Community Legal Advice

The government requires that all people planning building work which; majorly changes the building (like an extension), is a new building, or changes the use of a building. In addition to the government having their standard check lists which they need to work through before the approve the project, they are legally required to let everyone who may be affected by the new build work (such as neighbours) the opportunity to voice their objections.

If you’re affected by build work in your neighbourhood, you are well within your rights to complain. You do this first by writing to the planning department, including all of the objections that you can think. The type of objections which receive consideration are, things like a loss of privacy, potential damage to your property, noise disturbance caused by the build work, even an adverse affect from the physical appearance of the building.

The internet can be a dangerous place and it’s important to know that you need to be carefully if you’re going to be sharing material that is created by somebody else. Images on Facebook and other social media networks are fine to share, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you can use their image to promote your own or make money from it.

Photographers especially have to be very careful online and that’s why many of them will watermark their images, and make it clear that the copyright belongs to them. Written content can also cause problems and when you copy and paste content from somebody else’s website and try to pass it off as your own, you can find yourself in big trouble.

So the message here is always be cautious with the content you’re sharing or using online.

Twitter has forced the defamation act to go back to the drawing board, and the new version offers improved defence for website operators who host user-generator content. The new act states that operators will not be liable if they can show that they did not ‘post’ an offending statement, so Facebook users and Twitter users do get an element of protection.

Second publishers are also defended in a way, and this is because regurgitated content is fine in cases where it is not ‘reasonably practicable’ for the claimant to pursue the primary publisher. Courts also now have the power to remove any harmful material, but of course this can become uncontrollable in some cases where content has been shared too many times.

The new defamation act is not a complete overhaul but it has some important tweaks, and these may be welcomed by many Titter and Facebook users.

There have been a number of changes in the motoring industry but the most recent development is the change to ditch the paper tax disc. From October onwards, you’ll no longer have to place a tax disc on your windscreen.

Police can carry out checks whenever they need to, and over the last few years there has been less need to have the paper version in the car. You can now check online whether you’re a particular vehicle is taxed, so it’s time to take down the tax disc holder (in October).

The change in law means that tax is no longer transferred with the car in a sale. Car sellers will receive a refund for tax if there is one or more month’s worth on the vehicle while new owners must buy tax for the car before they can drive it.

This legal change is a big one, mainly because the tax disc has been around for such a long time, not necessarily because of the change sit will have on the public.

Do not hesitate to contact your experienced local solicitors in any case. When in trouble to find out what you need to do regarding any matter that disturbs your life, it is important to talk about it. A few talks and the matter will become simple to find a solution. Your local experienced solicitors will study your case in detail. And why not? They are the solicitors and will solve your problem if not easily but by deliberating as they are the ones to do their duty efficiently, which is required. What’s more they are experienced too.
Major trouble arises when you keep things complicated. Try to judge the matter through other person’s point of view. For this you need to consult about the case with someone to bring out a true picture about your case. Appropriately, it is always helpful to write down about the difficulties and your inability to cope with the situation, and present the case in detail to your experienced local solicitors.