Harper Macleod News & Blogs

Harper Macleod LLP, one of Scotland's largest law firms has made two new additions to their team, with the appointment of Associates Calum MacLeod and Jill Fryer.  Both will be based in the firm's Inverness office

Calum, a native Gaelic speaker originally from Sleat, qualified as a lawyer in 2007 and spent the first five years of his legal career working in the central belt, before returning to the Highlands in 2010 and then moving onto Harper Macleod earlier this month.

This year’s National Housing Conference (NHC), taking place on Thursday 8 November at the Dunblane Hydro Hotel, is shaping up to be one of the best yet and there is still time to reserve your place at the conference.

The 13th NHC aims to address key issues facing housing providers at a time of unprecedented challenge. The conference will be based around 10 key questions, six of which will be addressed in plenary session and four in breakout groups, to allow maximum opportunity for discussion and debate.

New Scottish Housing and Welfare Minister, Margaret Burgess MSP will be the keynote speaker at the Harper Macleod National Housing Conference on the 8th November 2012.

Now in its 13th year, the National Housing Conference brings together the key stakeholders and decision makers in the sector to discuss issues and legislation updates, while sharing information and experiences.

Leading law firm Harper Macleod LLP has announced the dates of its annual Housing Law Update seminars which will take place on Tuesday 19th June 2012 in the Loch Ness Country House Hotel, Inverness and Tuesday 26th June 2012 in The Corinthian, Glasgow.

Speakers at the conference will consider some of the key legal issues for housing providers and recent developments in the housing sector, including an overview of the key terms of the new Regulatory Framework and the implications of the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 which comes into force on 1 October 2012. The availability of public funding and issues for lenders and borrowers in the traditional debt finance market will also be discussed in addition to developments in relation to alternative funding structures.

Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) will be familiar with the terms of section 66 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, which required RSLs to obtain written consent from the Scottish Ministers (acting through the Scottish Housing Regulator) for certain disposals of land or property. On 1 April 2012, section 107 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010, (the "Act") came into force and replaced the former section 66.

At first glance the terms of section 107 are similar to those of section 66: RSLs must seek the consent of the Scottish Housing Regulator (the "Regulator") to dispose of land or other assets ("disposals"), unless that disposal is exempt. However, section 107 differs from section 66 in two significant ways.

The Scottish Government's District Heating Loan Fund opened for the submission of 'expressions of interest' in May 2012. The loan fund aims to support the development of district heating networks in Scotland through the provision of capital loans.

District heating - a system for distributing heat generated in a centralised location for residential and commercial heating requirements – aims to improve efficiency and cut carbon emissions.

Respected legal directory, The Legal 500, today published its annual directory which details the top players in the legal industry. The Scotland section of the 2011 directory reveals that leading law firm Harper Macleod LLP's Social Housing team has achieved Tier 1 status for the ninth consecutive year.

The Harper Macleod team acts for RSLs that collectively manage 43% of the RSL housing stock in Scotland and recently helped Glasgow Housing Association complete its Second Stage Transfer programme, with nearly 19,000 homes transferred to local community ownership. Head of the firm's Public Sector team, Derek Hogg, is described by the directory as being "highly regarded" and Partner in the team, James McMorrow, is also described as "very capable". Derek, and Partner, Len Freedman, are also ranked as The Legal 500 Legal Experts in the area of Social Housing.