Service Checklist: A safer property purchase
Due diligence, agreements and secure payment: what to watch for as a buyer.
- What to check about a property before reservation
- Reservation agreement — what to watch for
- Secure payment of the purchase price through escrow
Service Checklist: An estate agency's legal essentials
Agency agreements, AML and GDPR: what an estate agency needs in order.
- An agency agreement that protects your commission
- Estate agency AML obligations
- GDPR in estate agency practice — photos, viewings and databases
Service Checklist: Buying a flat with a mortgage
How to coordinate the bank, Land Register proceedings and payments so that nothing gets held up.
- The right sequence — reservation, loan, agreements and registration
- The bank's security interest and its registration
- Escrow and blocked funds — protection for both parties
Service Checklist: Cooperative interest transfer
What you transfer with a cooperative apartment and how to avoid mistakes.
- What you actually buy with a cooperative apartment
- Transfer agreement and notice to the cooperative
- Allocated loan and liabilities attached to the interest
Service Checklist: Flat sale agreement
Requirements for a flat transfer agreement, including common parts and the building manager.
- Mandatory particulars of a flat transfer agreement
- Common parts, cellar and parking space
- Manager's declaration and the previous owner's arrears
Service Checklist: Gifting a property
What to consider before gifting a flat or house: lifetime residence, reclaiming the gift and registration.
- What to consider before gifting your property
- Lifetime residence easement — protecting the donor
- When a gift can be reclaimed
Service Checklist: Hidden defects in a purchased property
What to do when defects emerge after purchase: deadlines, claims and evidence.
- First steps after discovering a defect
- Deadlines for defect claims — why you must not wait
- Your remedies — reduction, repair or withdrawal
Service Checklist: House sale agreement
The house, land and property condition: what the agreement must cover.
- The house and all land — checking parcels on the title deed
- House condition, defects and seller representations
- Utilities, connections and how to handle them on transfer
Service Checklist: Land due diligence before purchase
Everything to check before paying for land, from the title deed to the zoning plan.
- What to check on the title deed beyond the owner's name
- Encumbrances, easements and access roads — where to look
- How to read the zoning plan and development rules
Service Checklist: Property exchange agreement
Exchanging property with or without a balancing payment: how to do it properly.
- When an exchange is better than two sales
- Balancing payments for differing property values
- Two properties, one registration — how it works
Service Checklist: Property reservation agreement
Two or three parties, the fee and withdrawal: how to structure a reservation.
- Two-party versus three-party reservation agreements
- Reservation fee — advance payment or forfeitable penalty?
- Withdrawal from the reservation agreement and fee refunds
Legal Q&A Checklist: Property sale and income tax
When sale proceeds are exempt and how the exemption can be lost before the purchase agreement is signed.
- When the five-year period starts, including when it starts with the deceased
- Why the first payment matters, rather than signing the purchase agreement
- An agreement for a future sale as the most common cause of taxation
Service Checklist: Property transaction agreements
From reservation to registration: the documents holding the transaction together.
- The chain of documents from reservation to registration
- Purchase price escrow in estate agency transactions
- Agreement errors that most often disrupt transactions
Service Checklist: Registration without suspended proceedings
Attachments, fees and the errors that most commonly cause the Land Register to suspend proceedings.
- Mandatory attachments to a registration application
- Electronic filing and fee savings
- Errors that cause the Land Register to suspend proceedings
Service Checklist: Reviewing a sale agreement before signing
The risky provisions we most commonly find in draft agreements.
- Provisions that most often disadvantage the buyer
- Payment terms and protection of the purchase price
- Property condition, defects and seller representations
Service Checklist: Selling a property from start to finish
The entire transfer process, from documents and the buyer through escrow to the Land Register.
- Documents to prepare before selling
- Checking the buyer and their financing
- Purchase price escrow and why it is standard
Legal Q&A Checklist: VAT on a property sale
Steps to establish whether a sale is exempt, when you can opt to tax and who accounts for VAT.
- The five-year test and what can restart it
- When the option to tax is available and when the law excludes it
- What the agreement must state for the reverse charge
Service Guide: Lawyer's escrow step by step
How escrow protects seller and buyer, and how it works.
- Why not pay the price directly into the seller's account
- Lawyer's escrow step by step
- When funds are released from escrow
Service Guide: Legal retainer for an estate agency
What the retainer covers, how monthly cooperation works and when it is worthwhile.
- Everything an estate agency legal retainer covers
- What a typical month of cooperation looks like
- Response times for transactions that cannot wait
Service Guide: Legal training for estate agents
The topics agents need most in practice and available training formats.
- Legal topics where agents most often make mistakes
- What training tailored to your agency looks like
- Practical templates and procedures your team takes away
Service Guide: The Land Register suspended proceedings — what next?
How to respond correctly to a Land Register notice and rescue registration.
- The most common reasons for suspension
- Responding to a Land Register notice correctly and on time
- Deadlines you must not miss