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I manage the Conveyancing department with teams based in Sheffield and Manchester.
The department deal with all aspects of residential conveyancing including sales, purchases, remortgages, transfer of equity and equity release, employee relocations, Court of Protection conveyancing, shared ownership conveyancing, estate agent referral work and more complex title transactions.
The department provide a pro-active service to ensure a swift conclusion and high quality experience throughout. Our people have a wealth of conveyancing experience and will be able to assist with any queries which you may have.
Along with my colleagues we aim to provide a thorough conveyancing service with excellent customer service. I am also published in the Daily Telegraph's property section, providing advice to readers via the 'Ask the Experts' column.
I like the fast pace of conveyancing and working closely with my clients to get to exchange and completion. The variety of transactions the team deal with mean no day is ever the same.
I enjoy working at Irwin Mitchell and have been with the firm for many years. Having experts in all areas is a perk as there is always someone who can advise clients on all aspects of the law.
In my spare time I love to travel, particularly to the USA and Italy.
“It seems the major mortgage lenders are expecting the base rate to rise in November, given the sudden change in their own interest rates and the GDP result. This was inevitable given that the interest rates have been at a record low for years and both lenders and the Bank of England will have been preparing when, not if, the interest rates rose. “The concern is that any sudden spike in interest rates will cause the housing market to fluctuate, with house prices going up even further with the interest rate change having a knock-on effect with the commercial property market and potentially for overseas buyers looking to invest in the UK through residential property. The added uncertainty of what Brexit will bring for the UK economy only adds to the confusion. “Any potential increase in the base interest rate will be the first for a decade. There are now many who now hold mortgages that have never experienced an interest rate increase, and so should seek advice from a professional if they believe they are going to struggle to afford their mortgage repayments.”
“Despite there being efforts to reform this area just three years ago, it is clear that the combination of rising house prices and stamp duty requirements have left many prospective first-time, and second step, buyers facing a real challenge. “A review of the thresholds currently in place is the only sensible way forward to prevent a growing number of people from being priced out of the market. There were encouraging new measures announced in the Government’s housing white paper which admitted the market was ‘broken’. “It must be remembered that failing to address these issues could have a significant knock-on effect for everyone on the property ladder, preventing people from being able to move house and impacting on the economy as a whole. Getting more first-time and second step buyers moving will help the rest of the housing market to flourish.”
“This is positive news despite what the UK residential property market has experienced over the last 18 months, with pre and post Brexit worries, and the recent stamp duty hike. “The expected growth is a promising sign for the housing market and although growth has slowed currently, the market hasn’t completely ground to a halt – nor will it – as a lot of property purchases are not discretionary. Lives carry on and people need to move for certain circumstances such as jobs and for schools. “I have experienced that the market is very much ‘business as usual’ in processing many transactions as buyers will not disappear, but we may see more and more would-be-buyers opting to rent in the short term to give them greater flexibility in an uncertain climate.”
“Government initiatives targeting entry level homes affecting first-time buyers could be contributing to the rise with counteractive results. “The pricing surge over the past month has been no surprise as we have seen a considerable increase in completions in March due to buy-to-let landlords wanting to complete their purchases before the stamp duty changes. “This change may have been counteractive in an attempt to take heat from the market, as well as the government’s help to buy schemes. There are now more buyers with deposits trying to get on the market, alongside competition between banks to offer the best schemes, but only time will tell whether these initiatives have any true effect on the rise in pricing.”
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