Conveyancing and Property Law

You can handle the process yourself, but remember there are very large sums of money at risk. Solicitors are trained in dealing with very complicated UK property law, large documents, old records, and corresponding with the “other side” to ensure honesty.

A small mistake or oversight can lead you to spending hundreds of thousands on a property with huge problems. Not to mention the many weeks or months of work it takes to get a sale “through” - which can be difficult to juggle on top of your daily life, work, and the house move itself.

Leasehold Enfranchisement is when you extend a lease, or buy it from the freeholder.

Landlords and housing associations own the "freehold" of a building. This means they own it permanently, and are usually responsible for maintaining communal areas (gardens, shared corridors, lifts, roof repairs, etc.). If you buy a leasehold within a building, you are buying a part of the building for a set number of years.

If your lease is running low, you can ask your landlord to extend it, or sell you the freehold for the property so you own it permanently yourself. Read more about this here.

When somebody dies, their house is sold through “probate”. It’s usually managed by the person’s family or “executor(s) of the will”, who must make sure the house is sold for a fair price, and benefits anyone inheriting the money as much as possible.

To start a probate sale, you will need:

• To prove your right to sell with a Grant of Probate
• A Deed of Assent (slightly different to the usual Transfer Deed used for non-probate sales)

Find more info on probate here.