Government announces Legislation to tackle Economic Crime following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
GOVERNMENT NEWS
Following the commitments announced by the Prime Minister last week, the government has brought forward the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The new legislation will help the National Crime Agency prevent foreign owners from laundering their money in UK property and ensure more corrupt oligarchs can be handed an Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO).
The new register will require anonymous foreign owners of UK property to reveal their real identities to ensure criminals cannot hide behind secretive chains of shell companies, setting a new global standard for transparency. Entities who do not declare their ‘beneficial owner’ will face restrictions over selling their property, and those who break the rules could face up to 5 years in prison.
Under the reforms being brought in on UWOs, those who hold property in the UK in a trust will be brought within scope and the definition of an asset’s ‘holder’ will also be expanded to ensure individuals can’t hide behind opaque shell companies and foundations.
Material Information for Property Listings Announced
Yesterday, Trading Standards and the Government jointly announced compulsory new data which must appear on property listings.
A property's council tax band or rate (for lettings and sales) and the property price and tenure information (for sales) must be included on all property listings by the end of May.
The changes signify the first phase of a project by the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT) which defines exactly what constitutes ‘Material Information’ for property listings.
Part A of this three-phase project includes information that is considered “material” for ALL properties. A further two phases are being developed, which will incorporate further material information such as restrictive covenants, flood risk and other specific factors that may impact certain properties.
The property portals (Zoopla, Rightmove, Boomin, On the Market, etc. will start to implement “Data Fields” for this additional information over the next few weeks and if they are left empty by an agent, this will be flagged on the listing so consumers can see what information is missing.
This will link to advice on why that information is important and how it may be obtained.
The HSE Issue Guidance on New Measures to reduce Risk of Transmission in the Workplace
Measures announced to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission
On 8 December, the UK government announced Plan B measures for England in response to the risks of the Omicron variant.
The most recent GOV.UK guidance has information on the latest public health measures, including face coverings, COVID-19 status checks and the NHS Pass. Those who can work from home should do so. Anyone who cannot work from home should continue to go to the workplace.
There is separate advice for Scotland and Wales.
HSE’s latest advice on keeping workplaces safe will help you to continue to work safely during the pandemic. You must still control the risks and review and update your risk assessment. The following workplace controls remain unchanged:
Plan for Car Chargers in all New Homes in England
In a speech to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in the north-east of England on Monday, the prime minister will reveal plans, briefed as “world-leading”, to toughen up and improve regulations for new homes and buildings.Under the government’s plans, set out by the prime minister Boris Johnson at the CBI business leaders conference on Monday, new homes must be equipped with charging infrastructure from next year.
Ross Easton, a director at the Energy Networks Association, added that while the plans for more home chargers was “great news for those living in new homes” the government “must make sure access to charging points is not exclusive, stressing that the charging points must be accessible to everyone.”
Sarah Winward-Kotecha, the director of electric vehicles at RAC raised concerns that it is important to note that a lot of newly built housing stock, said it was “important to remember that a lot of new housing stock in cities does not even come with parking, let alone charging points.
The motoring group has called for the government to make high-speed car charging available to more motorists by focusing on the roll out of rapid chargers in public areas so that
The government’s plans may have failed to consider that many new buildings are built without parking spaces for the sole reason of encouraging people to travel by public transport, which is better for the environment.