By comparing rental and house-buying affordability, researchers at Bird & Co have created an Affordability Index to ascertain which Local Authorities in England and Wales offer the most affordable home-purchasing options for first-time buyers. Buying a...
What buyer trends emerged from the housing market in 2024? Our internal data paints a revealing picture. The past year brought significant developments in the property market. Decreasing mortgage rates and lower house prices led to a noticeable increase in...
Daniel Chard, Partner at conveyancing specialist Bird & Co, provides insights into his forecasts for the housing market and highlights the property trends expected to dominate in 2025. The housing market is a dynamic and ever-evolving sector, highly...
The decision to rent or buy a property can be a complex one that depends on a range of personal factors. This blog will discuss how to decide which arrangement is best for you and make you as informed as possible about the risks and benefits of renting vs...
The property market in London is highly competitive, and many homeowners want to sell their property quickly for a good price. This blog will discuss some of the best ways to sell your property fast in London so you can be as prepared as possible. It is...
London is a desirable location with plenty to offer, however, the city is also one of the most expensive areas in the UK. This blog will discuss some of the unique challenges of buying property in London so you can decide whether to proceed with your...
As the 5-year anniversary for the final Help to Buy ISA accounts opening approaches, researchers at Bird & Co. examine the percentage of residential property sales involving the Help to Buy ISA every quarter since its inception, to assess how the home...
Requisitions on title are an important part of the final stages of the conveyancing process. These are specific, formal enquiries made by the buyer’s solicitor to the seller’s solicitor shortly before the completion of a property transaction. ...
Our researchers at Bird & Co have recently studied the latest ONS statistics, providing a detailed analysis of property sales in Q1 2024, and establishing what these figures tell us about the housing market in England and Wales. The research centres on...
There are a number of factors to take into account when deciding whether to remortgage your property. Specialist solicitors can advise you on whether it is in your best interests to remortgage, depending on your circumstances. They can then provide...
Researchers at Bird & Co explored house price and income data over the past 20 years to ascertain any correlation between the two factors. As such, they were able to identify the areas with the largest disparity, and therefore the areas with a more...
If you are involved in the process of jointly buying, selling, transferring or remortgaging a property, then you may be wondering what a Declaration of Trust or Deed of Trust is and whether you need one. If you are planning to or already jointly own a...
If you are involved in the process of buying, selling, transferring or remortgaging property, then you may be wondering what additional costs could come up during conveyancing. Whether you choose to pay to instruct a conveyancer or solicitor or manage the...
Bird & Co examines the latest mortgage data from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), covering lending and administration trends up to Q4 2023. This analysis spans the past five years. Since 2007, roughly 340 regulated mortgage lenders and...
If you are looking to buy, sell, transfer or remortgage a property, you may be looking for more information about the conveyancing process. In this blog, we will look at the UK conveyancing process timeline for both freehold and leasehold properties, to...
Researchers at Bird & Co examined recently released data to determine which locations in the UK saw the biggest house price changes throughout 2023, giving us a wider picture of the housing market over the past year. House prices directly impact...
How did the housing market in 2023 impact buyer trends and patterns? Our internal statistics show the true picture. Looking back at 2023, we saw huge ups and downs in the property market. Increased mortgage rates and the cost-of-living crisis meant ...
Protocol forms are a set of standardised forms created by the law society and used by solicitors during the buying and selling of residential property in England and Wales. The forms help to streamline the conveyancing process and ensure that solicitors...
Daniel Chard, Partner at Bird & Co, explores his predictions for the housing market and what property trends will be popular in 2024. The housing marketing is an ever-changing beast, and one that is incredibly sensitive to changes in politics and the...
Purchasing a new build home is an exciting prospect, promising modern amenities and a fresh start. However, the process of conveyancing for new build properties can be very different from existing homes. In this blog, we will discuss the nuances of...
As Halloween looms, Bird & Co beckons the brave home seekers to explore haunted realms across the UK, where properties await their fearless potential owners... To celebrate Halloween this year, our team have explored what are known as some of the most...
Researchers at Bird & Co wanted to investigate the types of properties people in the UK were most interested in, to get a better sense of the market over the past year. To find out, they looked at the Google search volumes for various property key...
In the conveyancing process, indemnity insurance is a protective policy that safeguards against potential legal issues arising from property transactions. It covers a variety of concerns, such as missing documentation, boundary disputes, or planning...
If you are purchasing a property, or selling one, the likelihood is that you’ll want to move through the process as quickly as possible. Conveyancing processes are not always straight forward, however, working with an expert conveyancing solicitor...
Conveyancing enquiries are questions asked to learn more about a property during a sale. Also known as pre-contract enquiries, they refer to a series of questions raised by the buyer's solicitor and to the seller's solicitor. Enquiries are an...
Bird & Co’s new first time buyer home deposit calculator shows the cities where singles and couples have the most hope of buying a home. Our new mortgage deposit calculator was put to the test, uncovering what the picture looks like for first...
Edward Neil Hamilton 1936 – 2023 It is with great sadness that we announce the death, on 28 th June 2023, of Edward Neil Hamilton, a Consultant Solicitor at the Firm. Mr Hamilton trained in law for five years before qualifying in 1959. He...
If you are dealing with property, for example, buying, selling, transferring ownership or remortgaging, you will need a conveyancing solicitor to act for you. Here, we take a look at the role of a conveyancing solicitor in detail and how they can help you...
Conveyancing is the legal process of transferring property ownership. It involves several stages including property searches, drafting and exchanging contracts and registering the transfer with the Land Registry. Conveyancers, typically solicitors or...
Discover if your desired destination ranks among the UK's top 10 most sought-after counties... Bird & Co has uncovered the UK’s most sought-after locations, having analysed June 2021 net internal migration figures from the Office of National...
One of the most significant financial commitments that a person can make in their lifetime is to purchase a home. For the majority of people, this purchase is only made possible with the assistance of a mortgage. However, before receiving a mortgage, the...
A study conducted by researchers at Bird & Co has identified the European countries most frequently searched on Google by UK residents looking to relocate overseas. For some time, residents in the UK have been facing mounting pressure and financial...
In light of National Conveyancing Week, conveyancing solicitors, Bird & Co, have carried out search engine research to answer the UK’s most common conveyancing queries. Launched to boost the profile of conveyancing across the property sector, ...
Conveyancing solicitors, Bird & Co, put ChatGPT to the test to see if it can answer the most common first-time buyer queries accurately, in place of a conveyancing solicitor. Looks like the AI chatbot has far to go to rival property solicitors in the...
We took a look at our internal client data throughout 2022 to see how home buying patterns changed during the year after recovering from the impacts of Covid-19. Key Home Buying Statistics 2022 68% of Bird & Co’s clients were first time...
Daniel Chard, Partner at Bird & Co, explores his predictions for the housing market in 2023.
Newly released Census data shows that 30% of England & Wales homes are single occupancy. Despite growing uncertainty in the UK’s economic outlook, living alone has continued to be a popular choice for many. In fact, 1 in 3 households across...
Hundreds of thousands of homes across England stand empty despite growing numbers of homelessness across the country. To examine the percentage of unoccupied homes in England, we have used data from sources like the Census as well as the Office for...
The 2021 Census results have now been revealed. At Bird & Co we’ve analysed the first set of data released to find out where the 65+ age group are living now compared to when the last census took place in 2011 . According to the data, inner...
Cornwall is the most up-and-coming place to live, new census data reveals. The 2021 census results are in. We’ve done a deep dive into the first set of data released to see where young people are living now compared to when the last census took...
Once an offer is made and accepted on a property, you may think the price agreed is a done deal. However, there remains room for manoeuvre on both sides of the deal, meaning the buyer can reduce their offer or the seller can ask for more—renegotiating...
Before beginning the moving process, many people are keen to learn how long it takes to move house. The answer will vary slightly according to the circumstances. However, it’s useful to understand the average time frames for each part of the process,...
Homeowners have huge sums of money tied up in their houses, and it is possible to release a portion of this equity by accessing a loan that is secured against the property. If you own a property and you need to borrow a lump sum, you may be eligible to...
After decades of campaigning for a ‘no fault divorce’, the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill finally gained Royal Assent in June 2020. The changes are the biggest shake-up of divorce laws for 50 years, and it means from 6 April 2022,...
Bird and Co explore the recent ONS statistics, breaking down the percentage of home ownership in each region in England. Who’s on top? The UK housing market is currently under unwavering pressure, with house prices and rent charges continuing to rise....
The Bird and Co team explore their 2021 client statistics to assess home buyer habits during this year of transition. In 2020, we took our first deep dive into our client transactions, and saw how the pandemic affected home buyer habits. We saw how first-...
2021 has truly been a spectacular year for the property market, having been the busiest year since 2007. Despite the Bank of England warning that property prices had the potential to fall 16% due to the pandemic, the average UK house price rose...
The number of homes in England and Wales owned by foreign buyers has almost tripled since 2010, with close to 250,000 residential properties being registered to individuals based overseas - amounting to 1% of all registered titles. According to the Centre...
Japanese knotweed cases have increased by 28% in the last five years, according to a study by Horticulture.co.uk, analysing data from 49 environmental organisations. South Yorkshire has seen the biggest increase of 77.19%, with a total of 1,111 confirmed...
Making a great first impression is essential when selling your home. A recent survey by Purplebricks revealed that when searching for a new home online, homebuyers spend an average of just 25 seconds deciding whether a home is right for them. According to...
