Residential Property Blog

Whether you are buying a property alone or with another person, purchasing your first or your fifteenth home, planning on living in it or letting it out: whenever you acquire property, you should consider whether you need to make or update your Will as a result.

Fundamentally, your Will determines who receives your estate when you die. This includes any property you own solely or as tenants in...

When someone purchases a property as a new main residence but does not sell their existing main residence, the surcharged rate of duty has to be paid on the purchase price.

There is a claw back rule. You can apply for a refund of the supplemental amount paid for the higher rate of SDLT for additional properties if you sell what was previously your main home. The proviso is that you must sell...

The relaxation of the lockdown rules announced by the government last week has opened up the residential property market again. Whilst a positive step forward, businesses and home-movers will need to follow stringent new COVID-19 social distancing conditions.

Since the initial lockdown in March, our experience at TWM is that a number of transactions have still been able to proceed to...

As the government restrictions on business operation and social interaction get renewed for a further period of at least three weeks, with many experts warning it may last significantly longer, we consider whether COVID-19 is likely to engage the legal concepts of ‘frustration’ and ‘supervening illegality’ in the context of property contracts in England and Wales.

Force...

SDLT is a tax on land transactions in England and Northern Ireland and has been with us for over 16 years – it replaced “stamp duty” which was a tax on documents. Scotland and Wales have their own land tax regimes. Some of the rules are extremely complex and even the Revenue have been known to get their guidance wrong.

A tax return and payment of the tax due on the...

In light of the recent lockdown due to the coronavirus (COVID-19), there will inevitably be a significant impact on property transactions. While most firms have been preparing for their staff to be able to work from home, in order to avoid as much disruption as possible, the effects are likely to be far reaching.

There could be a significant delay in remitting funds if any party, or their...

Our conveyancing teams work closely with our Family Law team when it comes to advising or dealing with the family home. This may relate to the protection of rights where one party is not on the title of the family home, dealing with a transfer of equity or sale or advising on other aspects such as Stamp Duty Land Tax.

A transfer of any property subject to a mortgage will require the...

Declarations of Trust (formal written agreements regulating the arrangements between two or more (typically unmarried) co-owners of property) are often overlooked when people buy a property together. If you co-own a property with someone, then you need to be clear about what you each own and are responsible for (although they can have a role as part of efficient tax and estate planning)....

What is it?

Japanese knotweed is an invasive, non-native plant that can cause physical damage to buildings and land, which in turn affects the value of the property, and can be expensive and difficult to eradicate or treat.

The Government has issued guidance on invasive plants such as Japanese knotweed, and it states that not only have you got to prevent invasive non-native plants spreading on...