Residential Conveyancing

Ethos

Moving home can be a stressful but exciting time and we aim to make the experience as painless as possible and to guide you seamlessly through all the different stages of the process, from receipt of your initial instructions, through to exchange of contracts and completing your sale or purchase.

Our team of residential lawyers combine a personal service with their individual expertise and they have broad experience of the sales and purchases of both freehold and leasehold properties and in connection with mortgages and re-mortgage transactions.

We believe that Communication between all parties is key to a residential transaction proceeding smoothly. We try to keep both client, agent and solicitors advised of the current position. This ensures that tight exchange deadlines can always met when parties need to proceed quickly.

A large percentage of our transactions are returning clients or from referrals to their family and friends.

Knowledge and Expertise

Our involvement goes beyond simply dealing with the legal aspects of a transaction. We discuss with clients the most appropriate marketing policy for existing properties and the best type of survey arrangements for a proposed acquisition.

Our team has over 130 years of collective experience in delivering high quality work in all matters relating to conveyancing. We have six members of the team who may work on your matter. Each has a proven track record and we are proud of our solid and well regarded reputation for residential property work and we believe that our individual approach to each client’s specific needs helps to overcome any difficulties that may be encountered.

Regardless of who works on your matter, they will be supervised by Duncan Gadsby, Partner and Head of Residential Conveyancing

We are accredited to The Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. We actively support electronic conveyancing which we believe will streamline the conveyancing process to the benefit of all concerned.

Work types

The work of our Residential Conveyancing Department extends to include being able to help with;

Sales and Purchases

Sales and purchases of freehold and leasehold properties;
Converted properties and listed building transactions;
Complex property matters;
Family arrangements and gifted deposits; and
Transfers of equity.

Mortgages Finance and Bridging Loans

Mortgages of both freehold and leasehold titles for both repayment and interest only mortgages;
Equity Release Schemes; and
Home Purchase Plans (HPP) Ljara, Musharaka and Murabaha.

(We are member of all the panels of the major banks, building societies and lending institutions and the vast majority of other known lenders).

New Build

We have specialised teams dealing with new-build purchases and also acting for developers on plot sales.

Purchasers

Purchasers buying newly constructed houses and flats including leasehold and freehold titles from developers;
Purchases using the Help to Buy Scheme; and
Shared Ownership purchases.

Developers

Acting for developers on new-build and converted property sale transactions; and
New build development and estate set up, plot sales of leasehold and freehold titles;

Leasehold Enfranchisement and lease extensions,

We act for tenants and for landlords on leasehold matters including;

Leasehold Enfranchisement and statutory lease extensions;
Collective enfranchisement (Where a number of tenants wish to buy the freehold);
Right to manage (Tenants take management of a building without buying the freehold); and
Tenant’s right of first refusal to buy the freehold of a building.

Local Authority and Housing Associations

Sales and purchases of freehold and leasehold properties; and
Shared equity purchases and staircasing;

Planning

Advice on planning issues, drawing on the expertise within our Commercial Property Department.

Residential Conveyancing team

Duncan Gadsby

Senior Partner

Tara O’Donnell

Partner

Sara Barnett

Senior Associate Solicitor

Andrea Reilly

Senior Associate Licensed Conveyancer

Dorothy Purday

Senior Associate Chartered Legal Executive

Bob Sharp

Senior Conveyancing Executive

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.