King Charles III set out the measures that his government intends to bring forward in this session of parliament. Amongst those measures, it was announced that the government was to embark on further leasehold reform designed to make enfranchisement claims simpler and cheaper. Whilst the draft Bill has yet to be published (at the time…
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Investigation of title and contract The seller’s solicitor needs to examine the title to be able to draft a contract for the sale of the property. The draft contract should clearly explain the terms and conditions of the sale, the land agreed to be sold by the seller, and so on. Without a thorough investigation,…
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Purchase first steps On a purchase, the buyer’s solicitor will start to instruct property searches early in the transaction. These searches are an important part of the conveyancing process as they allow the solicitor to build a complete picture of the property and the area around it. The searches are carried out by specialist firms…
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There are different stages of conveyancing, but the end goal is transferring legal ownership of the land or property – known as the title – into the buyer’s name. The new ownership will then be registered with the Land Registry. There are key moments in all property transactions and to help you understand what happens…
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The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 reforms the divorce process. The act was passed in June 2020 and came into force on 6 April 2022. From 6 April, the new legislation: These changes also apply to the dissolution of civil partnerships.
The principle of caveat emptor (“buyer beware”) makes site inspections an essential part of the due diligence process for acquisitions of development sites. Not only are site inspections the only way to find out certain types of information about a property, more often than not they also reveal information that should be discoverable through other…
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The Renters (Reform) Bill received its first reading in the House of Commons last week, on Wednesday 17 May Key reforms in the Bill As part of the reforms, the government also intends to work on end-to-end digitisation of the court possession process, aligned with the abolition of s.21 and new possession grounds. It is…
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Importance of EWS1 Following the Grenfell disaster, the media brought to the public’s attention the catastrophic implications of cladding on high rise properties. When buying, selling or remortgaging a property, primarily leasehold, if the property is over 18 metres high, which generally equates to six storeys there is a requirement for an EWS1. This form…
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At the end of a lease, landlords will be keen to ensure that their tenants hand the property back in a good condition so they can re-let the property with minimal delay. As a result commercial leases will usually include a number of covenants that require the tenant to keep the property in repair, to…
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Within the “A Fairer Private Rented Sector White Paper”, published in June 2022, the Government intends to introduce a legally binding Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector. The White Paper sets out that 21% of privately rented homes are currently “non-decent” and 12% have serious hazards, which the Government has described as “unacceptable”.…
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