Blackstone Monthly Roundup
Blackstone’s Property, Litigation and Family Law Roundup
This month’s roundup includes calls for lawyers to play a big part in Brexit, new figures showing just how many adults in England and Wales are cohabiting couples and predictions that Britain’s decision to leave the EU will lead to sharp falls in house prices and sales.
Lawyers to help with Brexit?
Lawyers should be used by new Prime Minister Theresa May to assist with Brexit after Britain voted to leave the European Union (EU) last month. This is according to the Law Society, which has called on Ms May to recognise and use the expertise of the legal sector during negotiations around article 50 of the Treaty of European Union.
Triggering this article will begin proceedings for the UK exiting the EU and Jonathan Smithers, President of the Law Society, said: “The law of England and Wales is and will continue to be used across the globe as the gold standard, and England and Wales is the premier jurisdiction of choice irrespective of whether we are in the EU.”
Mr Smithers added that clients will receive support from solicitors as they face the various new challenges that Brexit will bring.
Report: Nearly 10% of adults are cohabiting couples
Almost 10% of adults in England and Wales can be classed as cohabiting couples, a newly released report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has shown. Entitled Families and Households: 2015, the research identified cohabiting couple families as the fastest-growing family type in the UK.
Indeed, between 2004 and 2014 this family type has increased by 29.7%. While 6.8% of the population in 2002 was comprised of cohabiting couples who were neither married nor in a civil partnership, this moved up to 9.5% in 2015.
The findings also revealed that 50.6% of the population aged 16 or over were married in 2015 (23.8 million people). Pamela Cobb of the Population Statistics Division at the ONS commented: “This figure has steadily declined since 2002, which could be associated with a rise in cohabiting amongst those who have never married or formed a civil partnership.”
Blackstone Solicitors has a specialist lawyer in cohabitation agreements and we can provide the assistance you need to make sure any such agreement is to your satisfaction.
House sales to fall following Brexit – RICS
Britain’s decision to leave the EU will result in sharp falls for house sales, surveyors have claimed. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) noted that uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the impact it will have will result in house sales continuing their decline.
According to RICS, sales were down in June and are likely to drop by more than one-quarter over the coming three months. It was also shown that the number of new buyers making enquiries tumbled by 36%, marking the lowest level for eight years.
Simon Rubinsohn, Chief Economist at RICS, said: “Big events such as elections typically do unsettle markets so it is no surprise that the EU referendum has been associated with a downturn in activity.”
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