Solicitors

Back to why this blog started off. Having agreed a price, I get a letter from my solicitor regarding the sale of the bungalow. This is in the form of a "tick box" style questionnaire, in two sections. The first part is asking you very interesting questions about boundaries, disputes, access and the like. Of course, if you've never lived there and are "executing" the property the chances are that you don't know any of the answers. So, here's the piece of advice on this one: When asked to be an executor make sure you ask the person, before they err, 'depart', about such things as "who owns the fence at the back?", "is it a shared driveway?", "Has the neighbour got access to paint his fence?". Probably a good idea to go to the solicitor and have a look at the form and discuss it.

The second part is about the sale of the house. Which is basically "What are you leaving?", "What are you taking?" and, surprisingly, "What's not there in the first place?" ("Are you leaving the swimming pool?", Eh?, there isn't one fitted. It's akin to "Have you stopped beating your wife?"). You've got to be careful about this as it forms part of the contract of sale of the property. If possible, try to agree with the buyer what he does, and doesn't want beforehand. In my case, I was hoping to leave all the furniture and so on, but he doesn't want it and you say "it's gone" and leave it, then you could be liable for his costs in getting rid of it.

You get the idea.