Residential Property
Should I wait to extend my lease?
Although the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act became law in May 2024, most of its provisions haven’t yet come into effect. To wait or not to wait? One of the main questions our Leasehold Enfranchisement team is currently being asked by clients is whether or not it makes sense to wait u....
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The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024: Your guide to the reforms
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act, which became law on 24 May 2024, is a long-awaited piece of legislation designed to make it easier and cheaper for leaseholders to extend their lease or purchase the freehold of their building. Despite the Act already being law, no commencement date has yet be....
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Ground rent issues and Labour’s Renters’ Rights Bill
We have been closely following the progress of the government’s Renters’ Rights Bill, which was recently introduced to Parliament. In this blog, we will be delving further into the impact that the proposed legislation will have on flats with long leases (for example, where individuals have p....
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Leasehold reform becomes law
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform bill has become law – one of the last pieces of legislation to make it through Parliament before it was dissolved in preparation for July’s general election. The reforms, which have been the subject of a great deal of scrutiny over the past few years, aim to ma....
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The Building Safety Act and the remediation of historic defects
The Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022, hereafter referred to as ‘the Act’) was designed to address safety issues affecting existing buildings. The Act was specifically formulated to reallocate the financial responsibility for rectifying these issues from the buildings’ tenants to either the ....
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The Building Safety Act – fire safety responsibilities for landlords
The Grenfell Tower fire, a tragic incident during which over 70 people lost their lives when a fire blazed out of control due to the building’s highly flammable cladding, led to the introduction of the Building Safety Act 2022. The Act legislated amendments to a raft of other laws and regulations....
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Leasehold reform: Should I extend my lease now or hang on?
Following the introduction of the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022, which restricts ground rents on new leases to a ‘peppercorn’ – i.e., nothing – the second phase of the government’s promised reforms to the leasehold system is currently on its way through parliament. The Leaseh....
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A day in the life of a conveyancer
If you’ve ever wondered what you’re paying for when you instruct a conveyancing solicitor, wonder no longer! In this blog, Katharina Vidojevic, a Conveyancing Solicitor specialising in shared ownership matters, shares a typical – and very busy! – day in her life as she looks after her clien....
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What happens if my mortgage offer expires?
On 22 June, the Bank of England increased the base rate to 5% - the highest level in 15 years – in an attempt to combat the UK’s stubbornly high inflation rate. Raising interest rates is a common method used to tackle inflation, as it decreases the spending power of mortgage holders and encoura....
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Common conveyancing issues – and how we deal with them
The Legal Ombudsman is an independent and impartial body that offers consumers recourse if they are unhappy with the services of a law firm or legal services provider. It is a vital scheme which offers protection against poor legal advice and customer service. Sadly, nearly a quarter (23%) of co....
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‘Safe Harbour’ status in conveyancing
Property fraud has skyrocketed in recent years, reaching record levels in 2022. Since the pandemic especially, it has become easier for scammers to trick people out of their money with entire property transactions taking place without any of the parties – buyers, sellers mortgage brokers, surveyo....
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A lawyer’s top tips for avoiding fraud
In an ideal world, every individual and business would be honest and offer a quality service in exchange for the money we pay. Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world and fraudsters are developing ever more sophisticated methods to part innocent people with their cash – with many victims ....
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