Runcorn Office Closes

The Partners of Widdows Mason wish to advise that our office at Runcorn closed on Friday 14 January 2011.

Staff members Guy Dodd, Kenny Ip and Su Wilson have transferred to our office at Warrington (Arundel House, 12 Rylands Street, Warrington WA1 1EP) and will continue to deal with existing matters from there. Wills and Deeds previously stored at the Runcorn office will now be held at our main office in Leigh (20 King Street, Leigh, Lancashire WN7 4LR).

Any queries or questions about the office closure should be addressed to the Managing Partner, Keith Freer

Widdows Trainee Qualifies as a Solicitor

The Partners of Widdows Mason are pleased to confirm that Trainee Solicitor Amy Mathison qualified as a Solicitor on 1 September 2010.

During her training contract, Amy has worked in our Personal Injury, Private Client and Family Law Departments. Amy is now based in the Family Law Department at our Wigan Office

HIPs scrapped by Coalition Government

The Government announced today that homeowners selling their properties will no longer be required to provide Home Information Packs with effect from the 21st May 2010.

HIPS were launched in 2007 and have since been mandatory for anyone selling a property in England and Wales and were seen at the time as a means of a way of simplifying the house buying process. A HIP would include an energy performance certificate, a local and drainage search and various legal deeds and documents. The introduction of this new procedure brought wide spread criticism as it involved Sellers in additional expense at the outset of a transaction. The packs included local searches which were often out of date by the time a Buyer was found for a property, meaning that searches had to be carried out for a second time.

Estate agents locally are hopeful that the news will now stimulate the market, by perhaps prompting speculative Sellers to put their property on the market, whilst at the same time reducing selling costs.

The Government confirm that a Seller will still be required to provide an energy performance certificate before being allowed to market a property for sale.

Widdows Mason are able to provide this service. Please telephone 01925 632267 to speak to one of our property law specialists for further details

Sixty Glorious Years

Long-serving staff member Dorothy Devlin today (13 May 2010) celebrated her 60th birthday.

Dorothy joined the Leigh Office of what was then called Widdows Davis and Frankland on 6 March 1978, which at the time was based in Turnpike House, Market Street. Dorothy worked for John Frankland and, for a period of 22 years, the late Blanche Cooke before moving to the Hindley Office of the firm in 2006 where she currently assists Janet Calvert with a varied caseload of Wills and Probate work.

Dorothy recalls many changes across the years, particularly the expansion of the firm with numerous mergers (Masons of Bolton, Martin and Co of Farnworth, Campbells of Wigan and Hindley, Linakers of Warrington and Runcorn and D Hampson & Co of Shevington) and the trend followed by many legal practices towards specialisation. Dorothy is an authority on the Administration of Estates and much relied upon by staff across the firm. She is also a key member of the development team which looks after the firm's Case Management software.

Colleagues from the Hindley Office joined Dorothy for a very pleasant lunch at 'Summat to Ate' in Market Street, Hindley

Budget 2010 - Stamp Duty Changes

The Chancellor announced in his Budget on the 24th March 2010 that the Legislation in Finance Bill 2010 will introduce relief from stamp duty land tax (SDLT) for purchases of residential property at up to £250,000 where the purchaser or all the purchasers are first time buyers and intend to occupy the property as their only or main home. This relief is time limited to two years.

The new relief will be available for residential purchases where the effective date (normally the date of completion) is on or after 25 March 2010 and before 25 March 2012.

For further details and guidance notes from HMRC, please follow the attached link: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/budget2010/sdlt-qa-tech-1545.pdf.