Mr and Mrs B came to us to buy a flat above a shop as an investment. From the Estate Agent's details it was obvious that the flat had a rear balcony and large loft conversion. Mr and Mrs B said they had already checked with the Council that planning permission and building regulation consent for the loft conversion had been obtained and therefore wanted to exchange Contracts immediately. What Mr and Mrs B did not know was that the lease did not include the balcony or the attic room which were in fact owned by the shop-keeper downstairs. When we pointed out to Mr and Mrs B that they would not own the balcony or the attic room, they decided to invest their savings elsewhere.
Mr L instructed us to act on his purchase of a mansion flat in London. He had heard however that there was 'a problem' with the landlord, and that the owner had not paid the rent and service charges. We discovered that the owner had in fact been using the flat for business purposes. As this was in contravention of the lease, the landlord had taken initial steps to repossess the property and the Council had served a number of Enforcement Notices. It also came to light that the owner owed service charge arrears of several thousands of pounds. By contacting the Council and the landlord's solicitors we were able to ensure that Mr L acquired the flat clear of the Enforcement Notices, and also that the arrears of service charge were paid off by the previous owner in full.
We were approached by several family members who wanted to buy a number of new flats on the same development. As the flats were not yet built, it was agreed that completion would only take place once all of the building work was finished. Shortly after exchange of Contracts however the developer went into liquidation and all building work ceased. We spent several months negotiating with the developer's liquidator and eventually were able to get our clients out of the Contracts they had signed; more importantly, we were also able to get their 10% deposits back in full.