2023 saw modest UK house price dips (1%), offering a glimmer of hope for first-time buyers. But don't celebrate yet - affordability remains tough with high prices (8x average salary) and mortgage rates (over 6%). Forget predictions - no one knows if prices will fall further or rates will stay high in 2024. The market is quieter but alive, favouring buyers with lower offers accepted. Expert Sussex Property Solicitor, Andrew Rannie walks you through the current state of the property market.
There is a common misconception, amongst tenants, that the tenant is only liable to give the property back in the same condition in which it was given to them. This is rarely, if ever, the case. The most common position is that it is wholly the...
Affecting both residential and commercial properties, MEES are, as the name suggests, the minimum energy efficiency standards permitted by law, with effect from 1 April 2018. What does that mean? For many years now, where a property is being sold...
We all know that many things in life, mortgages, pensions, insurance etc, are important but rarely are they considered exciting. Similarly, much of the work that property solicitors have to do could rightly be described as boring. For example, we...
In this series of articles , we have sought to demonstrate that a commercial lease has to cover many areas so as to fully record the landlord’s and tenant’s respective positions on any number of concerns that may arise during the term of the...
Part 11 – Legislation There is in existence at the present time much legislation that applies to the use and occupation of commercial buildings, of whatever nature. Undoubtedly, new legislation will be enacted in the future as well. Where...
Part 10 – Selling / Sub-letting Alienation is the formal term for the ability of the tenant to deal with the lease, whether by selling it on to a new tenant, commonly known as assignment, or by granting a sub-lease to their own sub-tenant. If...
Part 9 – Use A lease will always contain restrictions on how the tenant can use the property. Often this is linked to the planning permission applicable to the building; indeed leases usually require the tenant to comply with planning...
Part 8 – Alterations The majority of leases will severely restrict the ability of the tenant to carry out any alterations to the property. The justification for this is that the tenant only has a short-term interest in the property and the...
Part 7 – Repairs & Maintenance The most common position for the repair and maintenance of the property is that it is wholly the tenant’s responsibility. This is one of the reasons that defining the extent of the property is so...
Part 6 – Outgoings With the exception perhaps of leases within, say, an office block, a tenant can normally expect to be responsible for all the outgoings for their property, including the buildings insurance . All utilities will need to be...
Part 5 – Insurance The landlord will always want to protect the capital asset that is the building so will take out their own buildings insurance. However, it is generally expected that the tenant will pay the cost of this. The tenant will...
Part 4 – Rent The rent is often seen as the most important element of a lease because it can be the tenant’s most significant outgoing and it is the landlord’s main reason for granting a lease. Rent is usually defined by an annual...
Part 3 – Term Having a defined term is essential. This is commonly a fixed period, such as 3 or 5 years but can also be on a periodic basis, e.g. month by month. The length of the term has to be agreed between the landlord and tenant but...
Part 2 – Rights In the previous article , we spoke about the importance of the demise. However, unless the property is a complete stand-alone unit, just as important will be the rights granted to the tenant. There is no point taking a...
Part 1 – The Demise For a lease to be legally effective it must set out precisely the area given to the tenant, known as the demise. The property is often referred to as the demised premises as a result. If the demise is unclear then the...
In the gloriumptious world of Roald Dahl, whose centenary is being celebrated today, gobblefunk is the name given to unique and distinctive vocabulary of the Big Friendly Giant. Full of words like jiggyraffes, splitzwiggled and figglers, it...
Dawson Hart Solicitors are delighted to announce the recruitment of Andrew Rannie to the firm. With over a decade of property experience, Andrew joins the firm as a Director and as the new Head of the Property Department. Andrew said...
