Conveyancing Explained

Not what any of us want, but unfortunately these disputes are all too common, whether relating to rights of way, rights to light, boundaries etc.

Most conveyancing solicitors are none too keen to become embroiled in neighbour disputes, which tend to involve volumes of correspondence and in many cases, little reward. Before you criticise this mentality, remember that solicitors have to make money from their business, just like you would want to! In any case, the involvement of a conveyancing solicitor is not always required due to the lack of legal complexity of the case.

Help is at hand though. If your conveyancing solicitor is reluctant to get involved, you can use a new service offered by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

Although I haven’t yet used this service for clients myself, an article featured in this month’s Law Society Property in Practice magazine was very helpful in explaining it and I would encourage those of you unfortunate enough to be involved in these messy disputes to consider using the service.

It’s called the RICS Neighbour Disputes Service. Basically, it involves a three step process with the involvement of a surveyor with the skills appropriate to help with neighbour disputes.

The service aims to bring a quick and effective resolution to disputes and if the dispute does go to court, then you can clearly demonstrate that you have attempted to resolve the dispute, saving significant costs.

The total cost of the service, from Stages One through to Three is a maximum of 1200.00 pounds per party. This might sound like a lot, but it is likely to be a lot more if you can’t resolve matters through lengthy solicitors’ correspondence (usually each letter is chargeable at around 10-12 pounds each) and have to issue and attend court proceedings.

For more information regarding the service, visit www.rics.org/drs or email drs@rics.org or telephone 0207 334 3806.