Property disputes take on many forms and can often emerge when you least expect them to. More often than not, clients can become embroiled in a dispute having remained blissfully unaware there could be a problem for months, years or even decades. Oakwood Solicitors has the expertise and the vast experience to help clients and assist them in resolving disputes such as:
- Boundary issues
- Access issues
- Easement issues
- Leaseholder/freeholder disputes
- Miss-sold Leasehold Property
- Dilapidation claims
- Professional negligence in conveyancing
- Boundary issues
Often when a boundary issue arises, it is at home and the issue may well be with your neighbour. Emotions run high and it can be difficult to look at matters objectively with a view to resolving the issue. This is the same for access issues which often lead to easement disputes. For example, you may have parked your car in the same place for 20 years, new neighbours move in and complain about where you are parking whereas your old neighbours didn’t. What do you do? What if you receive a letter from a Solicitor and they are threatening legal action? Oakwood Solicitors will step in, investigate the issues, consider all of your options, advise accordingly and action thereafter.
Leaseholder/Freeholder disputes
Leasehold properties are becoming more common as the property market continues to expand. There can be numerous parties involved in a lease dispute and often clients find themselves stuck in the middle. For example, the freeholder of a residential property is made aware of fundamental breaches of the tenancy held with their leaseholder. The party breaching the lease is the tenant that the leaseholder has allowed to rent the property; what do you do? Oakwood Solicitors often act for any one of the parties, striving to find the best resolution possible in the circumstances.
Miss-sold Leasehold Property
In recent years there has been a prevalence of developers selling property on leasehold terms to enable developers to receive the continual income from ‘service charges’. A number of leases include provision for service charges to increase at levels far in excess of inflation. In some circumstances this type of property may have been miss-sold if you were not advised about the continuing charges or the risk that the charges would increase. Such claims may be made against your conveyancing solicitors or against the developer.
Dilapidation claims
Oakwood Solicitors also act for commercial clients with commercial properties. Tenants come and go regularly, particularly with rental rates increasing year on year, but what do you do as the landlord of a commercial property when your tenant leaves your property in a state of disrepair? Provided that you have a lease agreement with your tenant and they are in breach of the covenants contained within the lease, Oakwood Solicitors can help you with a dilapidations claim. Similarly, if you are a landlord in need of paperwork prior to or during a tenancy, Oakwood Solicitors can draw up the necessary paperwork and offer you the protection you need.
Professional negligence in conveyancing
Clients often look back when things go wrong having purchased a property, often years later and say things like ‘I wish I had known about this before’ which can often lead to ‘should I have known about this before?’. Sometimes you ought to have been told about something, possibly, lack of building regulations, indemnity insurance (or lack thereof) or subsidence issues. When these issues raise their head, we can look into this for you, investigate it thoroughly, advise you as to the prospects of succeeding in a claim against your conveyancing Solicitor. The advice you receive will assess the strengths and weaknesses of your claim allowing you to make an informed decision about whether or not you wish to proceed.
