Latest blog posts

In an age where we all have powerful computers in our pockets and easy access to work emails there are concerns that we never fully switch off when out of the workplace. We can obviously take steps to partition off our home and work lives, such as having a separate work mobile, not socialising with work colleagues or becoming a surgeon but that ... Read more >>

Well the good news is that Brexit is no longer the biggest political story of the years. Donald has trumped it, taking the White House in a landslide victory over opponent Hillary Clinton. So, what does this mean for London’s property market? One lesson we have all learned from the 2008 financial crisis is that the global economy is now more ... Read more >>

Today saw the Chancellor deliver his first Spending Review & Autumn Statement since the General Election and whilst we did not see anything near as radical as the Stamp Duty and Capital Gains Tax Reforms of last year, there were still a few items to note in terms of housing: The Review targeted: Buy to let landlords who will now get ... Read more >>

Every now and then there is a catastrophic incident involving the construction industry somewhere in the UK. When a house collapses it gets reported in the national press and sometimes on radio and TV. It’s a dramatic event but fortunately it doesn’t happen that often. A recently reported case involved an ordinary medium sized, Victorian, ... Read more >>

We’re now a little over halfway through phase 1 of our barn refurbishment. The structure of the barn is long and narrow so it divides quite neatly in to 2 parts with a sound and dust proof screen in the middle. Phase 1, the smaller half of the barn, is programmed to take 9 weeks following which we swap halves with the builders and work continues ... Read more >>

As you can see from the picture below, work is now well underway on the refurbishment of our barn. The lower part of that space was my bedroom until last Sunday evening! As only demolition work has happened so far I thought I’d provide a quick overview of the planning process in this post. The barn is Grade II listed so any changes, ... Read more >>

Having talked about it for many years my family and I ‘escaped to the country’ in October last year; specifically to a converted barn on the edge of a little Essex village. When we started our search we laid down certain criteria, the property had to be: Within a 1 hour drive of Peter Barry’s North London office. In a rural ... Read more >>

Over the last couple of years I have noticed that Japanese knotweed has received an increasing amount of press coverage, the reports always seem to have similar characteristics and usually follow the same pattern: After struggling to save up enough money and seemingly against all odds a young couple view a property, decide it’s the one for ... Read more >>

This is a guest post by our colleagues at Darlington Solicitors. As solicitors, we know that it’s hard enough for any business or individual to keep up with legal developments, but it’s also important to recognise the legal principle that ignorance of the law is no defence. The fact is that in statutory areas like the Party Wall etc. Act ... Read more >>

If you’ve been a landlord for a while, chances are you’ve come across difficult tenants in the past. You will no doubt have learnt from your mistakes but there’s no real way of knowing how someone is going to treat your property, or deal with rental payments, until they have actually moved in. A prospective tenant might look great on paper ... Read more >>