Our industry blog

  Saving Money with DIY Moving By now your bank account may be looking rather anaemic from lack of funds. As a buyer you will already have had to set money aside to pay for things like stamp duty 'land tax', mortgage arrangement fees, valuation fees,  surveys and of...

  Only one key ingredient isn't in place for a property crash   Larry Elliot is the Economics Editor of The Guardian and his assessment of the likelihood of a property crash doesn't make happy reading for anyone who's already on the 'property ladder'. Essentially...

  Getting Ready to Move   What a relief!  Finally you've exchanged contracts and your house/flat purchase is in the bag. There will now be a short interlude between Exchange and Completion, typically lasting a couple of weeks (this will have been agreed in...

  Ramblers Welcome?   It’s Day One in your new home. Suddenly you spy a party of ramblers hiking across your garden. Turns out they have a perfect legal right to cross your land (land is legally referred to as ‘property’). So how can you tell if there’s a hidden right...

Covid-19 and House Prices   What determines house prices?  The media routinely blame estate agents for inflating the property market. But dogmatic vendors often have over-optimistic ideas about what their home is worth. And woe betide any estate agent who dares...

Exchange of Contracts - Insuring Yourself Against Things Going Wrong    It seems rather unfair that, even though you won't actually be living in the home you're buying until you move in on the day of completion, as the buyer you are legally liable to take out...

Exchange of Contracts - checklist   Under the crazy English homebuying system, until you reach Exchange of Contracts, both buyers and sellers are entitled to change their minds and pull out for any reason.  This can happen after many months of apparent...

Getting quotes for removals - before you exchange contracts   Unless you’re seriously considering doing all the heavy lifting yourself, now's the time to obtain quotes for removals. In most cases this needs to be done before exchange, because by leaving it any later...

Preparing for Exchange of Contracts - Who is responsible for insuring the property?    It seems to have taken forever - but at last you are almost at Exchange of Contracts - the stage when your purchase is safe. Your coneyancer-solicitor should now be in touch to...

  Last minute problems with flats and leasehold properties   Flats and leasehold properties are a lot more complex than Freeholds legally, as well as from a surveying perspective. The following issues can commonly cause problems as you approach Exchange:  ...