Commercial Property is one of our historical strengths.
Services provided include:

Acquisition and disposal of freehold and leasehold properties
Acquisition and disposals of hotels, restaurants, 'fast food outlets', pubs and wine bars.
Estate development
Leases
Mortgages
Compulsory purchase
Environmental issues
Joint venture agreements

Residential Property

Buying or selling a property is one of the most important transactions you are likely to undertake and not surprisingly, it can be a stressful time. It may also be your first experience of liaising with Solicitors. Pepperells Solicitors  Residential Property team consists of experienced conveyencers who will guide you through the process step by step.

The team offers a personal service that is responsive to your individual needs. Client care has the highest priority at Pepperells Solicitors

In addition to house purchases and sales, the Department also advises on Lettings and Tenancies and Transfers of Equity

Sometimes buying or selling a home can seem extremely confusing.

The likelihood is that you will be faced with a maze of technical jargon, and legal complexities that you have not encountered before.

This section sets out to take the mystery out of the conveyancing process, and explains in a down to earth style exactly what your solicitors do for you.

Q. I HAVE OFTEN HEARD SOLICITORS TALK ABOUT EXCHANGING CONTRACTS. WHAT EXACTLY DO THEY MEAN BY THIS?

A. The usual procedure is for the solicitors representing the seller of the property to draft a contract which will be sent to the solicitor representing the buyer. Likewise if you are buying at the same time your solicitor will also receive a contract from the solicitor representing your seller. The contracts are documents setting down on paper exactly what the buyer and seller have agreed. Clearly from the client’s viewpoint the most important parts to check are things such as the price, and any additional fixtures or fittings such as, wardrobes, curtains and carpets etc. From a legal viewpoint the solicitor needs to ensure that the title to the land is guaranteed and that there can be no dispute as to ownership.

Q. CONVEYANCING WHAT EXACTLY DOES IT MEAN?

A. The procedure for transferring ownership or certain rights in property from one person to another is known as conveyancing.

Your solicitors job is simply to ensure that you get what you are paying for and that you will not discover problems about the property you are buying or selling when it is too late.

Q. I HAVE OFTEN HEARD SOLICITORS TALK ABOUT LOCAL SEARCHES, WHAT ARE THESE?

A. in the same way that your solicitor will ask the person selling the property a number of relevant questions, they will also carryout a similar investigation with the local authority.

This investigation is known as a local search. In practice they are trying to find out whether there are any matters which you ought to know about that might affect your decision to proceed with the transaction.

If on your behalf they discover that a new motorway route was being planned near the property, or a new regional airport was to be built a mile away and your proposed home was directly under the flight path then you might wish to think again.

Thus they carry out the local search.

Q. AT WHAT STAGE WILL A DEPOSIT HAVE TO BE PAID ON THE PROPERTY THAT I AM BUYING?

A. Traditionally 10% of the purchase price of property is payable when contracts are exchanged. If you are selling as well as buying then your solicitor will attempt to exchange on both transactions at the same time so that the deposit taken from your buyer can be put towards the deposit on the property that you are buying.

The need to have both transactions running at the same time is one of the reasons why it is better for solicitors to handle your conveyancing rather than attempting to do it yourself.

Q. WHEN DO I GET THE KEYS?

It is unusual for you to have the key and be allowed access to the property until ownership of the property has been passed to you. This will normally not take place until you have paid the purchase price. This part of the transaction is known as completion. Thereafter your solicitor will in most cases have to attend to the payment of your stamp duty and the registration of your title. This can take several months to finalise (long after you have moved into the property) and as soon as registration has been completed your solicitor will confirm the position to you . If you have obtained a mortgage the deeds are then sent to your bank/building society where they will remain until the mortgage has been repaid.

Q. HOW LONG DOES THE WHOLE PROCESS TAKE?

A. It is impossible to be specific over this as no two transactions are exactly alike. On average however it is likely to take between four to eight weeks. The factors which will affect the length of time will include how quickly the various parties can arrange their finances and to a lesser extent the time taken to respond to the questions that have been asked such as Preliminary Enquiries Before Contract, and the local search.

Obviously if there is a chain involved where there are many buyers and sellers all dependant on each other this too can add to the length of time involved.

Click here to download our Guide to Conveyancing Stages

Call us now on 01724 871999 or click here for our contact page