Restrictive covenants, Positive Covenants and How to Tell the Difference
Restrictive covenants – what were they thinking? If you are doing slightly damp January, like some of us here, you might have started staring wistfully at the gin aisle in Waitrose and wondering what possessed you to get involved in all this rule following? It’s not just the booze though. For the sake of society there […]
When Stamp Duty Goes Bad: The Stuff You Didn’t Know You Needed to Know
We’re kicking off 2022 with a thrilling look at Stamp Duty Land Tax and all the pesky little technical details you didn’t know you needed to know. Think multi-dwelling relief, second property tax and additional levies for overseas buyers. Still with us? Really? We’ll assume you’re either bonkers or desperate. Okay, okay. Jokes aside, sometimes […]
Commercial Property and VAT: why there IS a reason you might want to opt in
If you’re involved in the purchase of commercial property, this blog post may well be exactly what you’re looking for. If so, we recommend that you stick the kettle on, get yourself comfortable and prepare to be extremely well informed on the subject of opting into VAT. (Not involved in the purchase of commercial property? We recommend […]
The Negotiator Awards 2021 – Supplier of the Year Professional Support
Our Champagne-Fuelled, Award-Winning Night Out The Negotiator Awards 2021 – Supplier of the Year : Professional Support It’s not all that often that Northern solicitor types like us find ourselves out on the razzle in London (conveyancing is probably not as glamorous as you think). Last week we surprised ourselves by scrubbing up really quite […]
The History of Christmas Decorations (and Why Mistletoe Probably isn’t as Romantic as You Thought)
We’ve reached the time of year when we ask the really big, important questions. Namely, when is the right time to decorate your home for Christmas? Most people seem to have a strong opinion on this, whether they’re the sort to get the decorations down from the loft in mid-November (far too early!) or they […]
Decluttering Your Junk Before a Move: Why Future You Will Thank You
There are a lot of fantastic things about moving to a new home: enjoying more space, exploring new surroundings, discovering things growing in a new garden, embracing a fresh opportunity to organise your stuff… There are a lot of awful things about moving house: putting up with all the viewings, waiting through months of conveyancing, […]
What on Earth is Residential Abortive Transaction Insurance?
It’s a fact of conveyancing life that not all transactions have a happy ending. Sometimes people change their minds. Sometimes surveys come back with horrifying results. Sometimes someone comes along with a bigger pot of money and pinches a property from right under your nose. In England and Wales, the sorry truth is that nothing […]
How Long will it Take to Buy or Sell My House?
How long is a piece of string? As conveyancing solicitors, there are certain questions that we get asked over and over again. One of those questions is: how long will it take to buy or sell my house? Though we don’t necessarily enjoy parroting the same old answer to the same old question over and […]
A Whistle-Stop Tour of Shared Ownership Schemes
September 2021 People often talk about ‘getting on the ladder’. If you ask us, actually managing to purchase property feels more like engaging in a complicated square dance. Not only do you have to move to the rhythm of the music and remember the fiddly footwork, you’ve also got to pay attention to what the […]
Indemnity Insurance: Can it Save You from a Proverbial Bite in the Behind?
Indemnity insurance is typically filed under the heading of ‘incomprehensible things conveyancers say.’ Though we won’t argue that a lot of what we come out with possibly is incomprehensible… we happen to subscribe to the new-fangled idea that it’s important for clients to actually understand what’s happening with their property transaction. With this in mind, […]