You might think that something as seemingly simple as buying a pitch for a caravan is straightforward enough to do yourself. However, examples of this shows why you shouldn't consider entering into a property transaction without employing a specialist lawyer. One example of how things can go wrong comes from a man who paid £3,000 for [...]
Getting 'on the property ladder' has never been harder as lending criteria have been tightened considerably since the ‘boom’ days of 125 per cent mortgages. Young people wishing to buy a home of their own are increasingly looking to their parents for assistance. Even if their parents can, it is often difficult to know the best [...]
'Buyer beware' is a legal concept with which purchasers of goods and property have had to contend for centuries. It applies to most transactions where specific protection for purchasers is not provided under the law. It was rigorously applied in one recent case in which a couple paid £625,000 for a secluded home shortly before developers [...]
Homeowners have a responsibility to ensure that they do not damage their neighbours’ properties and this includes a legal duty to keep their garden trees and shrubs under control. When a North London woman ignored her responsibilities in this regard, the result was an order by the court to pay more than £17,000 in damages to [...]
Homeowners may be breathing a sigh of relief following the widely publicised reports that ‘chancel repair liability’ (CRL) must now be registered to be effective – but the risk still remains for some. CRL can arise where a parish has the legal right to make properties that fall within its boundaries responsible for the upkeep of [...]
With the new-build property market picking up, sales of ‘off-plan’ properties will be expected to rise. However, a recent case shows that buying a property in this way has potential pitfalls. It involved a couple who failed to complete the purchase of a flat due to the withdrawal of their mortgage offer whilst building works were [...]
A High Court ruling has underlined the dangers inherent in purchasing property at auction without taking proper legal advice. A disabled woman is facing a financial catastrophe after she made a successful telephone bid for a substantial property, without commissioning a survey and without previously viewing it, just a week before a landslide left it teetering [...]
In a ruling which illustrates the pitfalls of inaccurate land sale particulars, members of a family who sold their vegetable patch to a developer for more than £150,000 have been ordered to repay the money by a judge who found that part of the land that they auctioned did not belong to them. Derek and Oriel [...]
When a couple heeded the advice of their mortgage adviser and put the property they bought together into only one of their names, an eventual dispute over who owned what was always a possibility. The man paid all of the bills relating to the property, including the mortgage. The contribution from his partner was £100 per [...]
A recent ruling in which 'village green' status was withdrawn from an area of land in Dorset highlights the fact that the granting of village green status does not necessarily mean that the land will be free from the risk of development in perpetuity. The Government is determined to free up more land for development. To [...]
