Norwich - A fine City to buy a property in

The news of Radio One choosing  Norwich as its venue for its Big Weekend in May will undoubtedly help to remind people of the popularity of Norwich as a place to live. 

Based in East Anglia and situated about 20 miles away from some of the very best coastlines in the UK, Norwich continues to grow not only as a top tourist destination but also as an ideal location to establish a home.

So what does Norwich offer?

There is much more to Norwich than Delia Smith and Stephen Fry and a former Premiership football team.  

Norwich bustles with good and varied shops, restaurants and pubs and offers a unique quality of life. 

There is an excellent theatre hosting some of the top shows in the country.

Norwich is also the gateway to the Norfolk Broads. There are  Nature Reserves  and it is also situated close to a number of the top Natural Trust Land/Properties 

Though there is a large selection of restaurants and public houses it would be remiss not to make specific reference to the Last Wine Bar  and The Georgian Town House  There are lively eateries and ones which offer good quality food. 

Norwich Property Market

Finding a property in Norwich may however prove difficult. 

The opening of the Eleveden by pass has increased the drive time to and from London and with a good train service running from Nowich to London with Trains every hour transport routes into the capital are better than have ever been.  This has led to an increase in demand and prices in Norfolk have been rising and will continue to rise this year. 

There is a distinct shortage of stock in Norwich at all price points which is a situation that has been in play since 2009 and it just keeps getting worse.

According to Rightmove the majority of sales in Norfolk during the last year were detached properties, selling for an average price of £259,940. Terraced properties sold for an average of £157,736, with semi-detached properties fetching £172,339.

If you are looking for help to find a property give Pymm and Co and Abbotfox agents which have a good reputation in the area.    Try also the local property newspaper edited by Caroline Culot

As for conveyancing solicitors beware if you are directed to a specific firm by an estate agent as commission fees are rife in the City and add to the cost of buying a home. 

At MJP we have no ties with any agent and offer competitive fees.  You can obtain a  quotation here 

For more information on Norwich Tourist Information Board 

Morgan Jones and Pett are solicitors who provide legal advice and services to clients based in England and Wales and who can be contacted on 01603877000 or via email at davidpett@m-j-p.co.uk

Success Story for East Anglian based Legal Practice

Legal 500 Norwich based legal Practice, MJP Solicitors, will soon be following the path taken by many of the Country’s leading lawyers by incorporating their business as a Limited Company.

From 1^st May MJP Solicitors will be creating two new companies – MJP Limited and MJP ConveyancingLimited – with the view to add strength to their already successful national clinical negligence and conveyancing services.

They will be part of a growing trend of legal practices taking steps to bring their business into line with modern day thinking on taxation and succession issues. 

According to Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) figures, 2,400 of the 10,973 law firms as of July 2012 were incorporated companies, compared to 1,898 a year before – a rise of 26%.

This move comes on the back of a very successful year for MJP who have seen their profits treble through the expansion of their clinical negligence and conveyancing offerings.  

David Jones, head of the MJP clinical negligence team, explains how despite the recent withdrawal of public funding and some of the worst trading conditions in the business’ history, he has seen business go from strength to strength:

“Trying to anticipate trends and careful forward planning has been the key.   This coupled with an investment in IT of over £80K and some focused marketing has helped us retain a national reputation in helping families all of the country with the consequences of surgical and treatment failures”. 

He adds:

“Many clinical negligence lawyers receive a bad press, but what is often overlooked is how lawyers like us have helped to provide a good and rewarding quality of life to many victims who through no fault of their own have suffered life changing injuries.   I also believe that due to our work we have helped to raise standards within the health service industry.

Commenting on the recent withdrawal of public funding and welfare reforms, Mr Jones remains upbeat:

‘Gaining access to legal services of the type we provide will be more difficult but we have several options and ideas on offer which will ensure that we will remain highly accessible to victims who wish to seek advice and support from our team of specialists.

Another part of the success story has been high level of growth in the property division of the business.  

“ We have over the past 12 months moved over 5000 clients”, states Head of Residential Property, David Pett. He adds “that despite the slowdown in the property market, we have seen over the past 18 months, the level of completed transactions increase from around 20 to over 200 each month.

Much of the success for this lies with the “in house’ creation of an online tracking and property log book IT system.   This allows estate agents and clients to track the progress of the transaction and with our unique Property Log Book we have been able to offer our clients added value to accompany a very competitive fee structure”.

Looking forward there exists, as Mr Pett explains, a positive plan for growth:

“We continue to recruit new staff and are already looking to expand the business further through careful acquisition decisions. We are on the constant look out for other providers of property related legal services that may be looking to be part of the exciting plans we have for the future.   Our aim is to be one of the largest providers of conveyancing services in this region within the next 5 years”.

MJP Solicitors – contact DavidPett on 01603 887067 for further information

Morgan Jones and Pett are solicitors who provide legal advice and services to clients based in England and Wales and who can be contacted on 01603877000 or via email at davidpett@m-j-p.co.uk

Rod Stewart announces in Norwich a long awaited return to song writing

Singing his heart out to an eighteen thousand strong crowd at Carrow Road in Norwich last night, Rod Stewart declared that after a writing drought for what seems decades, he is looking to write and record some of his own material.   Stuck in a groove with the American Song Book collection and some other albums of covers, this news will come as a pleasant surprise to fans like myself who have been waiting a very long time for Rod to come up with some original material.   I am sure we can all recall some of the classic Stewart penned songs such as ‘Maggie May’, ‘Stay with Me’ ( sharing the writing bill with old chum and partner in crime Ronnie Wood now with the Rolling Stones) and ‘You are in my Heart’.

So how was the concert? Superb.  Apart from some sound problems at the beginning which always seem to exist at his open air concerts, the gravel and soulful voice was both strong and elegant.   Singing with as much passion as fans like me have come to expect I am sure after 2 hours of ‘hit after hit’  no one in the crowd was left disappointed.  There were a few surprises.  A cover of a blue’s track from a forthcoming but yet to be released album and also a rare outing of ‘Every Picture Tells a Story’ taken from the critically acclaimed album of the same name.

The man has soul and despite his ageing years, his enthusiasm and love for music and providing value for those finding the money to come and see him is unremitting. He left the Norwich crowd with smiles on their faces and no doubt a flood of many happy memories generated by his music which for many of his fans has become a soundtrack for their lives.

Rod’s next outing  is at the end of June when he teams up with Stevie Nicks at the Hard Rock Concert In London  - a taster I hope of what was on offer during his recent sell out tour in the USA. 

Review by David Pett - davidpett@m-j-p.co.uk