the case is successful. You need to find a good solicitor that explains everything clearly. Some companies have hidden costs that you need to be aware off. Finding a company that offers straightforward advice for no charge is the best place to start.

Why You Need To Report An Accident At Work

britlawblog — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:55:30 +0000

(via All Insurance Information)

‘… They say that most accidents occur in the home – but the workplace probably comes a close second. After all, if you’re like the average UK employee, you probably spend more time at work during the week than you do at home. Figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) suggest that in 2006-07, 274,000 reportable injuries occurred. What’s more, during the same time period, 241 workers were killed while at work.

So what should you do if you’ve been in an accident at work? First things first: always report an accident to your employer. Remember, your employer is legally-bound to protect you from health and safety issues, so you shouldn’t feel that reporting an accident is tantamount to dissent against your company. Additionally, it means that in the future your employer will be able to make sure that no one else suffers the same fate.

What’s more, if you’re involved in an accident in the workplace that keeps you away from work, it’s likely you’ll only have the right to statutory sick pay. So when you report your accident to your employers, check whether or not they have a scheme in place for extra payment due to accidents. Don’t feel embarrassed or shy to do so either – if you don’t ask, you don’t get! …’

No Win No Fee Claims Broken Down and Explained

britlawblog — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 09:43:43 +0000

(via Legal Aid)

If you have been involved in an accident in the last three years that was caused through no fault of your own then you could put in an accident claim for compensation. If you are suffering after a road traffic accident, a public place accident or an accident in your work place then the first thing you should do is get in touch with a solicitor. A solicitor will review your case and if they feel you have a good chance of success they will then take up your case. It is important to remember that a solicitor doesn’t get paid if your case is unsuccessful so if your case is taken on by a solicitor you will have a high chance of your case becoming a success and your solicitor will do everything they can to help you.

A no win no fee case is an agreement between you and your solicitor, they are highly successful and many more people are now realising that they are entitled to make a claim for compensation. If you have suffered injuries due to an accident that was caused by the negligence of another person then a compensation award can help you to afford help and services to enable you to adjust and fully recover or make up for financial loss.

In 1998 the 1995 Conditional Fee Agreement was amended and allowed people to process a compensation claim via a no win no fee agreement. Prior to the Conditional fee agreement, which brought about the no win no fee process, anyone who wanted to pursue compensation for a personal injury would have to apply for Legal Aid or Public Funding. This was a means tested system and was unfair as some victims were entitled while other victims were not. Legal Aid was withdrawn in 2000 and in its place came the Conditional Fee Agreement.

A Guide to Negligence Law

britlawblog — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:08:05 +0000

(via Personal Laws)

In English law the law of tort allows you to claim compensation for whiplash if you are involved in a car or motorcycle accident. But what does this law say, and how did it come into existence?

The law of negligence means that in certain situations one person owes a duty of care to another person to not cause them any harm or injury. If that person subsequently does something, or fails to do something, and that action or inaction causes injury to the other person, they are entitled to claim compensation for the damage (the injury or the losses and expenses in a whiplash claim).

To understand the law of negligence in relation to a whiplash claim it is easiest to use a case study. If Mrs A is stationary in a queue of traffic leading onto a roundabout, she is in a car and she owes a duty of care to all other road users. Likewise, any vehicles behind Mrs A owe a duty of care not to cause harm to her. If Mr B drives up behind Mrs A and fails to stop in time, crashing into the rear of her car, he has breached this duty of care. If this breach has led to damage or injury to Mrs A, she can claim compensation for these losses from Mr B (or in reality his insurance company).

The Losses or Injury Must Be Caused By The Breach of Duty of Care

In the above example, if Mrs A subsequently experienced neck and back pain, the next step in esablishing that she could make a claim for compensation would be to prove that the injuries she sustained were caused by Mr B driving into the back of her car. In theory this is very straightforward, as if she was not injured before and was afterwards, her injuries seem to have been caused by the accident. However, medical evidence is needed to prove that the breach of duty of care did lead to the whiplash injuries to Mrs A. If on obtaining the medical notes for Mrs A it is discovered that she already had bad neck and back pain, a medical expert will have to say whether the pain now has been made worse by the car accident. Unless his evidence confirms this to be the case, Mrs A will have failed to establish that Mr B’s breach of duty or care has caused her injuries, and will not be able to claim compensation.

Housing Benefit Changes And Why Private Landlords Should Consider A Rent Collection Service

britlawblog — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:11:25 +0000

Here is a snippet from a great article on the housing benefit changes over at Extra Realty.

‘… In anticipation of the increased number of rent collection problems that the Housing Benefit changes will bring to private landlords, R. James Hutcheon Solicitors are advising landlords to consider the benefits of the firm’s low cost rent collection and rent arrears legal protection service in order to avoid cash-flow problems caused by non payment of rent from tenants on low incomes and in direct control of their Housing Allowance from April. The Rent Management Service from Hutcheon Solicitors costs £10 per tenant per month and is a full rent collection and reporting service for busy private landlords that wish to have their rental income professionally managed without paying the high costs associated with hiring an expensive letting agency.

Built In Legal Protection To Deal With Problem Tenants
The Rent Collection Service from Hutcheon Solicitors also provides private landlords with built in legal protection as part of the monthly fee in order to formally deal with problem tenants that have failed to keep up with rent payments and are not responding to a rent arrears repayment plan administered on behalf of the landlord by Hutcheon law. The legal protection provided to landlords as part of the Rent Management Service covers the necessary costs associated with starting initial legal proceedings for repossession and tenant eviction if called for and any additional ‘full blown’ court eviction action is supplied on a No Win No Fee basis to landlords from the firm. …’

Scotland The Brave And Work Accident Claims

britlawblog — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:11:07 +0000

What is it about the Scottish? Why for such a relatively small and lowly populated country does Scotland seem to produce more geniuses and significant historical figures per capita than any other nation on earth.

It does not seem fair that a country which has contributed so much to humanity, civilization and the United Kingdom should be such a hotbed for personal injury claims, particularly in the field of work accident compensation.

Yet there are explanations. It does make sense that Scotland should see so many work accident claims when for a prolonged period of years Scotland, together with Wales and the north of England, formed the centre of the UK’s mining industry.

Even today there are still Scottish mining work accident claims for work injuries such as asbestos-related illness and beat knee (bursitis) being made by people who worked in Scottish mines when they were at their peak in the 1970s and 80s.

But work accidents in Scottish mines are, of course, not a recent phenomenon. In fact they have been happening from the earliest Stone Age forays into mining right through to the hazardous days of Victorian pre and early industrial mining.

Unfortunately, for these early victims of Scottish work accidents there was no recourse to no win, no fee solicitors specialising in accidents at work.

Here are a few examples of the kind of mining work accident that was all too common in Scotland towards the end of the 19th Century.

All are taken directly from Scottish newspapers of the time:
• Fatal Accident at a Fife Colliery – An accident, which terminated fatally, occurred yesterday in one of the pits of Muircockhall Colliery, near Dunfermline. John Oswald, a miner, was working at the face, when a quantity of coal came away suddenly and fell upon him. His back was broken and he died while being taken to his house at Townhill. The deceased, who was 50 years of age, leaves a widow and grown up family. [Scotsman 1 May 1895]

• Fatal Pit Accident – Yesterday, James Stobbie, labourer, accidentally fell down one of the Dunfermline Coal Company’s pits at Highholm, and was killed on the spot. The shaft is in process of sinking, and Stobbie, who was engaged in emptying the “kettles” missed his footing and fell a distance of 40 fathoms. Deceased was married and fifty years of age. [Edinburgh Courant 5 December 1884]

• Fatal Accident – James Reid, miner, was killed at the “Rossie” pit of Messrs Bowman & Co, East Wemyss, on Saturday, through one of the hutches falling from the top of the elevator at the loading bank. He only survived the accident an hour. He leaves a widow and two children. [Scotsman 18 June 1883]

• Serious Personal Injury – Yesterday morning, John Matthewson, hooker in the Rosie Pit of Messrs Bowman &, Company, missed his footing and fell in front of the hutches, several of which grazed his head and otherwise seriously injured his body. [Scotsman 2 October 1884]
It is a shame that through the cruel hand of history none of these men benefited from the advances of 20th Century medical science or the expertise of today’s no win, no fee personal injury solicitors.
Chances are that many great Scots such as Dr. David Livingstone the famous philanthropist, Robert the Bruce the valiant king and Alexander Bell, inventor of the telephone, would agree that no win, no fee work accident compensation claims are a just and necessary element of a fair and equal Scottish society.

http://www.youclaim.co.uk/scottish-injury/scottish-industries-and-personal-injury-claims.htm