Free Property Law Advice
If you own, planning to sell or buy property such as a building or land there will be various property laws which protect you, set guidelines and rules you must adhere to and protect other parties from any potential unlawful actions.
There are many topics which are covered under property laws and these include:
- Buying and selling property
- Renting a property
- Planning permission
- Disputes regarding ownership of land or boundaries
- Stamp duty
Moving home can be an incredibly stressful life event and although you can do it yourself it is recommended you hire a specialist conveyancer or property lawyer to draw up the contract or seek legal advice prior to doing it yourself. This will give you great peace of mind and help you address any problems you may have.
- The pre-contractual stage which involves research, surveys and drawing up a contract which contains any restrictions, ownership issues (such as leasehold), agreed price and other necessary facts relating to the property.
- If both parties agree to the contracts drawn up in the first stage then these will be exchanged
- Further checks and arrangements now take place such as land registry checks and organising mortgage documents and repayments
- This stage is called completion. The money is now transferred to the seller of the property, keys are given to the buyer and a date to move in is arranged. You will now receive the deeds to the property and become the legal owner.
- The last stage involves paying stamp duty, your legal fees and informing the Land Registry you now own that property.
In relatively simple cases this is straight forward and should only take a matter of weeks. If there are problems and issues relating to the property then you should not attempt to draw up your own contracts as this may cause legal and financial problems in the future.
There are a lot of tax issues involved in buying, selling and inheriting property. If you have inherited a property valued over the threshold then you may be responsible for paying some inheritance tax. If buying a property which costs over £125,000, or over £250,000 for a first time buyer you will have to pay Stamp Duty on top of your purchase which is a percentage of total purchase price (not the value) of the property on top of any other legal fees you may need to pay. There are some exceptions such as homes in disadvantaged areas and zero carbon homes, if you think you can receive a stamp duty exemption in these circumstances then you should discuss this with a solicitor. If you bought and sold a property with the intention of profiting from it and did not use it as your home you will be responsible for paying Capital gains tax.
If you are having property dispute or planning on buying and selling property then you will need legal advice or assistance, especially when drawing up contracts