Category
Two separate regimes addressing opposite problems: one protects trees from being cut down, the other provides a route to force a neighbour to cut something back. Both are commonly misunderstood as
Adverse possession is the legal principle that someone occupying land without permission, openly and continuously for long enough, can eventually become its owner. It is real, it is much harder than
A court process, not something a lender can simply do — and the most important practical fact is that repossession is treated as a last resort, with several stages at which it can be stopped,
The sale cannot generally complete until someone has legal authority to sell — which means a grant of probate or letters of administration — and that requirement, plus the valuation and tax steps
A buy-to-let mortgage is assessed mainly on the rent the property will produce, not on your income — and the tax treatment changed fundamentally in a way that made highly geared personal ownership
Two ways of co-owning property, differing in what happens to a share when an owner dies and in whether shares can be unequal. The choice is made at purchase, is frequently made without explanation,
Protection preventing a landlord using the no-fault route to possession in response to a tenant complaining about disrepair — and it is narrower and more procedural than most tenants expect. What it
Documents recording the condition and contents of a property at the start and end of a tenancy — and they are the evidence on which every deposit dispute is decided. The inventory and check-in
Considerably simpler than letting a property, because a lodger living in your own home is an excluded occupier with minimal statutory protection — and there is a tax scheme that makes it unusually
Whether the occupier has exclusive possession — the right to exclude everyone, including the owner — which is what makes an arrangement a tenancy, regardless of what the document calls it. The test.
To be liable for the tenant's obligations if the tenant does not meet them — and the extent of that liability is considerably broader than most guarantors understand when signing. What a guarantee
Where tenants sign one tenancy agreement together, each is liable for the whole of the obligations — not for their share — which means one person's default becomes everyone's problem. What it means
Whether the tenancy runs for a defined period or continues indefinitely, rolling from period to period — and the difference affects how it can be ended by either side. Fixed term. The tenancy is
Deterioration resulting from ordinary use over the period of the tenancy, which a landlord cannot charge for — and the concept is defined by reference to reasonable use rather than to a list, which
A defined set of obligations implied into every tenancy by statute, which cannot be excluded by the agreement — plus whatever the agreement adds. The statutory core is narrower than tenants expect
An order requiring a landlord to repay rent to a tenant or to the local authority where they have committed a specified offence — and it is one of the few remedies a tenant can pursue directly,
A build-over agreement is permission from the water and sewerage undertaker to construct over or close to a public sewer — and it is needed far more often than homeowners expect, because a great many
An ancient and genuinely surprising legal obligation under which the owner of certain land can be required to contribute to repairing the chancel — the part of a parish church around the altar. It is
An early repayment charge (ERC) is a fee for repaying more of your mortgage than the lender permits, or repaying it entirely, during a fixed or discounted deal period. Why it exists. When a lender
A conservation area is a designated area whose character or appearance is worth preserving. An Article 4 direction is a tool that removes permitted development rights within a defined area — and the
A listed building is one included on a statutory list of buildings of special architectural or historic interest — and listing protects the entire building, inside and out, not just the frontage
Substantially — the offer becomes binding much earlier, the survey is done by the seller, and the tax is a different tax entirely. Advice written for England and Wales can be actively misleading. The
A one-off insurance policy bought during conveyancing to cover the financial consequences of a legal defect, instead of fixing the defect — and it is a workaround, not a solution. What it does. It
They occupy different positions: one owns, one is employed, and one is a vehicle leaseholders create to take control. Confusing them is why complaints frequently go to the wrong place. Freeholder