Law Blog!

posted by admin on Dec 23

There are many, expensive aspects to buying a new property and moving house. Conveyancing fees are an essential part of the process but this obviously doesn’t mean that you will want to pay over the odds for what turns out to be a substandard or poor quality service. You should look for the company or professional that offers the best value rather than simply the lowest rates; this way you can be sure that you really are buying your dream house.

Conveyancing fees should be transparent. Beware those quotes that claim to be fully inclusive. There are certain additional checks that the conveyancer may need to run and this will often mean an additional charge. With a transparent conveyancing service you can be sure that you are only paying the fee you owe without paying excessive, additional charges to line the pockets of the company you use.

Also consider that the service should be transparent and you should enjoy very good levels of communication with your solicitor. If you are levied a charge every time you contact them, then you will be unlikely to instigate communication that may prove necessary or may set your mind at ease – be sure that you know the full extent of these additional charges before you agree to the use of a particular service.

posted by admin on Dec 18

Conveyancing Solicitors in Sheffield are bound to the same legal commitments and perform the same tasks as Conveyancing Solicitors elsewhere in the UK. You should be looking for somebody who is highly reputable, communicates excellently, and has time to focus their energy on your case so you are not just ‘one of the pile’.

However, the beautiful and historic City of Sheffield throws up a unique problem that Residential Conveyancers must respond to.

Listed Buildings
Sheffield possesses over 1,000 listed buildings. The Cathedral and the Town Hall in the centre of the city are possibly the two that most tourists flock to see. And who could forget about the Park Hill flats – the largest listed building in Europe.

What a lot of people don’t realise is that there is an abundance of these graded buildings in and around the city that have since been converted into homes and flats. Today, some Sheffielders are living in listed buildings without even realising it!

Lucky them, you might think. Actually, the abundance of listed buildings can get home owners and buyers into all sorts of trouble, so it’s best to choose a Conveyancing Solicitors in Sheffield that knows the ins-and-outs of listed buildings and the law that goes with them.

Criminal Charges
Living in a listed building has two implications for a home owner:

1. They may be under an obligation to pay for compulsory maintenance on certain aspects of the property.
2. Extensions and alterations they wish to make to the property may be forbidden.

Worse still: were you to break either of these constraints, even if it was innocently and unknowingly, you would be liable to face criminal prosecution.

Imagine the case: you buy a new flat in the city centre and are just settling into it when Sheffield Council summon you to pay £12,000 to restore the antiquated windows. Either that, r be treated as a criminal!

”But it’s not my fault“, I hear you cry, ”I wasn’t to know“. Well your Residential Conveyancers certainly should have done. It’s their job to look into possibilities such as this, and uncover any hidden surprises.

Deciding to instruct a Conveyancing Solicitors in Sheffield is an important choice. Be careful that you don’t rush into ‘to good to be true’ cheap quotes online, without finding out whether a Solicitor has the knowledge of Sheffield and professional acumen to get you into your new home, with no nasty surprises.