In recent years, New Jersey has seen a considerable increase in the number of cars on the roads. This increase has also seen a rise in the number of accidents. Many auto accidents live behind them grave effects on those affected. In some instances, people are left nursing serious injuries. In some other cases, your car may be written off entirely. After the occurrence of such accidents, it is crucial to look for a lawyer to help you in with legal issues. Rosengard Law Group specializes in offering legal services to victims of auto accidents. In case you did not incur any medical expenses or the damage from the crash was minimal, you may not need a lawyer. However, there are instances when it will be advisable that you get a lawyer. This article discusses some of those instances when you should contact a lawyer. Seeking Compensation for Serious Injuries or Damages If you have been involved in an accident and gotten severe injuries or your auto got serious damages, you may want to claim for compensation. Without legal experience, it would be challenging to determine what compensation is right for you. A professional person will be of great help in such a situation. A lawyer is the best person to is the best person to negotiate on your behalf instead of doing it by yourself. They will also handle all the paperwork and communication with insurance companies on your behalf. With the help of an experienced Accident Attorney, you can rest assured that your rights and interests are being properly represented. When the One on the Fault is not Known Sometimes after an auto accident, the police report may not accurately establish who is on the wrong. In such instances, you can mistakenly be termed as the guilty. As such, it is highly recommendable to look for a New Jersey attorney who is well-versed with auto accident matters to represent your case. Usually, the actual fault in an accident is what determines who is responsible for the damages caused. Therefore, always ensure you are clear on who is liable after an accident. Knowing the person responsible gives the case a better flow as well as quicken the results. When Your Vehicle is Severely Damaged Usually, the party at fault or their insurance company is responsible for compensating any harm done to your vehicle. However, following up on the compensation on your own may be very overwhelming, and you may end up losing it. Therefore, it is advisable to get an auto accident attorney who can help you recover the entire amount worth the damage to your vehicle. When the Compensation Being Offered for Damages is Insufficient Sometimes, the insurance company may offer compensation that is too low to cover the entire damages fully. In such a case, you need an attorney who will help you get full compensation through the right legal procedures. When the Insurance Company is Unwilling to Release Compensation One challenge that you may face in your attempt to claim for your rightful compensation has to do with the insurance company. At times, insurance companies try to look for excuses to avoid paying the full recovery amount. If you decide to pursue the claim on your own, you may end up not getting what you deserve. To avoid being lied to or denied your rightful compensation by the insurance, employ the services of a lawyer. In conclusion, if you are in New Jersey, you can get legal services from Rosengard Law Group. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals

So, we may have a general election to navigate in the coming months – and one group who will be watching the opinion polls closer than most will be Britain’s 2.6million landlords. Reason being that should the Labour Party emerge triumphant and Jeremy Corbyn walks into 10 Downing Street, it plans to introduce the most radical right to buy property scheme this country has seen in generations. At its heart, this policy proposal seeks to do the right thing – tackle the issue of problem landlords who don’t maintain their properties and address the buy to let market that is making it harder for many people to get on the property ladder in certain districts – but it’s also fatally flawed. The point in the proposal that is causing so many landlords sleepless nights is that the price tenants will pay for their properties will not be set by the owner or by the market at large, but by the government. This means tens of thousands of landlords – many of them small business owners who have between five and 50 properties – will lose their livelihoods overnight. It’s a classic case of punishing the many for the sins of the few. Of the 2.6million landlords in the UK, the numbers who could be considered ‘rogue’ are tiny. The overwhelming majority are honest, treat their tenants well and maintain a high standard of property. They bought their properties at market rate and the prospect of a few politicians deciding how much these houses and flats are to be sold for is unthinkable. This is why the National Landlords Association has called the policy ‘ludicrous’.  In the Eighties, the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher were the last government to shake up the housing sector in such a major way when council tenants were given the right to buy their properties. This would be of a similar scale – only in reverse as it’s private property that is being ‘sold off’. I know lots of landlords and many are saying ‘why bother to stay in the business?’ They are assessing whether it might actually be better to get out of the sector before an election rather than wait for all the upheaval that may follow. Expect that to be copied all over the country and for large numbers of landlords to sell up and exit – before they are forced to. At Landwood, we’re waiting to see if there is a glut of buy-to-let properties coming on to the market in the next few months. If that happens, prices will come down for sure and the knock on effect may be that the numbers of rental properties could actually fall. At present, landlords provide one in five homes in the UK, it’s a prosperous and popular part of the property sector. However, if politicians of any leaning are serious about fixing the housing crisis, then this ridiculous ‘rogue landlord’ policy is not the way to go about it. No, the solution is to build more social housing, more starter homes and get more people on the property ladder and reduce the number of renters that way. The slowdown in new house building is down to several factors – economic, Brexit, the complication of planning regulations in parts of the country – but it’s crystal clear to those of us in the industry that it’s the best way out of the mess the UK finds itself in. Forcing many thousands of honest businesspeople to take a huge hit on their assets – to the point of being forced out of business – is not just absurd, it’s harmful to the wider economy. Watch this space to see how the argument develops as a general election looms closer and the parties on all sides line up to present their manifestos to the nation.

Commonhold is receiving a lot of attention due to the recent Law Commission paper on resurrecting this process. This is part of a long (and some would say overdue) reform of the law concerning leasehold properties and in particular flats. Commonhold is not new and has been around since 2002. However, fewer than 20 commonholds have been created since the legislation came into force. The idea of commonhold is to revolutionise the way that flats are owned. Currently, a flat owner owns their property as leasehold. This means ownership is for a limited time (for example a 99 year lease) and only owns part of that property (usually the internal areas). The structure of the building and external areas, such as the communal hallways, roof, etc are owned by the landlord or sometimes referred to as the freeholder. As the lease term shortens, the value of the property decreases. This means that the lease is by its very nature a wasting asset. The flat owner will have to, at some stage, extend their lease to prevent this from happening and thus incur additional costs to prevent their property depreciating in value. If the lease term becomes too short (i.e. less than 80 years) it becomes very expensive to extend. There is also often tension between the relationship of the landlord and the flat owner with a “them and us” attitude being fostered. Often there are competing interests, with some landlords seeing the building as an investment opportunity which competes with the flat owners’ interests of wanting their home and their surroundings in the hands of good management which they often do not control. Commonhold eradicates both of these elements by the flat owners being the “landlords” of their flat and communal areas and are referred to as “unit holders” The unit holder will be responsible for a proportion of the cost towards the management of the building and will agree to abide by obligations set out in a commonhold community statement (CCS) which all flat owners must sign up to through a commonhold association. The idea is to democratise flat ownership with the flat owners being in control of the maintenance of their building. This way of ownership has been adopted in other countries including Australia (known as the strata system) and the USA (condominiums). If this sounds like property utopia why have very little commonholds been adopted? Some of the reasons are you need 100% agreement with all flat owners over decisions (ie management) which can be unrealistic; it is ineffective with those developments that contain commercial premises or houses. There are also very few lenders who are reluctant to lend on a commonhold property as there is lack of certainty over the protection of the lender’s security (the mortgage) should the commonhold association become insolvent. It remains to be seen if commonhold will become a way of ownership in years to come as this will mean a cultural as well as a legal shift away from the leasehold way of ownership that has existed in England and Wales for centuries.

Construction work is risky business, with accidents, injuries and property damage all liable to happen on a site. As a builder, the hazardous nature of your job brings with it a need for a comprehensive insurance policy to cover the financial impact of any incidents or claims. Issues can pop up unexpectedly, so if you don’t have insurance in place, read on to learn more about the types of policies your construction business might need to be protected financially. Builders Public Liability Insurance Builders public liability insurance is a fundamental policy to have in place for any type of construction worker. It provides cover against any claims made by a client or a member of the public who has suffered injury, or damage to a property, at the expense of building work you are carrying out. Problems that occur during a building project can often be unpredictable and unavoidable, whether that’s flood damage caused by accidentally nailing through piping or a member of the public injuring themselves by tripping over wires. As insurance expert Tradesman Saver points out, public liability insurance offers compensation for any personal injuries and property damage as well as covering the legal costs involved, giving you peace of mind that unforeseen circumstances won’t jeopardise your livelihood. Professional Indemnity Insurance Although a customer may not have building expertise, the phrase “the customer is always right” certainly comes into play when evaluating the professional standard of your services. If a customer is not satisfied that you’ve met their expectations, they may decide to take legal action. This is where professional indemnity insurance comes in, which protects you against such claims. This type of insurance covers legal costs and expenses that may occur during the process of defending the claim made against you. Mistakes are easily made, but one small error could leave you in a dire financial situation if you don’t have the right cover in place to protect your business. Therefore, if you’re running a construction business, you should carry professional indemnity insurance to cover against mistakes and errors that may occur while providing professional services.    Employers Liability Insurance Employers liability insurance is a legal requirement for any business that hires, or plans to hire, a team of staff, regardless of who you’re employing and whether they’re a contractor, sub-contractor, or freelancer. This protects all employees against claims related to illness or injuries sustained during working hours. It only takes one small mistake or accident to injure someone, so it’s vital to check you have insurance to cover all possible risks. Besides, the legal requirement to have employers liability insurance means that businesses operating without are subject to fines of £2,500 for each day they don’t have proof of coverage. Contractors All-Risk Cover This covers any work carried out that is accidentally destroyed or damaged before completion, as well as temporary buildings erected during construction. A contractors all-risk policy will also insure your business against any necessary repairs onsite or if work needs to be redone due to unpreventable causes, such as floods, fires, storms, vandalism and theft. Contractors all-risk covers the two primary types of risks for builders—property damage and third party damage. CAR insurance coverage is common for such construction projects as buildings, water tanks, sewage treatment plans, flyovers, and airports. Tools and Equipment Insurance One final insurance policy to consider for your building business, tools and equipment insurance covers any costs relating to damage or theft of your tools and equipment. According to recent data, 1 in 3 tradespeople have had their tools stolen, costing victims over £3,000 on average. If your tools are stolen, not only will you take a financial hit from the actual cost of the equipment, but projects already under construction may be delayed, leading to further financial strain on the business. Any new business may also have to be declined – you can’t risk being unable to complete a job on time, or without the correct tools. Having a policy in place will protect you against any unforeseen costs. Employment Practices Liability Insurance   While the aforementioned insurances are crucial for the physical aspects of your business, it’s equally important to consider the human side. This is where Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) comes in. It covers businesses for legal claims arising from employment-related issues, such as discrimination, harassment, or wrongful termination. A construction business needs to have EPLI, as the construction industry is particularly susceptible to employment-related lawsuits.  Some of the common employment-related claims that EPLI covers for your construction company include discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information, claims of sexual harassment, claims of termination without cause or in violation of an employee’s contract, claims of retaliation against an employee for whistleblowing or for exercising their legal rights, and improper hiring and firing practices.  EPLI can provide significant financial protection for your business when sued for employment-related claims. The cost of defending against an employment lawsuit is often high, and EPLI can help to cover the cost of legal fees, settlements, and judgments.  In addition to financial protection, EPLI can help your company avoid negative publicity from an employment lawsuit. A lawsuit can damage your business’s reputation and make attracting and retaining employees difficult. EPLI can help protect your construction business’s reputation and ensure it can operate without disruption.

A collection of three office buildings along Bristol’s waterfront have been sold in a deal worth £27.75 million. Legal & General’s UK Property Fund purchased the Quayside Bristol properties from DAS and ERGO. This deal follows the recent acquisition of the Iron self-storage portfolio, its landmark self-storage deal as the Fund continues to diversify its holdings and recycle its capital into more operational and alternative assets. Situated in the established office location of Temple Quarter, the Quayside buildings are just a short walk from Temple Meads station, an increasingly important draw to occupiers. “This is an excellent buy for the Fund. The Bristol office market is currently undersupplied and has strong rental growth prospects as a result of this undersupply. The building also benefits from flexible floor plates which are in demand in the City. The combination of these strong property fundamentals and good micro-location will make this a strong performing asset for our investors as we refurbish and upgrade them over time. We have recently undertaken a similar exercise at The Landing in Redcliff Quay and have been very pleased with the level of tenant interest for modern, stylish, well connected assets in attractive city centre settings,” commented Matt Jarvis, Senior Fund Manager of the UK Property Fund at Legal & General.