Buying a property

About to exchange on a property that you are buying? Perhaps you are unsure about the area you are looking to buy in? The Professor answers your questions about buying a home.

Question: I am currently living in Bahrain and am thinking about buying an apartment in Edinburgh – for holidays and for when we eventually move back to Edinburgh.  Can you advise whether I can do th

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Question: I am in the process of buying a house and just received my surveyor’s report which is telling the house is not worth the value I am paying for. What options do I have?

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Question: My partner and I are first time buyers looking to relocate to Glasgow.  Although I am quite familiar with the city, I want to make sure we don't buy in a "dodgy" area!  Where can I

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Question: I am close to exchange on my house purchase. The vendor has contacted me to say that one of the wardrobes that she is taking has not been carpeted underneath as the carpet was only laid to the edge of

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Question: We plan to move to UK and buy a house.  We would like to know whether we as foreigner are allowed to buy a house in UK. Is there any limitation or restrictions for foreigner purchasing property i

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Question: I wonder whether you could help with a query we have regarding an empty derelict house?  The house is empty and boarded up and it’s clear that it has been abandoned. The information from th

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Question: I have recently sold a property in Edinburgh. From this sale I was able to amass £110,000 to put towards a future property. Currently I am living, working and renting in London.   The

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Question: We are buying a property which is about 300mts away from the railway line. There are four rows of houses between ours and the railway line. Is it ok or would it be a lot of disturbance? Ideally, what

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Question: I am trying to buy a repossessed house, but I am told that even though my offer is accepted the house will continue to be marketed up to exchange of contracts. A higher offer came in which I once agai

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Question: I'm contemplating on buying a lovely 3 bedroom house it's everything I'm currently looking for in a first time house but the only snag is that it has a Ground Floor Bathroom, in the future my circumst

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Question: My flat is on the market and I have already seen a house I want to buy. Can I make an offer even though I haven't sold my flat yet?

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Question: Can a solicitor represent two buyers for the some property in a so called "Contract Race"?

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Question: I intend to buy land from a property developer who is already building property on that land. I intend to buy the land and will then hire this developer to build the property for me. Planning permissi

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Question: I am a first time buyer and after a long search I found and placed an offer on a house that came up for sale through a local estate agent. My offer was accepted back in February and so I have proceede

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Question: I’m looking at buying a small patch of my neighbours garden and I wouldlike some idea of how much it would cost in legal fees and how much Ishould be looking to pay for the land. I live just out

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Question: We have recently made an offer on a property which has been accepted, after paying for our survey it came back with some negative points. Unfortunately we can not continue with the purchase unless the

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Question: My wife and I have just had our offer accepted two weeks ago on a 19th centaury Grade II listed cottage in Goudhurst in Kent. It is 3 beds, 1 bath, 1 lounge, 1 small study, 1 kitchen. Totalling 1000 s

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Question: I have just had the vendor pull out of the sale of a property I was buying (or attempting to!) the day after the survey and the searches have been completed. I am now £900 lighter - Is there any

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Question: We are currently buying a property and we have just found out that there are 5 financial restrictions on this property.  The sellers solicitors keep saying that they are waiitng for redemption fi

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Question: I'm buying a house and the length of the lease left is 76 years. I'm worried because the lease length is such a grey area in terms of how long various parties think is acceptable. We plan to perhaps s

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Question: I am interested in buying a property that does not have roof felt.  I am intending to renovate this property and would like to know if I need to take off the roof and put felt in so a mortgage ca

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Question: My son and his girlfriend had an offer accepted on a semi last week, which was advertised through a solicitors/property shop. The building society surveyor visited the property the next day to carry o

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Question: My mother in law is reading through the solicitors report relating to the purchase of a flat, she was hoping to exchange contracts in the next few days. She has now realized that the service charge in

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Question: We are hoping to buy a 1930s semi in St Albans.  The house had a two storey extension in 1977 and the council have details of the planning application but not anything in relation to the buildi

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Question: We had our house up for sale with a estate agent last year and in July 06 a couple came to view our house and they were interested in the house and in august 06 we took it off the market, but due to i

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Question: I am currently in the process of purchasing a lease hold maisonette with a 900 year lease; however my solicitor has advised me not to buy the property and refused to work on the sale. This is because:

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Question: Please, a promt reply would be appreciated.  To cut a long story short ( ish ) My Parents have sold there house in scotland. Due to complete on june 1st. They are looking at a property in Milton

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Question: Please help, we have recently pulled out of buying a property,and received letters from the sellers,that we now owe them for jobs that have been done on the property for our survey report, that needed

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Question: I am in the process of buying a house, and have only just fond out that the garden actually belongs to Railtrack.  The vendor bought the property in a auction, and was not aware of this.  We

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Question: I have just spotted a grade II listed church, converted into 25 lots of apartments. Only buying 1 of them. I have been informed by the estate agent that there will be renovations to the building in th

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