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 […]
Easements and unexpected access rights
It can be easy to get overwhelmed with the intricacies of your property development; however, it is essential to remember the importance of knowing when and why someone may have access rights, and what you can do about it. What is an easement? Firstly, you might be questioning what an easement is, and why […]
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 […]
Property Developers- Hidden Title Issues
Property developers often face a number of hidden title issues that can derail a project. The best way to avoid any unwanted delays or unwarranted costs is to make sure you investigate with early due diligence and ensure you have made all relevant checks with expert legal advice. So, what common title issues can occur? […]
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 […]
What Happens When the Borrower Vanishes into Thin Air? A Secured Creditor’s Guide to Bona Vacantia
Picture this: you’re a secured lender, your borrower has vanished from the corporate register, and the property you hold security over has drifted into the Crown’s lap under the doctrine of bona vacantia. It sounds like the start of a legal ghost story—but it’s a surprisingly common real-world scenario. Here’s what secured creditors need to […]