Coronavirus legal support hub
Property advice during Covid
The challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic continue to change on a daily basis. Our residential property advice aims to provide you with all the latest news and information on your legal rights and issues to support you through this challenging situation.
GET LEGAL ADVICE AND SUPPORT
Contact our legal experts
At Tozers our specialist solicitors have the experience and expertise you need. With legal experts working in specialist fields across commercial, personal and specialist sectors. Call us now on 01392 207 020 or contact us online.
Can I sell my home?
Absolutely. Updated guidance from May 2020 now allows all usual activities to go ahead, including property viewings, show home openings, property surveys and valuations, and the use of removal services. As long as social distancing is adhered to, and nobody involved has had any coronavirus symptoms in the last 14 days.
Can I buy a home?
Absolutely. Updated guidance from May 2020 now allows all usual activities to go ahead, including property viewings, show home openings, property surveys and valuations, and the use of removal services. As long as social distancing is adhered to, and nobody involved has had any coronavirus symptoms in the last 14 days.
Will solicitors and agents co-operate?
Many law firms, including Tozers, are accredited under the Law Society’s conveyancing accreditation scheme. The scheme requires all members to act with courtesy to one another and to co-operate with third parties.
The current situation will require all parties to co-operate in trying to achieve an outcome that is best for all concerned, rather than focusing on who might have the appropriate contractual remedy. We have an excellent working relationship with competitor firms and local agents. Subject to client instructions, we will try and come up with pragmatic solutions to ensure that disruptions to house moves during this time are kept to a minimum. We have already worked with other parties in varying completion dates in exchanged matters, to bring completion forward where that suited the parties.
Should I exchange contracts?
There are no legal restrictions preventing you from exchanging if all parties wish to do so. However, if the parties wish to have more than two weeks between exchange and completion, it might be appropriate to include contract clauses allowing the completion date to be set back if either party contracts coronavirus before completion. This would be particularly relevant where one of the parties is within a certain risk category. Your solicitor will advise you if this is an action worth taking.
I have exchanged contracts, but what happens if someone in the chain pulls out due to Covid?
The standard conditions of sale do not include any provisions to assist a seller or buyer in this scenario. If either the seller refuses to vacate the property and complete, or the buyer refuses to complete, it would be in breach of contract and make them liable to the other party for damages. The buyer would also forfeit any deposit paid if the buyer failed to complete within the required timeframe - 10 working days from when a notice to complete is served by the seller’s conveyancer, which can usually only be served after 2pm on the completion date.
The best thing to do is talk to your solicitor and estate agent to keep the chain moving.
GET LEGAL ADVICE AND SUPPORT
Contact our legal experts
At Tozers our specialist solicitors have the experience and expertise you need. With legal experts working in specialist fields across commercial, personal and specialist sectors. Call us now on 01392 207 020 or contact us online.