FAQs

On your purchase, searches are carried out at 2 stages: pre-exchange and pre-completion.

The pre-exchange searches undertaken are with public bodies e.g. the Local Authority, Drainage Authority, Environment Agency etc.

These searches reveal information about the property such as any planning restrictions, tree preservation orders, local developments which may affect the property, whether or not the property is connected to mains water and drainage.

Pre-completion searches are carried out at the Land Registry and Plymouth Land Charges Department.

Dependent on where a property is and any specific lender requirements, additional searches may be required e.g. Coal Mining, Flood Risk. We will advise you of any additional searches that are required.

Identification will be needed in order to complete either a sale or a purchase. This is to comply with Money Laundering Regulations, which stipulate that we must obtain evidence of a client’s identity. We will need, for each owner of the property, a valid passport as well as a recent utility bill.

No, there are no hidden costs associated with our conveyancing service. We will provide you with a fixed legal fee to cover the work. Along with the fixed legal fee you will have information on what additional costs might arise, if we were not made aware of these at the beginning. We will only ever increase the fee, if, during the transaction, something comes to light which was unforeseen. If this did happen, we would discuss this with you before incurring extra charges.

It is very difficult to give an average timescale for a conveyancing transaction. We would usually expect a transaction to take between twelve to sixteen weeks to reach a completion. However, much of the timing is outside of our control. You should not make any final arrangements for moving or give notice on any temporary accommodation until contracts have been exchanged and a definite completion date has been agreed.

If you believe, or have reasonable cause to believe, that your tenant has ceased to reside in the premises, you are entitled to change the locks without serving notice or getting a court order. We would always urge you to seek legal advice though, to avoid any potential claims for unlawful eviction.

In this case, you will need to instruct a bailiff to execute a Warrant of Possession. We usually estimate that it takes approximately 8 weeks from application to eviction, possibly longer depending on how busy the bailiffs are and which Court is dealing with the matter.

This will vary depending on which type of notice is served; whether the tenant raises a defence/ counterclaim, and how quickly the court deals with the matter. Typically, both Section 21 and Section 8 proceedings can take around 8 to 10 months from service of the notice to the date of the eviction.

If the tenant doesn’t leave by the time the notice expires, we can help you to apply to court for a possession order. Please note that tenants are lawfully entitled to remain in occupation until they have been served with a valid notice; the landlord has obtained a possession order from the Court and a bailiff has executed a Warrant of Possession.