Residential Conveyancing

Knowledge and Expertise

Our team as over 150 years of collective experience in delivering high quality work in all matters relating to conveyancing. Foskett’s lawyers have earnt a well-regarded reputation due to their individual track records in meeting and exceeding client expectations.

We believe that direct communication between all parties is key to a residential transaction being efficiently and successfully completed. We try to keep all parties regularly advised of progress to ensure that known exchange deadlines are readily met.

Foskett’s offer a personal, engaging service to clients through our focus and expertise, having extensive experience of the full range of sales and purchase processes on freehold and leasehold properties.

Work types

Our work extends to dealing with
• Mortgages, finance and bridging loans;

• New builds;

• Developers;

• Leasehold enfranchisement and extensions;

• Working with Local Authorities and Housing Associations;

• Advising on planning issues;

• We also have the capability to deal with non- contentious property matters and dealing with applications for lost deeds.

The individual approach to meeting clients’ needs has ensured a large percentage of our work is from returning clients or their family and friends. But equally, we undertake work for new clients and look to build long term, enduring relationships with them.

We are accredited to The Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) and thus our clients can be assured that we minimally meet national, recognised standards in our work.

Residential Conveyancing team

Tara O’Donnell

Partner

Debra Rose

Partner

Sara Barnett

Senior Associate Solicitor

Andrea Reilly

Senior Associate Licensed Conveyancer

Dorothy Purday

Senior Associate Chartered Legal Executive

Gemma Ball

Solicitor

Leila Holmes‑Denton

Licensed Conveyancer

Lauren Oakley

Trainee Solicitor

Lynne Owen

Practice Manager

Commonly asked questions

What is Stamp Duty and how much do I have to pay?: Stamp Duty Land Tax is payable on all purchases of property and land over £125,000. There are several rate bands for Stamp Duty. The tax is calculated on the part of the property purchase price that falls within each band. Buyers of additional residential properties, such as second homes and buy-to-let properties, will have to pay an extra 3% in Stamp Duty on top of current rates for each band. If you’re a first-time-buyer, you will not pay Stamp Duty if the purchase price is below £300,000. Further relief is available for purchases up to £500,000.
Can you act for my mortgage provider too?: Yes, we are on the panels of all of the major banks and building societies.
What is the difference between exchange and completion?: Exchange of Contracts makes the agreement legally binding between the parties, whereby the buyer and seller agree to buy and sell the property on a set date at the set price. Completion is the date on which title to the property is transferred by the seller to the buyer and the buyer takes possession of the property.
How long does it all take?: If the matter proceeds in the usual manner and without undue difficulty, we would expect it to be exchanged within 4 to 6 weeks and completed within a month of that date. However many factors such as the length of the chain can affect this.
What is the difference between a freehold and a leasehold property: If the property is freehold, this means you own the building and the land it is built on. If the property is leasehold, you own the property for a fixed term contained in the Lease but not the land the property sits on. For a Leasehold property, you will pay the Freeholder an annual ground rent. Typically most houses are freehold and flats are leasehold. The Lease length may be extended at a premium by agreement with the Freeholder.
What do I do with my Deeds?: HM Land Registry records are digital and therefore paper deeds are not stored. It is now becoming common practice for the deeds, including searches and planning consents, to be sent to clients following their original purchase of their home. If you are selling, we will need the deeds from you to prepare the Contract package to forward to the buyer’s solicitors. We will only need the original title deeds is the property is unregistered. On a purchase, we will forward you the updated title together with the deeds and documents which we do not retain.
We are putting in different amounts for the deposit, can we protect that?: Yes, we can deal with the preparation of a Deed of Trust which will protect your initial contributions should the property be sold.
Do I need a survey?: If you are obtaining a mortgage, the lender will carry out a valuation report for their lending purposes. A valuation however is not a full survey and is purely to ascertain how much the house is worth and will highlight any obvious problems with the property. An independent survey, such as a Homebuyer Report, should pick out any major problems with the house that may have been overlooked on viewing the property. The well known phrase ‘Caveat Emptor’, meaning ‘let the buyer beware’, places the risk on the buyer to find out if there are any issues relating to the property as seller is not obligated to reveal defects in the property.

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