We are proud to announced a 7% increase in MWB’s revenue for the past financial year, taking the firm’s turnover to more than £13.5 million for the first time, thanks to organic growth and team expansion.
In September 2023, the firm merged with Pure Employment Law in Chichester, bolstering its employment team. MWB has also made significant investments in its family and private client teams with the appointment of partners Marie Stock and Marwa Hadi-Barnes.
Dean Orgill, chief executive partner at Mayo Wynne Baxter, said: “Our continued growth is a testament to the strength and dedication of our teams, as well as our ongoing commitment to delivering exceptional legal services to our clients.”
Steeped in history, the firm has been part of the Sussex community for more than 150 years – supporting local people, their families and their businesses.
Dean continued: “While we are proud of these results, we remain focused on ensuring that our growth is both sustainable and aligned with our values.
“It is important to us that we maintain our close ties to the communities we serve, continue to offer a rewarding environment for our people, and keep delivering the high-quality legal services that have become the hallmark of Mayo Wynne Baxter.”
In addition to this revenue growth, Mayo Wynne Baxter has further strengthened its footprint across Sussex, adding Chichester to its geographical reach as well as investing in new premises in Eastbourne.
The firm also remains committed to career development and training, particularly promoting social mobility. The firm made four promotions in the past financial year.
The firm, which became part of legal and professional services group Ampa May 2022, now sits firmly in the Lawyer’s Top 100 Law Firms, with the group ranking at number 47.
Dean added: “The integration into the Ampa group has undoubtedly played a pivotal role in enabling us to accelerate this growth, providing us with enhanced resources, strategic support, and opportunities for cross-collaboration.
“We look forward to continued success and are open to hearing from like-minded talent who share our values of being both purposeful and profitable.”
I read the recent BBC news article about a professional Attorney accused of mishandling his clients’ finances. As part of a team that specializes in Attorney Affairs who understand the level of trust our clients and their loved ones place in us and our work, I was extremely disheartened. It is a privilege to be able to help and guide clients and attorneys alike through a time that can be daunting and deeply emotive for all involved.
Attorneys must always act in the Donor’s (the person granting power to an Attorney) best interests at all times, regardless of whether the Donor does or does not have capacity. Until proved otherwise, the assumption should always be that the Donor retains capacity, and therefore autonomy to make decisions in relation to their property, their finances, their care and their health.
As there is no mention in the article of either of the clients mentioned having lost capacity, I will assume that they each retained capacity and so should have, at the very least been consulted in relation to any decisions being made of their behalf. The Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 states that any person making decisions, such as under scope of a Power of Attorney, “must, so far as reasonably practicable, permit and encourage the person to participate, or to improve their ability to participate as fully as possible in any act done for them”.
If someone thinking about preparing a Lasting Power of Attorney is considering appointing a professional Attorney, there are some steps they can take to protect themselves and be confident in who they are appointing:-
- Read testimonials – legal professionals will usually have their own profiles on their company’s website where they can display testimonials from clients.
- Research your lawyer – as well as client testimonials, if a legal professional holds a membership with The Association of Lifetime Lawyers (ALL) or the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), this should also be noted on their profile. Both the ALL and STEP hold their members to a high standard of professionalism, so having either of these memberships is a good sign that the legal professional, knows their obligations, has undertaken to uphold certain standard and provide a great service to their clients.
- Ask for recommendations – a family member, a friend or a colleague might be able to recommend a legal professional that they have had a positive first hand experience with, or know of someone who can.
It is the responsibility of everyone working with vulnerable people to put that person first and behave beyond reproach and for every person working for a regulated law firm to uphold public trust and confidence in the legal profession. It is a great shame to read stories such as this where that appears not to have happened, but I am, however, confident that this gentleman is an exception and not representative of the profession as a whole.
We at Mayo Wynne Baxter pride ourselves on our professionalism, and always have the best interests of our clients at the heart of what we do. We take the time to get to know our clients, their needs and their wishes so that we can continue to do right by them, and so they can rest assured that they are in safe hands.
Please do not hesitate to contact our specialist Attorneys Affairs Team if you have any questions or concerns; we are always happy to help.
Tel: 01273 477071
Email: trowden@mayowynnebaxter.co.uk / adodsworth@mayowynnebaxter.co.uk
What is the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024?
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (‘the Act’) is a new piece of legislation that is intended to help leaseholders by making it easier and less expensive to buy your freehold, extend your lease and to assist with service charge regimes.
What does the Act do?
It makes various changes to leasehold and freehold legislation including:
- Making it cheaper to extend your lease or buy your freehold by ceasing the requirement that a leaseholder has to pay their landlord’s legal costs
- Banning the sale of new leasehold houses (other than in restricted circumstances)
- Stopping excessive buildings insurance commissions
- Ending the 2 year ownership requirement before extending a lease or purchasing a freehold related to the lease
- Granting additional rights to freehold homeowners similar to those which leaseholders currently have with regards to estate charges and the transparency of how they have been calculated
- Enabling more leaseholders to purchase their freeholds or exercise their right to manage where they live in a mixed-use building – currently you are barred from purchasing the freehold under the LRHUDA 1993 if more than 25% of the floor space is commercial property in your building. This restriction is being increased to 50%.
- Increasing lease extension terms under the LRHUDA 1993 or LRA 1967 from a 90 or 50 year extension to a 990 year extension
- Landlords who manage their own buildings will be required to belong to a redress scheme so that they can be more easily challenged in relation to poor practice
- Removing the presumption that the leaseholder will pay the landlord’s legal costs if they challenge service charges
- Introducing a legal right to buy out a ground rent (previously the only way to insist on this was by exercising your right to a lease extension)
Is the Act currently in force?
No. It became law in May 2024 but the main provisions of the Act require more legislation to bring them in to force. It may take the new Labour government some time to bring them in and for the time the pre-reform law applies.
What other reforms are anticipated?
The government has suggested further legislation will be introduced to continue these reforms in 2024/25. They are committed to ending leasehold and reviving commonhold.
They have indicated that they would like to:
- Progress the Law Commission’s other recommendations in relation to leasehold
- Take further action in relation to unfair ground rents
- Restrict the draconian right of forfeiture
- Require all new flats to be sold as commonhold flats
- Further address the issues with private housing estates and the management charges that owners are being forced to pay
These further suggestions are eagerly anticipated by homeowners and enfranchisement practitioners.
Jo Ironside – Partner in the Enfranchisement Team
Unfortunately, there is no black and white answer to this question as it depends on your personal circumstances.
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 is not currently implemented, and we do not know when the secondary legislation it requires will be completed by the government. The changes that the Act will bring may not kick in until 2025 or 2026.
In deciding what to do you should consider:
Will the Act make a lease extension cheaper for me?
It might do if your lease term has under 80 years left, or if your ground rent is more than 0.1% of the value of your property (i.e. over £200 on a property worth £200k). The Act was intended to help people by removing the requirement to pay ‘marriage value’ which kicks in when you drop below 80 years, and to help people who are bound to pay high ground rents in their lease by capping the sums for the purposes of computing the premium you will pay.
Will the Act make a lease extension more expensive for me?
The aim of the legislation is to make it cheaper to extend a lease or buy the freehold and the abolition of marriage value and having to pay landlord’s costs will likely achieve this – BUT at the current time it is impossible to say that ALL leaseholders will pay less.
There are some elements of the valuation of the premiums you will pay that are still uncertain (i.e. the deferment and capitalisation rates) and it is possible that if they are set in legislation at a different rate to what is currently being used by surveyors then it could actually increase the cost of a lease extension premium.
It is thought currently that it is possible that the purchase price you would pay, where you have more than 80 years left on your lease, or a relatively low ground rent, may increase albeit that this is not what was originally envisaged.
What does this mean?
You may have your own reasons for pursuing the freehold of your flat, or a lease extension as soon as possible. For example, if you are considering selling the property imminently you may not want to wait, or if you want to obtain the freehold with your neighbours because taking over the management of your building is important to you as well as getting a lease extension. This means that there is no objective answer to whether you should extend now or wait.
However, it is anticipated that, if your lease has already fallen below 80 years or you have a high ground rent and you have no pressing need to extend your lease or purchase your freehold, then you would likely be better off waiting for the law to change before taking action. In these circumstances, the proposed removal of marriage value and the cap on ground rent in calculating the premium you will pay will be advantageous.
In what circumstances would it be prudent to extend my lease before the reforms?
- If you are looking to sell in the next year or so – lease extensions can hold up sales and cause chains to breakdown. If you know you need a lease extension and will be wanting to sell soon– you should extend now to avoid this.
- If you have 80-82 years left on your lease – the reforms are unlikely to be in before you drop to under 80 years left on your term when marriage value kicks in. You should extend now as there is no guarantee that it will be cheaper in future.
- If you are mortgaging or remortgaging and the current lease is an issue – probably better to deal with this issue now.
- If you own a share of the freehold – the changes will not impact you as in this situation you are unlikely to need to pay a premium to obtain a lease extension.
When will it benefit me to wait before extending my lease until the reforms are brought in?
- If your lease has more than 82 years left – you could extend now to take advantage of the certainty of the current legislation – or you could take your chances and hope that the legislation lowers the cost as it was intended to in due course.
- If your ground rent is above 0.1% of your property value (or will be) – it is worth waiting if you can because it many be cheaper under the amended regime.
- If your lease term has dropped under 80 years – the abolition of marriage value will likely make it cheaper if you wait.
Our specialist enfranchisement team would be happy to discuss this further with you if you’re still not sure what to do.
Jo Ironside – Partner