How do I speed up the process of selling my home?

What can you do to sell your home fast once you have received an offer?

Dealing with the legal formalities involved in selling a house should be straightforward and relatively cheap.  The problem is that not many homeowners prepare for the sale sufficiently and unfortunately there are not too many agents around who are willing to help.

Here are my tips and ones guaranteed to speed up the process:

• Get together for production all of the guarantees and warranties relating to work undertaken to the property.
• If you have altered or extended the  property find the planning consents and building regulation documents.  This extends to boiler installation and electrical work. 
• Remember the buyer will also be interested in seeing consents, approvals, completion certificates, guarantees in connection with work carried our before you became owners.   The solicitors who acted for you when you purchased the property may still be holding these. Check with them.
• If you are not sure whether alteration and other works required planning consent and or building regulation approval check out this site  : www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/
• If you know planning consent and or building regulation approval was required but you are unable to find the paperwork contact the council and ask for copies to be sent to you.
• Complete fully and quickly the property information and fitting and content forms handed to you by your solicitors.    You don’t have to wait to instruct a solicitor to fill these forms in.   You can find a specimen of the property information form here: www.lawsociety.org.uk/documents/.../ta6_formspecimen.pdf
• The buyer will through your solicitors ask you questions about the property  - make sure that when your receive these questions you answer them quickly.
•  If there is a mortgage and or loans secured on the property make sure you find out how much is outstanding by seeking up-to-date statements and pass these onto you solicitor.

Unless you are looking to tie in your sale with a purchase the sale should take only around 3 weeks to complete depending of course on whether the person buying your property is not selling and or arranging a mortgage!  Unfortunately in conveyancing you can only go as fast as the slowest person in the chain.

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

Don't buy leasehold property without reading this...

Buying a leasehold property is not as straightforward as you might think.    Nor is it cheap.   You need to make sure the selling agent specializes in this type of property, and you are given all relevant information so you can make an informed decision.  

Look out for the hidden costs. 

Most leasehold properties include common and or shared areas and responsibility along with the cost of maintaining these parts is shared between the tenants.   The expense is called a service charge and this can often be high and burdensome.   

Often responsibility for collecting the service charge rests with a commercial agent or Management Company.  Upon completion of your purchase the agent or Management Company will expect you to pay a fee for lodging notice of your new ownership as well as your mortgage.   They may also require you to enter into an agreement with them direct to make sure you take over responsibility for payment of the service charge.   They may require you to pay an additional fee for lodging this agreement.  You may also be required to acquire a shareholding in the management company for which a further fee might be payable.

The landlord may also be planning to undertake major works such as replacing the roof or external painting.   Sometimes there is money set aside for these extra works.  Often there is not.  If there is no reserve then you could find yourself having to make a contribution towards the cost of these works and this could mean having to pay out thousands of pounds.

Your solicitors will also be looking to charge you more for the work.   This is because there is far more work involved when checking the lease and other legal aspects.

Check the length of the lease and how much of the term of the lease is left to run.   If the remaining term is under or close to 80 years then you should consider carefully with the agent or your solicitor how much is will cost to extend the lease.   It becomes more expensive to extend a lease that is under 80 years.  Keep in mind your lender may not be prepared to lend to you if the remaining part of the lease is under a certain limit.

Beware of rent review clauses.  Plenty of leases contain oppressive review clauses that can result in substantial increases in the level of future rent.

In short make sure you seek expert advice from a solicitor who has experience in this area.

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

Three good reasons for not instructing a solicitor recommended by an estate agent

You might not know it, but you could be paying more for legal services when moving home because of the recommendation received form your estate agent.   The reason for this is that many estate agents have ‘arrangements’ with solicitors under which they receive what is known as a ‘referral fee’  or as it is often described, a ‘kick back’.

Many of the solicitors who operate in this way do not absorb the referral fee in their fee but add the fee on to the fee they quote you.  This means that you could very well be paying as much as £200 more for the service than you would have otherwise paid had you shopped around and gone to a conveyancing solicitor direct.

Is this legal?  Well at present yes providing the estate agent and solicitor tell you about the arrangement before you make the decision to instruct the solicitor.  The question is how many of those involved actually disclose the referral fee.  Sadly I do not believe it is many.

It also raises the question whether instructing a solicitor recommended by a ‘tied’ estate agent will ensure you receive the best service available.  My experience is that where such arrangements exist the solicitors instructed are normally part of some ‘factory’ operation and in the main the service levels of those firms is very poor.  This could mean you will find yourself having to constantly chase and inevitably the move will take longer.

Instructing an agent with a ‘pet’ solicitor may also impair the solicitor’s ability to offer independent advice. The agent will have a vested interest in the sale completing. Once an agent has agreed a sale, they will want it completed so they will put pressure on the connected solicitor to complete without regard to your best interests. If your solicitor discovers a problem and considers he should advise you to withdraw, will he be prepared to do so if the agents on whom he relies for work tell him not to?

My advice is not to rely on your agent’s recommendation.  Shop around, visit websites, read the reviews on the service offered and do not be tempted by deals offered by some agents to ‘wrap’ your legal fees in with the agent’s fee.  Perhaps even choose your solicitor before you put your house on the market because many solicitors like us know which are the 'good' and 'not so good' agents.    And before you ask, no we do not get a ‘kick back’ for recommending an agent!

David Pett Partner MJP Conveyancing Solicitors 

The fallacy behind mortgage fraud

Steps by some of the main lenders to push home owners down the route of only using certain solicitors has caused concern within the legal sector and has also led to increased expense for the consumer.  The main reason for this action seems to be the aim of the lender to reduce mortgage fraud.

Lenders take the view that by reducing the panel of solicitors undertaking mortgage work, and thereby monitoring those solicitors more closely, this will help to reduce the risk of mortgage fraud.

The suggestion is that sole cause of  fraud lies with solicitors who handle residential transactions.  I accept there have cases of fraud involving lawyers and other professionals and I also acknowledge that lawyers have access to large sums of money in handling this type of work.  The question is however can all of the incidents of fraud costing the industry over £1bn be attributed to the criminal activity of a small number of lawyers.  Is it also fair to use mortgage fraud as an excuse to restrict mortgage work to a limited amount of property lawyers at the expense of higher moving costs and a decline in conveyancing services?

In looking at these questions one must begin to understand from where the bulk of the fraud originates.  Surprisingly (or perhaps not), the majority of fraud stems not from crooked lawyers, but from individuals misrepresenting their personal circumstances. In fact over 90 per cent of attempted mortgage fraud in 201l was down to this failing.

Experian Identity & Fraud has revealed that fraudulent applications for mortgages increased by eight per cent in 2011, marking the fifth consecutive year in which the rate of mortgage fraud has increased.

Experian explain:

‘Around 34 in every 10,000 applications for mortgages were found to be fraudulent in 2011, compared to just 15 in every 10,000 in 2006. . Typically, these first party frauds involved falsifying employment status or financial information, and, most commonly, attempting to hide an adverse credit history’.

This would clearly suggest that, although I accept solicitors acting for lenders needs to be vetted and monitored, lenders should be doing more to stamp out the fraud which happens at the beginning of the process when the application is completed and often submitted by the applicant's independent financial adviser.

In a recent press release from the Council of Mortgage Lenders talk of a new scheme designed with this very aim in mind.  The CML explains:

 “….. the launch of a new mortgage verification scheme in September was the culmination of many months of carefully co-ordinated work we under took with HM.Under the scheme, lenders receiving mortgage applications that are not supported by adequate evidence of the declared income, or where fraud is suspected, can submit details via a secure link to HMRC. The tax authorities check the details that have been supplied to the lender against their own income tax and employment returns, helping to expose applications based on bogus claims about earnings or working history’.

The indicators are that some of these measures are working and as the CML reports mortgage fraud is now on the decline though I suspect that not much of this can actually be tied in with the rather inexplicable decision of lenders to arbitrarily restrict mortgage work to the exclusion of a large  number of honest and hardworking property lawyers.  

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

Why moving home with a mortgage will cost more and take longer

Why do some mortgage companies insist you go to one solicitor for your mortgage and a different one for your purchase?

For many years one solicitor would act for both you and the lender because in the main your respective interests would be the similar.    You both wish to purchase a property without any adverse legal consequences.   This is known as a “joint representation” transaction.

The benefit of this is that providing your solicitor was on the lender’s general panel one overall fee would be charged.

However, some mortgage lenders in response to increasing concerns with levels of mortgage fraud and poor conveyancing practice have decided to limit the number of firms that can act on their behalf.

This “separate representation” approach means the lender will appoint a solicitor to act on their behalf and you are able to instruct your own solicitor.   Generally there is no restriction on which firm you choose providing they are on the lender’s general conveyancing panel.  

However there is one lender namely HSBC which has through charging extra legal fees made it very difficult for you to exercise a free choice.  

If you are involved in a transaction where you have two firms of solicitors acting this can often cause delay because your solicitor will not be able to exchange contracts on your behalf until the lender’s solicitor has confirmed approval.

The likelihood is that separate representation is likely to figure more in the future with the consequence of  adding extra expense and time to the  already slow and stressful process of moving home.  

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

New energy rules for those selling and buying homes

The rules on the display of energy ratings (Energy Performance Certificates (EPC)) for homes have changed.

Those advertising property such as estate agents must now (as from the 6th April) :

• Include the 1st page of the EPC for all sales and lettings properties in printed and electronic property particulars.

• Have ordered an EPC prior to marketing and to produce  it within 7 days of marketing

If you are looking to market or let your property it is important for you to make sure your agent is complying with these requirements. 

Your agent must include a copy of the entire front page of the EPC document and not just the EPC graph as has currently been the case.  This includes any literature containing particulars of the property to be marketed including electronic communications such as emails.

Property particulars are defined as including at least two of the following elements:

• a photograph of the building or any room in the building,
• a floor plan of the building,
• the size of the rooms in the building,
• the measured area of the building, or,
• the proposed rent in relation to a building being rented out,.

This may therefore (depending on how the new rules are interpreted) extend to the pictures and particulars of your home that appear in the agent’s window or in the local paper.  As for rentals the new rules seem must clearer and there seems no getting away from the requirement to display in any advertisement the front page of the EPC.

Almost all lettings adverts will include a property photo and the rental price, and thus it will be hard to avoid this.

The size of the EPC extract shown in the particulars must be sufficient for the details to be read – don’t allow the agent to print it very small nor to try and circumvent the rules by simply adding a link to the EPC.

Interestingly the first page of the EPC contains the full address of the property.   Agents do not normally like to display the full address in literature as this provides marketing opportunities for competitors.   Unfortunately there now seems no way around it and the address must remain within the published first page of the EPC.

What about properties appearing on agent’s websites?  Arguably as there is a picture of the property and often other particulars such as room sizes etc the first page of the EPC ought to be reproduced possibly in full rather than through clicking on a link.  

Rightmove it is reported recently emailed all of its agent clients and made the claim as quoted below:

"Rightmove is a property advertising website and the information displayed on Rightmove by all our member agents takes the form of property adverts and not property particulars. This is clearly stated at the bottom of every page on Rightmove that displays the details which have been provided to us by the agent about a specific property and will continue to do so.

It is our view that the new regulations do not place any additional obligations on Rightmove, although you may wish to consider separately how the new regulations might affect your own company website. We do, however, understand that some of our member agents may wish to display the EPC as part of the property advert on Rightmove. Rightmove does provide the functionality for you to do this if you so wish."

I do not necessarily agree that is correct; looking at the new rules and the elements that must exist for the publication of the EPC it is difficult to see how one can in this way distinguish ‘adverts’ from publication of property particulars.  Rightmove publishes pictures and particulars of property and this is no different from details published in newspapers or in an agent’s window.

Let’s not forget the purpose that lies behind the rules, and that is those looking for a property to buy should be able when searching to have immediate access to the energy rating for that property.

The problem is that as with the fated Home Information Pack some agents are reluctant to go to the expense of ordering and paying for an EPC until they know a buyer has been found for the property.  They view these requirements as an unnecessary hurdle to the marketing of the property.

My advice to those selling and renting is to always ensure that any agreement reached with an agent to sell or rent you home includes a clause that the agent orders and pays for the EPC. If you are buying always insist on seeing the EPC before viewing a property and if the EPC’s first page does not appear in the particulars of sale wherever these might appear always ask for an explanation.

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

Solar panels could make your property difficult to sell

Solar panels may be associated with green issues but beware as they might be viewed as a red card when it comes to re-mortgaging your house or when looking to purchase a property with a mortgage where solar panels are fitted .  This is according to an article recently appearing in the Guardian.

Guardian Money reported on a Southampton couple who were refused by several companies when they tried to re-mortgage their home. The couple had previously agreed, with their lenders permission, to allow a firm to install solar panels on their roof for the duration of a 25-year lease.  They now face the prospect that their property has become ‘unsalable’.

The owners are reported to have said:

"We signed up to this scheme on the basis that we were doing the green thing, but it has turned out to be a nightmare," says John, who works as an air traffic controller.

The implications for us are that we cannot re-mortgage our house on a lower interest rate. We would still have a mortgage but one on the standard variable rate which will increase with the Bank of England interest rates.

We are extremely concerned that we will not be able to sell our house as no buyer will be able to get a mortgage on it. We can't be the only people in this position, can we?"

The big question is how many more home owners are there out there who are oblivious to this potential problem.  Solar leasing deals were heavily marketed last year by companies  looking to take advantage of  Government backed incentives to  those with solar PV panels on their roofs.

The most credible companies advised their customers to seek their lenders agreement, but many didn't.

The issue does not affect those who paid for their panels to be installed. It only relates to those installations undertaken under a lease arrangement.

One can only surmise as to why lenders are struggling to come to terms with these arrangements.    They may be concerned that if they have to repossess and sell quickly there could be a problem in finding someone to purchase the property where there is lease with financial obligations to take on.   This is because the leasing arrangement for the panels follows the property and not the owner who installed the panels. The lease company will only remove the panels if the lender can show it has tried and failed to sell it.

The article suggests having contacted the Council of Mortgage Lenders that the  issues which have begun to arise  may be down to  a failure on the part of the banking sector to formulate a clearer policy on solar panels and how these cases should be approached.

This reported case should however send out a warning to those looking to install panels under a leasing arrangement and also to those acting for those looking to purchase a property where an arrangement exists.   Time will tell whether those homeowners who have sought to reduce their energy bills in line with Government advice and encouragement will be left with problems in selling their property at  market price.  

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

Prediction of 19% rise in housing transactions in 2013

Much of today’s focus has been on Budget headlines and little comment has been made of the detail supplied by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), particularly about its view of what is likely to happen to  the property market over the next 36 months.

According to the OBR the future looks bright and forecasts a dramatic increase in stamp duty receipts by 2016, when it expects the Treasury to receive £11.1 billion a year, nearly double the current level of around £6 billion. 

This suggests the OBR is expecting housing market to spring back to life in 2013, with a 19% rise in transaction levels and a further 14% increase in the number of sales in 2014.

This is based on the OBR’s expectation of an easing in credit conditions in 2013

The downside is the OBR has downgraded its housing price forecast expecting prices to rise by only 0.5% next year. This is in line with independent forecasts published this year.  

Looking ahead the picture is even better as prices are predicted to pick up more strongly in 2014, along with further strong rises in transaction numbers.

Let’s hope the OBR is right with its predictions.  The success of this budget clearly rests on the generation of extra Stamp Duty suggesting the Government has put  a lot of faith in the OBR's assessment. 

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

Conveyancing firm marks successful year with launch of new website

Entering the market in late 2010 was not the easiest.  The property market was in free fall and the recession was still biting.  Every indicator was pointing to contraction and on the face of it this was not the time to look at expansion.

Not deterred however the partners in MJPconveyancing.co.uk  decided this was the best time to invest in people and information technology and look to build for the future. 

Partner, David Pett, explains:

“At the time of receiving my brief to reorganize and develop our conveyancing department we were operating with one conveyancer and two support staff.  We were fixing fees in line with expectations that predated the rise in competition caused by the introduction of the Legal Services Act.  

The philosophy was to ensure we could provide a service to our litigation clients who were looking for a conveyancing service.  To be honest we had not idea whether we were making any money and as for case management this simply did not exist.

The first step was to invest money into creating a new case management system.  Along with our IT programmer, Leon Williams, we designed and introduced a unique risk and case management system  - Quick Conveyance.  Straight away this put us in a position to develop a new low cost conveyancing model without having to make any sacrifices on risk management or the quality of service.  It also gave me the tools to see how much money we were making and to ensure profit margins were maintained.’

The investment has clearly paid off for MJPconveyancing.co.uk .   The business has gone from strength to strength and is now operating with six case handlers and a support staff of six.  It s handling around 100 completions each month and has recently released a new website whereby instant quotes for conveyancing services can be sought.

The Partners are also looking to see if they can ‘resell’ to other conveyancers the risk and case management system – Quick Conveyance

The next stage in the plan is to operate the business as an alternative business structure which MJPconveyancing.co.uk  hopes will be up and running in August of this year. 

For further details of MJP Conveyancing or Quick Conveyance please email davidpett@m-j-p.co.uk

Compensation for delay in referring patient for physiotherapy

Compensation recovered for a Claimant who had a delay in referring her for physiotherapy which only took place some months later which had caused her condition to actually become worse. 

For further details on this or indeed any other clinical negligence claims contact:

Simon Bransby at simonbransby@m-j-p.co.uk or call 01603 877064

Abdominoplasty error leads to compensation payment

A five figure sum recovered for a young lady who had routine plastic surgery but had not been properly assessed and the hospital had not taken her through a proper consent process.  She has been left with scarring and a psychiatric reaction. 

For further details on this or indeed any other claims contact

Simon Bransby at simonbransby@m-j-p.co.uk or call 01603 877064

£30,000 compensation claim for HIP replacement hospital error

In excess of £30,000 recovered for a hip replacement which was carried out negligently when a globule of cement was dropped into the hip causing a thermal burn to the femoral nerve and required remedial surgery  After an initial period of disability the Claimant had made a reasonably good recovery but needed care and assistance from his partner in the early days. 

For further details on this or indeed any other clinical negligence claims contact:

Simon Bransby at simonbransby@m-j-p.co.uk or call 01603 877064

Childbirth failure leads to compensation payment

Compensation recovered for a lady who had a swab left inside her vagina following a routine childbirth.  Fortunately the swab was detected quite early on but still resulted in a period of pain and suffering and extreme discomfort. 

For further details on this or indeed any other clinical negligence claims contact:

Simon Bransby at simonbransby@m-j-p.co.uk or call 01603 877064

Compensation of £50,000 for hospital failure to convey test results

This is an interesting case where the Claimant was suffering symptoms of an overactive thyroid. Tests were carried out by the hospital which revealed he did in fact suffer from this condition but they never communicated the results to him and he was only told some three years later. In the meantime he had lost his job due to concentration issues linked to the problem.  Settlement reached for over £50,000 to reflect this.  

The case was complicated by the fact that although the Claimant had lost his job, he was able to obtain some part-time work and a large part of the fact he could not work was due to the current economic climate, which the Defendants alleged but we were able to say he had lost his original job as a direct result of the negligence and therefore the Defendants had to pay the price.  The settlement reflected that most of the Claimant’s loss of earnings were in fact recoverable. 

For further details on this or indeed any other clinical negligence claims contact:

Simon Bransby at simonbransby@m-j-p.co.uk or call 01603 877064

Bus accident leads to five figure compensation claim

Significant five figure sum recovered for Claimant who was injured when his car was hit but a bus.  The case was particularly interesting as he muddled by trying to carry on working but eventually had to give up, suffering a psychiatric injury which was not of immediate onset. 

Arguments from the Defendant as to what caused the psychiatric injury were put forward but the compensation agreed reflected the fact the Claimant was able to recover all of his loss of earnings. 

For further details on this or indeed any other personal injury claims contact Simon Bransby at simonbransby@m-j-p.co.uk or call 01603 877064

Injury at school leads to compensation payment

Compensation recovered for a child who was injured in a PE class which was improperly supervised by a teacher.

The Defendants had denied liability for a number of years and the case involved having to employ a leading expert on physical education within schools. 

For further details on this or indeed any other personal injury claims contact:

Simon Bransby at simonbransby@m-j-p.co.uk or call 01603 877064

Injury with saw leads to compensation payment

Five figure sums recovered for 2 Claimants, one of whom was not properly trained in the use of a saw, and suffered serious injuries to his hand and another, a cleaning lady who recovered compensation when she tripped over a “Henry” style hoover which she was using and fell down stairs.


The cleaning lady was a particularly interesting case as she was a foreigner and often required the help of an interpreter. 

For further details on this or indeed any other personal injury claims contact:

Simon Bransby at simonbransby@m-j-p.co.uk or call 01603 877064

Hair Extension compensation claim

Compensation recovered for a model who had hair extensions applied which caused her hair loss and aggravation of her scalp.  The award included loss of earnings for missed modelling sessions as well as a cancelled holiday. 

This was quite a complicated claim as there was a clear dispute between the parties as to the facts of the case. The Claimant said that she had relied upon the hairdresser’s experience and expertise in telling her what the best product was to give her the effect that she wishes for but they failed to take into account a number of factors, carry out a strand test, properly counsel her about the risks.

The hairdresser then ignored her complaints that there was a problem for too long meaning that by the time the extensions were removed they had caused irritation to her scalp and hair loss, requiring use of hair growth tablets, special shampoo and precluded her from being able to use a hair dryer, or any hair products such as hair spray, hair gel and such like. Inspite of the dispute as to the facts of the case and continued denial of liability, upon taking the case to court the Defendant backed down and paid the claim on a full liability basis (although without making such an admission).

If you have suffered in this way and require a free and no obligation consultation with us please email Simon and we will be happy to help. 

Simon Bransby at simonbransby@m-j-p.co.uk or call 01603 877000

How much holiday can I take?

There is a minimum right to paid holiday; if you work five days per week you are entitled 28 days for someone working five days a week. This is capped at a statutory maximum of 28 days for all working patterns. Part-time workers are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata. You start building up holiday as soon as you start work. If you started work on or before 25 October 2001 (14 April 2002 in Northern Ireland) there are no legal rules about how your holiday builds up

Your employer can control when you take your holiday and provide in your contract for you to have more holiday than you are entitled to under current law. You get paid your normal pay for your holiday. Once you finish a job, you get paid for any holiday you have not taken.  Bank and public holidays can be included in your minimum entitlement. You continue to be entitled to your holiday leave throughout your ordinary and additional maternity leave and paternity and adoption leave.

You must give your employer advance notice that you want to take holiday. This notice should be at least twice as long as the amount of holiday you want to take.

Your employer can refuse permission for your holiday as long as they give you notice which is at least as long as the holiday requested. So to refuse a request for a week's leave, they would have to tell you a week in advance. Your contract may set out other rules about when you can take your holiday. This is allowed so long as the rules don't effectively prevent you from taking holiday at all.

In light of a recent European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling, the following is applicable if you become ill during your holiday or just before you were due to take it. You can ask to convert the period of holiday concerned to sick leave and ask to take the missed annual leave at a later date.

Statutory annual leave cannot be replaced by a payment in lieu except where the worker's employment is terminated (Regulation 13(9) Working Time Regulations 1998). Employers are able to make a payment in lieu of any additional, contractual holidays, as long as this provision is contained in the employee’s contract.

Regulation 13(9) prevents the carry-forward of the four-week element of statutory leave entitlement.

Maternity leave and holiday entitlement

Holiday entitlement continues during maternity leave.  Some employees may ask to take their statutory holiday either before or at the end of the maternity period depending on how much holiday statutory holiday entitlement is available.  As statutory holiday is taken through the notice procedure above if employer and employee are in agreement then the unused holiday entitlement can be taken when the employer and employee agree.   There may be a problem taking statutory holiday at the end of the maternity if this means the unused statutory holiday is carried over into the next holiday year.  If this were to happen then if the holiday is not taken before the end of the holiday year the employee loses the holiday, as it is unlawful to carry forward any of the unused statutory holiday.  Essentially therefore the holiday should be taken before maternity leave commences.

Check however as if the employee has had holiday before the maternity leave commences and there is only contractual holiday due then providing the contract provides for the contractual holiday to be carried forward and or salary to be paid in lieu then there should be no problem.

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

What is a Home Buyers Report?

This is a survey of a property you may be looking to buy that’s much more detailed than the basic valuation. It’s for your benefit, rather than the mortgage lender.

It will highlight potential problems with a property, such as subsidence, damp or woodworm. This can help you decide whether to go ahead or not with the purchase, or whether to look to renegotiate the price.

It is always a sensible (and we would say essential) precaution to have a survey of your purchase property especially if the property is an older build. 

A recent Which? Survey disclosed:

‘Those who missed problems spent an average of £2,500 putting them right. One in ten spent more than £10,000. Mark Morris from Newbury told us: ‘Since moving in, I’ve found the rot and damp was much worse than I thought. I’ve also spent several hundred pounds making the electrics safe.’ A quarter said that if they’d known in advance, they would have tried to renegotiate the price, and more than one in ten said they wouldn’t have bought at all'.

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