What Do Residential Property Lawyers Do?
Any time that you are planning to buy, sell, build, or when you have a dispute involving property, you need residential property lawyers.
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But what do these legal specialists do exactly?
In this article, we will take a look at the huge variety of expertise this kind of lawyer can provide and where you might need it:
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What Is Property Law?
Property law covers all of the legal processes involved in buying or selling land or property as well as a variety of legal services related to owning or living in property. You will sometimes see it referred to as “real estate law”.
Real estate or property law is usually split into two broad areas:
- Personal property law – involves buying or selling residential property. Clients in this field are most often individuals or groups.
- Commercial property law – involves business properties or land that is used to make a profit. This work may be in the private sector, the public sector, or both, and on behalf of a wide range of individuals and organisations, including charities.
What Do Residential Property Lawyers Do?
Residential property lawyers, of course, specialise in the former – personal property law.
But even this field has a huge variety of different aspects. Some professionals are generalists, working in several or all fields. Others specialise in one area, such as:
1) Conveyancing Law
Conveyancing is the technical term for buying or selling property. In the UK, transferring ownership of property from one person to another requires completing a long list of tasks. This includes:
- Negotiating property transactions and structuring arrangements
- Drafting contracts and other documentation
- Gathering all relevant property information and carrying out property searches
- Confirming the seller’s identity
- Handling the transfer of funds
Although it is technically possible for individuals to complete the conveyancing process themselves (this is sometimes called “DIY conveyancing”), mortgage lenders do tend to require that their clients use a legal professional.
In practical terms, this means most people who buy property in the UK need to find a conveyancer they trust in order to do so.
2) Landlord And Tenant Law
As of 2022, around 19% of all of the homes in the UK are rental accommodation. This means a huge percentage of the population relies on good relations between landlords and tenants to maintain a stable living or financial situation.
Residential property lawyers are used to representing people in both parties. On any given day, they may be helping landlords or tenants with:
- Buying or selling rental property – helping identify potential advantages or disadvantages of specific proprieties that make them good or bad prospects to rent out.
- Drafting tenancy agreements and leases – having a well-written and legally clear agreement between landlord and tenant is the foundation of a good relationship.
- Landlord-tenant disputes – including everything from unpaid rent recovery to managing evictions to failure to comply with tenancy agreements.
3) Construction And Planning Law
If you are planning to extend your home, make additions to a property you own, or build wholly new properties on land you control, you will swiftly become familiar with the sometimes complex field of construction and planning law.
A residential property lawyer is your guide and advocate in these matters. They can help you carry out a large number of required legal tasks, including:
- Secure planning permission
- Minimise the chance of legal challenges to that permission
- Project manage all aspects of a planning application
- Investigate permitted development rights
- Carry out site appraisals with development in mind
4) Property Disputes (Often Neighbour Disputes)
Property disputes are sometimes simply called “neighbour disputes” because they so often involve people living in close proximity to each other.
Solicitors who specialise in property law can help you resolve a broad variety of issues and disputes with neighbours that can’t be resolved with a polite knock on the door and chat, such as:
- Boundary disputes
- Right of way disputes
- Noise complaints
- Nuisance behaviour
- Property damage (in the worst cases)
5) And Much More Besides
In short, if it relates to the legal side of buying, selling, or owning property in the UK (and sometimes abroad too), residential property lawyers are your go-to choice for the legal assistance you need.
Are these the kinds of tasks or property issues you’re facing?
Birch & Co has been helping people in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, across the North East and nationally buy and sell homes and resolve all kinds of property problems for over 31 years.
We have achieved a 5-star rating on Google. 99% of our clients would recommend us to others.
Contact us on 0191 284 5030 or complete a Free Online Enquiry and we will soon be in touch.
“Have just used Birch & Co for a house purchase and sale after using them a few years ago for my divorce, they are great, they are very professional at the same time as being welcoming and friendly putting you completely at ease as soon as you walk through the door, If you’re lucky you may even get cuddles from Murphy the dog. I would thoroughly recommend them to anyone looking for a solicitors in the area.” (JA)