If you’re facing redundancy, it can be a trying and difficult time. Here’s the Howells essential guide to the redundancy process:

What Is Redundancy?

Redundancy occurs when your employer dismisses you after deciding that your job role is no longer needed within the business.

There are a number of common reasons for getting made redundant, but it can include:

• New technology making your job unnecessary
• The role you were hired to perform no longer exists, or the need for such a role has diminished
• The employer decides it needs to cut costs and restructure some or all of the business, resulting in a reduced need for certain job roles
• Companies folding, moving to a new area, or being sold to other companies with different aspirations

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A person is self-employed if they run their business for themselves and take complete responsibility for its success or failure. Alternatively, they might provide their services as part of a business undertaking carried on by someone else.

Self-employed people do not have the employment rights and responsibilities of employees as they are their own independent contractor. This negates the necessity for a contract of employment between two separate parties (employee and employer) and means that a self-employed person must decide for themselves things like how much to charge and what services they are to perform.

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If you are thinking of buying a house in the UK, you might be wondering what the laws involved are and how they affect you. Buying a house is a major decision and it involves a lot of steps and costs.

In this blog post, our experienced conveyancing team will explain some of the key aspects of the legal process of buying a house in the UK and how we can help you with it. We keep it simple, honest and transparent here at Howells, ensuring you are kept in the loop at every stage of the process. More...

As technology advances, so too does the scope for organised crime. This is an increasing issue online, with fraudulent activity now growing a whole new persona in the digital world. One of the main issues that has risen is the use of fake profiles and the photos of others to scam others into releasing information.

So, legally speaking, what can you do if someone is making false profiles of you on social media to scam others? Mark Woloshak, Senior Associate and Head of Litigation Department explores this subject from a legal perspective and provides his advice. More...

Buying your first home can be extremely daunting, but at Howells Solicitors, we believe it needn’t be confusing. Each month across the UK, we complete property purchases worth over £50million, carrying out each of these transactions quickly and efficiently. With this in mind, we thought that in order to help out those climbing onto the first rung of the property ladder, we’d share our wealth of experience and put together this simple guide.

When You Start Thinking About Getting on the Property Ladder

Saving for a Deposit 

Before you even start looking for a property, you will need to save up for a deposit to put towards its cost. When doing this, it’s helpful to have an idea of the cost of the home you would like to buy, so you will need to spend time researching what is available in the area you would like to live.

At the moment in the UK, you will need to save at least 5% of a property’s value before you can apply for a mortgage (usually as a part of the Help to Buy Scheme or the UK Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, which you can find out about here). Those who are able to save more, however, will have access to more competitive mortgages, and the average deposit for first-time buyers is 20%.

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