The public perception of a conveyancing solicitor is one of somebody that is generally tucked in an office checking old title deeds.

Employment Tribunals were originally established in such a way as to give employees the ability to pursue claims in an easier manner.

One of the consequences of this is that a Claimant does not have to pay a fee when lodging a claim.  This makes it much easier for employees or ex-employees to lodge claims against business owners.  This explains why there has been such a high volume of claims in recent years.  A Claimant will not suffer any penalties for having lodged a claim as long as it is not considered “vexatious” by the tribunal.  In reality, it is quite rare for a claim to be considered without any merits at all.  So, a culture has developed where Claimants feel that they “may as well” lodge a claim as they can always withdraw at a later date.

An interesting feature of employment tribunals is that costs are generally not awarded, except in very exceptional circumstances.  This means that a Claimant does not have any fear of being made to pay the company’s legal costs if the claim is unsuccessful.  Generally, companies are forced into instructing legal representation when a claim is lodged against them.   Employers have to be extremely careful about how they deal with claims, and legal advice is generally a necessity.  Often, employers take a commercial decision about claims and decide to settle early.  Even though the employer may think that the employees claim has no chances of success, it may cost them thousands of pounds to prove it.  Consequently, employers decide to pay an amount to the employee which is less than their potential exposure to legal fees.

The exception to this is Employers who have Employment Tribunal Insurance.  This means that the employer does not have to pay any legal fees or settlement and can fight the claim to save their name.  PLS Solicitors offers various types of protection to employers and should you wish to discuss any issues relating to employment law please contact Adam Pavey.

PLS Solicitors have traditionally specialised in conveyancing, commercial property, employment and litigation. However, over the last few years, PLS Solicitors have been acting on behalf of clients in Cheshire and Greater Manchester who wish to release equity from their property. As equity release becomes an increasingly more important part of retirement planning, PLS Solicitors have decided to make this area of work a real focus for 2012 in the hope that it will open up exciting new opportunities.

An equity release scheme lets you raise money from your property – as either a lump sum or regular income, or both – and at the same time gives you, and a partner, the right to remain living there until you both die or move out.

There are two types of equity release scheme available in the market, with several variations on each. The lifetime mortgage involves taking out a new loan secured on your home, and the home reversion involves selling all, or part, of the ownership of your home. In return both types will pay you a lump sum and/or an income.

With a lifetime mortgage, you take out a new loan secured on your property. You do not make repayments, instead interest is rolled up to be paid when the scheme is ended. You continue to own and live in your home.

After you and your partner have died or moved into long-term care, your house is sold and the amount you borrowed, including rolled-up interest, is paid to the lender. Anything left over, after costs, passes to your, or your partner’s, estate.

With a home reversion plan, you sell all or part of your home, but you continue to live in your home. After you and your partner have died, your house is sold and the proceeds are split between the home reversion provider and your, or your partner’s, estate.

Clients are encouraged to first discuss the different options with their financial advisor. Once they have decided on the product, they can then instruct PLS Solicitors to act on their behalf.

PLS Solicitors are hoping to soon become an official recommended solicitor by SHIP, the body which looks after the needs of consumers from within the equity release industry. There will be more on this shortly.

There is a lot of difference between a good and bad solicitor.

The conveyancing process in the UK can be a very slow, leaving clients wondering what is happening and if anything is happening at all, due to the fact that they are offered a service rather than a product.

Some conveyancers can be extremely difficult and not offer any guidance or help, here at PLS Solicitors Manchester, we pride ourselves on being able to offer our clients a professional, efficient and friendly service.

In order to do so we are constantly having to upgrade and expand our technology and software to ensure that we are meeting the deadlines that we promise our clients.

Our initial contact with the client is either through email or telephone, usually from purchasers or sellers asking for a quote, the partners will personally phone the client back and provide them with a competitive quote, including disbursements.

If you have been provided with a quote by another firm that you feel is a competitive conveyancing quote you should ask if there are any additional fees, as these may not be included in original quote.

At PLS Solicitors if a client leaves a message the fee earner or their assistant will ring the client back within 24 hours, we know that one phone call providing the client with an update can save anxiety and shows that we are proactive in pushing the transaction through. We suggest if you have called a solicitor and left a message and he has not responded within 2 days it is unlikely that they are proactive. Good conveyancers cannot over communicate.

Ask your solicitor who will be working on your file as if the file is passed around there is a risk of something important being missed. At PLS Solicitors we have a specialised team which is mixed with solicitors, legal professionals and assistants. Usually a team consist of a conveyancing professional and an assistant, who are happy to help with any queries you may have, and are contactable by telephone or email.

Some solicitors offer a more old-fashioned service, which may protract the matter, unnecessarily. Please refer to our section on Why Choose PLS Solicitors.

Stamp duty was first introduced in England in 1694. Duty had to be paid on newspapers, pamphlets, advertisements, playing cards, dice, hats, patent medicines, perfumes, insurance policies, gold and silver plate. stamp duty was largely abolished in the UK from 1 December 2003.

The Finance Act 2003 introduced The “stamp duty land tax” (SDLT) this was a new tax in land transactions and largely replaced Stamp Duty. SDLT is a form of self-assessed transfer tax and is generally payable on the purchase or transfer of property or land.

Here at PLS Solicitors, once completion has taken place we will file a tax return on your behalf via the HMRC online portal. This is the quickest and most efficient way to file a return, if tax is not payable a return must still be made. This must be received by HMRC within 4 weeks of the transaction completing otherwise a penalty may be issued. The penalty is for failure to provide the return on time and not for failing to pay the tax. Once we have inputted the required information we immediately receive a Stamp Duty Land Tax certificate which will then be used to register you as the new owner of your property. Without this certificate it is impossible to register a change in the ownership of the land. Please refer to Our Guide to Conveyancing under the section “completion of your move” to see where the filing of the SDLT certificate ranks in the conveyancing process.

The government recently announced a new scheme to help first-time buyers.

FirstBuy will allow people to take out a mortgage for just 75% of the cost of the property, provided they can fund a 5% deposit. the major lenders will be offering mortgages to those who qualify.

It is however, limited to new build properties and there is a limited pot of money, so demand is likely to exceed supply. More than 100 housebuilders will take part by offering their properties to first-time buyers. At PLS Solicitors our residential conveyancing solicitors are used to acting for many purchasers of new build properties and are frequently referred into clients by developers due to our residential conveyancing solicitors indepth knowledge of the new build market. A large reason for our in depth knowledge is because we have also acted for the developers on the other side of the fence please refer to our Conveyancing Services for Developers Looking to Develop Residential Property page for details.

The lenders will be offering specially designed 75% loan-to-value (LTV) mortgages.

FirstBuy will be open to those with a household income of less than £60,000 a year who can put down a 5% deposit .

Those who qualify will be eligible for an “equity loan” worth up to 20% of the value of the property, jointly funded by the government and housebuilders on a 50/50 basis. That means buyers would be able to take out a 75% mortgage for the remainder.

The equity loan will be interest-free for the first five years. At the start of year six, an annual fee of 1.75% will be levied on the equity loan, and this fee will then rise by retail prices index (RPI) inflation plus 1% after that.

The equity loan will need to be paid back in full after 25 years or when the property is sold.

The amount you paid back will stay at 20% of the market value at the time of the sale.

The maximum property price that will normally be considered is £280,000.

The government had made up to £250m available over the next two years for the scheme.

FirstBuy is similar to the HomeBuy Direct scheme, although the equity loan available is slightly smaller.

Anyone interested should register their interest in the scheme by contacting their local HomeBuy agent.

Please feel free to contact one of our conveyancing solicitors today in our new build property team should require further details.

As a fee earner in PLS Solicitors’s residential Conveyancing department I have found that I am always asked at the beginning of a transaction “how long will the legal work take”.

Here at PLS Solicitors in Manchester we understand that buyers and sellers are very eager to move as quickly as possible and we that is why we use our expertise to enable the Conveyancing process to move smoothly and quickly.

Years ago the Conveyancing process could take anywhere between 10 to 12 weeks from start to finish but now the Conveyancing transaction can be completed within a 4 week turnaround or less and the secret to this quick turnaround you ask is with the use of modern technology and specifically the use of email.

At PLS Solicitors we use email to communicate with all parties in the Conveyancing transaction to ensure that all enquiries and searches are dealt with in a timely fashion which can make all the difference in a successful exchange and completion and a sale/purchase failing through.

The Office for Budget Responsibility is today predicted to produce the revised forecast in respect of the UK economy’s growth during the third quarter and, with economic tribulations on the mind, it is perhaps the time to discuss house prices and the degree of anxiety over them.

Since 2007, generally accepted to be the high-water mark of the housing market both at home and internationally, house prices in the UK have fallen by 8.7%. Over the past year, though, prices have risen by 0.8%. In light of the recession and weak recovery, it might be argued that an 8.7% drop is not wholly disastrous (unless, of course, you are hoping to sell), especially when we consider that house prices in Ireland have fallen by a factor of some 45.2% since 2007. The reason is, of course, the secure position of housing overall and the fact that, as in any free market system, at the present moment demand outstrips supply. Recent initiatives to boast home building, though helpful for the overall market, are unlikely to materialize within a few years, and at present are only in the discussion phase.

It is therefore key that, if you are hoping to buy for the first time, that you are guided by experts in the field, especially so when the First Time Buyer Initiative is to expire next year. The recent proposal to aid the first-time purchase of new-builds means that it is also important to find a firm that has expertise in this area, and this is where PLS Solicitors has built an excellent reputation for new-build properties.

Residential conveyancing for residential property sales and purchase