I heard in the news the government is going to cap Ground Rents. I bought a house on a new development six years ago and pay an annual “maintenance” fee to a management company. I’ve never really understood why I pay this, as my house is freehold. The developer said the fee would be minimal, which it was at first, but it has since increased several times. Will the new Ground Rent cap mean my charges are reduced?

Our daughter and her partner have been living together for over six years but due to having to pay London rents, and property prices rising, they have never managed to save enough for the deposit to buy a house. Now property prices in London appear to be coming down, so it would seem like a good time to buy and we are therefore considering giving them the deposit. What can we do to ensure the gift would be protected in our daughter’s favour if they should ever split up?

An employee in his early 60s is threatening us with an employment tribunal for age discrimination because he says we are asking him to do physical work that has become too difficult due to age-related health problems (i.e. osteoarthritis). Whilst we feel sorry for him, he has done the same job for seventeen years and we don’t have any other, less physical work we can offer him. He asked us to make him redundant but there are no grounds for that as the job very much still exists. So now the tribunal threat, which he clearly believes will provide a potential payout to enable him to retire early under the protection of employment rights legislation. What is our best approach?

Oswestry law firm GHP Legal has bolstered its dedicated Property department at 21 The Cross with the appointment of a new Senior Solicitor.

Janet Hawley joined the firm in January 2026, reflecting the firm’s continued growth and increase in conveyancing market share across the region.

I want to take my children on a foreign holiday this summer with my new wife, but their mother is refusing to agree to it. She has their passports and says she will not hand them over to me. The children, who are now teenagers, want to come on holiday with me and my daughter has suggested they could take the passports without their mum knowing. However, I don’t want to encourage them to be deceitful? What should I do?

I have been informed that a distant cousin has died and I am joint executor and sole beneficiary of his Will. I have never had to deal with anything like this before and am at a complete loss what to do. The other executor is a friend of my cousin’s who I don’t know. Please can you advise me?

With easy access to AI answers for so many legal questions these days, and online platforms available for everything from getting a quickie divorce to making a Will and conveyancing the purchase of a property, it is not surprising that research recently reported in Legal Futures claimed that only 5% of people surveyed sought advice from a solicitor for their legal problems.

I am seeking advice on behalf of an elderly neighbour whose husband has not been well for some time. I suspect part of the problem is that he has not been taking his medication but has kept this fact from his wife and his doctor. Things came to a head last week when there was an ‘incident’ and it ended up with him being ‘sectioned’. His poor wife is beside herself with worry about what will happen next. Her husband seems to be ‘out of it’ and she doesn’t seem to be able to find out. I suggested she or her husband needs to get help from a mental health solicitor but she is terrified they won’t be able to afford it. Is there any way to get advice and help for free?

Before my dad died earlier this year he told me he was leaving everything to my mum and when she died everything was to be split equally between me, my brother and my brother’s three children. Since dad died, however, my brother and his wife have started alienating mum against me and I’m worried they’re doing it to try and get me cut out of the Will she made when dad was alive. Can dad’s final wishes be ignored?

Following the government’s announcement about upcoming changes to Agricultural Inheritance Tax, we are trying to decide whether we can keep our family farm going. Or even if it is worth it! To help with this conundrum, can you explain how the proposed 10-year IHT payment plan will work for farming families? And what would happen if we couldn’t make the farm work and had to sell before the IHT is repaid?