The Renters’ Rights Bill: Calm, Clear, and Explained by People Who’ve Read It Properly
For the last few months, the Renters’ Rights Bill has been doing the rounds with all the subtlety of a pub rumour. Some people are convinced landlords are about to be marched into the sea. Some tenants think rent controls are back and eviction is basically illegal. Some lawyers are quietly panicking and pretending they’re […]
Keeping Up with HMLR Practice Guide Updates (Without Losing the Will to Live)
If you work in property long enough, you develop a healthy respect for HM Land Registry practice guides. They’re the rulebook. The instruction manual. The thing you really don’t want to realise you’ve misread after you’ve already submitted the application. The trouble is, they don’t stand still. HMLR updates its practice guides regularly, sometimes subtly, […]
The Importance of Taking a Break Over the Festive Season
It may seem counter-intuitive to be talking about taking time off in a blog that’s largely focused on professional development, but bear with us. We fully believe in being dedicated professionals and serving our clients as well as we can, but we also believe that that’s only possible when we’re properly taking care of ourselves. […]
The Most Common Legal Pitfalls in Property Transactions – And How to Avoid Them
No professional wants to let their clients down. This is surely true in all industries, but the risk of a let-down can be especially fraught in conveyancing. Not only are we dealing with high-value transactions, these transactions often come with a great deal of emotion baked in. This is hardly surprising: clearly there are far […]
Why Legal Training is Critical for Estate Agents and Property Investors
You don’t need us to tell you that the property market in the UK is big business. Though if you do need a refresher of just how big we’re talking, then perhaps you might like to consider the fact that the collective annual turnover for businesses in this industry is around £73 billion. Whether you’re […]
Property Developers- Restrictive Covenants Blocking Your Plans
First, we need to understand fully what a restrictive covenant is. A restrictive covenant is a contract between two landowners. One landowner promises the other landowner not to carry out certain acts on their own land. Restrictive covenants usually happen when somebody selling the land wishes to restrict what the buyer can do with it. […]
Commercial Property and VAT: Why There Can Be a Benefit to Opting In
The intersection of property and VAT can be a very tricky one. If you regularly advise on commercial property transactions, we think it’s well worth making sure you’re familiar with the regulations around the option to tax. Isn’t all property VAT exempt? It’s true that, generally speaking, the sale of property and the granting of […]
What Do Residential Landlords Need to Know about Energy Performance Certificates?
The rules about Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) and minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES) for rented dwellings were introduced in 2018 and updated in 2020. As it stands today, rental properties that are covered by the regulations are required to have an EPC rating of E or above. This means that it is illegal to let […]
Major Property Law Reforms: How They Will Impact Your Work
The UK property industry is set for some of its biggest legal changes in years. Leasehold reform, stricter tenant protections, changes to stamp duty, and new rules on compulsory purchase will all have significant consequences for those working in property. Whether you are a conveyancer, landlord, estate agent, or developer, these reforms will change the […]