There was a fall in the number of personal injury cases initiated in the Scottish civil courts in 2015-16, according to the latest civil justice statistics from Scotland’s Chief Statistician.

New research by Zoopla has found that properties located close to a popular farmers market could be worth up to 26% more than the average home in the same county.

The latest Quarterly Housing Statistics from Scotland’s Chief Statistician have revealed that 16,309 new build homes were completed in the 12 months to September 2016. This is an increase of 1% on the 16,152 homes completed in the previous year.

The European Commission has recently published its latest report on the Rapid Alert System for dangerous products.

The Succession (Scotland) Act 2016, which came into full effect in November 2016, has introduced a number of important changes to Succession law in Scotland. The Act marks the first major change to this area of law since the Succession (Scotland) Act 1964.

Road safety charity IAM RoadSmart has described using a hand-held mobile phone while in control of a vehicle as a fatal distraction.

With the growth in the “gig economy”, more and more businesses are utilising innovative contractual arrangements to maintain their workforce. Big names like Uber and Deliveroo have been at the forefront of this development. In recent months though, persons working within the gig economy have been taking legal action with a view to enforcing employment rights for themselves and for their co-workers. Pimlico Plumbers v Smith represents the latest skirmish in this battle.

The care received in hospitals in the UK is generally of a high standard, but sometimes mistakes are made, which can have tragic consequences for patients and their families.

A lack of properties coming onto the housing market is continuing to prove problematic, according to the latest Residential Market Survey by RICS.

There has been a 70% reduction in the number of employment cases which are brought to Tribunal.  This percentage is the same for multiple claims as for individual claims.  This trend is as a result of the requirement for fees to be paid in order for an individual to have their claim heard before an Employment Tribunal. 

The most recent road casualty figures from the Department for Transport have revealed a rise in the number of people killed or seriously injured, which has prompted road safety charity Brake to call for more preventative action by Government.

The start of 2017 has seen ‘broadly stable’ annual house price growth amounting to 4.3%, according to Nationwide’s House Price Index for January. This is only slightly below the annual growth rate of 4.5% recorded in December 2016. On a monthly basis, house prices rose by 0.2% in January, after seasonal factors were taken into account.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), in conjunction with the Environment Agency, has recently carried out a series of visits to waste sites, in an attempt to improve working practices on these sites and ensure that operators are complying with all relevant legislation.

Road safety charity Brake has welcomed a recent police campaign targeting illegal mobile phone use behind the wheel.

Scotland’s most expensive street is currently to be found in St Andrews, according to new research by Bank of Scotland. The Scores, which is in very close proximity to the town’s Old Course golf course, now has an average house price of £2,179,000.

RICS recently published its housing forecast for 2017, which predicts an average increase of 3% in house prices in the UK over the course of the year.

Dallas McMillan Solicitors are delighted to announce that our official charity partner for 2017 is Cancer Support Scotland.

Employers use disciplinary procedures to inform employees that their performance isn’t to the standard expected and to monitor and encourage improvement. However, when not used or conducted appropriately, if dismissed an employee may have an arguable claim for unfair dismissal (if they have two years continued service), regardless of how blatant their misconduct.

Property law is the area of law that governs the various forms of ownership and tenancy in real property and in personal property. In Scots law, the distinction between real rights and personal rights is of utmost importance. Real rights include ownership, lease and security. For example, if someone owns a car, the legal position of that person is that he has a real right (of ownership) over a thing (the car). Legally, we could say that the individual has a real right of ownership in a car.

The latest House Price Index from Halifax has revealed that UK house prices in the three months to November were 6.0% higher than in the same three months of 2015, and 0.8% higher than in the preceding quarter of 2016.