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Bird and Co Blog

2024 Home Buying Trends: Rise in First-Time Buyer Activity

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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...

Housing Market Predictions 2025: What Are the Projections for the Property Market in the Year Ahead?

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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...

Property Sales Statistics in England and Wales Q1 2024: What Does the Latest ONS Data Reveal About the Property Market?

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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...

Housing Affordability in the UK: Exploring the Disparity Between House Prices and Wages

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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...

House Price Changes 2023: Examining the UK Locations with the Most Significant House Price Changes in 2023

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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...

Home Buying Statistics 2023: Stagnant Number of First Time Buyers Throughout Year

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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 ...

Housing Market Predictions 2024: What Will the Property Market Look Like Next Year?

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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...

The Most Popular Property Types in UK by City

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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...

What Is Indemnity Insurance?

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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...

Conveyancing Timeline

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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...

What are enquiries?

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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...

The Easiest Cities for Singles and Couples in England to Buy a Home in 2023

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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...

Remembering Neil Hamilton

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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...

The 10 Most Popular Counties to Move to in the UK 2022

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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...

Spain Tops the List as Most Google Searched Place to Move to

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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...

Home Buying Statistics 2022: Percentage of First Time Buyers Decrease

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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...

1 in 3 England & Wales Households Have Just 1 Occupant, New Census Data Reveals

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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...

2021 Census Data Shows the Number of Unoccupied Homes in England

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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...

Census 2021 Data Shows the Top 10 Places to Retire to

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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...

Census 2021 Data Shows the Top 10 Up-and-Coming Places to Live

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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...

2021 Home Buyer Statistics: Stamp Duty Holiday Benefited Landlords Most

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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-...

The 10 Most Popular Counties to Move to in the UK 2021

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Find out if your ideal location is in the top 10 most flocked to UK counties…  With the housing market making a resurgence after a tumultuous 2020, the UK has since experienced rapid growth thanks to thousands of homeowners looking to relocate...

Do you need to use a local conveyancing firm?

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The short answer to that is no. While it used to be normal to use a local solicitor for your conveyancing, it’s now increasingly common to carry out the process of buying or selling a house over the phone and online. This means there is no longer any...

7 Top Tips for Selling Your Home

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Selling your home can be a daunting prospect. You will no doubt be aware of the various steps you need to take to ensure your transaction runs smoothly and without disruptive delays. That’s not to mention having to balance selling your current home...

Our Commitment to Clients during the Coronavirus/COVID-19 Pandemic

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We are now opening all of our offices to the general public from Monday 17th May 2021. We will be open during our normal business hours. We will retain the safety measures set out on the link page but the offices will be open and clients can attend for...

Help to Buy equity loan scheme extended to 31 May and new scheme set to start

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The Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme deadline has been extended by an additional two months until the end of May 2021, the government has announced. More than 16,000 purchases were at risk of falling through due to delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic,...

How to Protect Yourself Against Conveyancing Fraud

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Conveyancing fraud is on the rise. Cyber criminals have become increasingly more sophisticated over the years, and the uncertain situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has given them a fresh opportunity to take advantage of unsuspecting individuals. ...

How Will Capital Gains Tax Changes Affect Homeowners and Landlords?

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The Government is considering major changes to Capital Gains Tax that could increase tax for many homeowners and potentially transform the property market. On 13 July 2020, the Chancellor wrote to the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) asking it to conduct a...

How to Make the Right Offer on a House

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Putting an offer on a house is the first step towards securing your ideal home and it can be quite daunting, particularly for first time buyers who are new to the housing market. When so much money is at stake, you want to be sure that you get the best...

Getting a Remortgage While Furloughed

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At the start of lockdown, startling research showed that lenders had limited their remortgaging options for furloughed homeowners, leaving them at risk of paying higher rates. However, as we have adapted to life with the Coronavirus/Covid-19, it has become...

When is the Busiest Time of the Year to Move House?

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Summer has been the busiest time of year to move house for many years. Figures suggest that between 2007-2018, around 12.8% of all owner-occupier home movers moved house in August alone. This is a significant proportion when compared with winter move...

Getting a Mortgage While Furloughed

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Nearly 10 million employees have been placed on furlough leave since the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (or Furlough Scheme) started in March 2020. Under the Scheme, furloughed employees have had their salaries reduced by up to 80% (up to a maximum of...

Stamp Duty Holiday on Homes up to £500,000 to start immediately

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Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has announced a holiday on Stamp Duty Land Tax. Between 8 July 2020 and 31 March 2021, home movers and first time buyers purchasing homes up to £500,000 will pay no tax. Announced today as part of a package of legal and policy...

Moving House During Covid 19

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In the lt few days the Government has changed its advice on moving house during the Covid 19 outbreak to get the property market back up and running.  The property industry has issued some pan industry guidance including the following advice for...

What to do if your property chain collapses

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Property chains are delicate. If you are buying and selling property at the same time, then you will be in the middle of a chain, with people both above and below you. It’s also likely that there will be multiple transactions happening at once with...

Tips for Moving House with your Pets

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Moving house may be one of the most stressful and exciting life events a pet (as well as a person) can go through. Unexpected activity, noise, strange removal people, even stranger smells, and the sudden loss of territory can all make moving home...

Leasehold vs Freehold - Things to look out for

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If you purchase the freehold of a property, you are buying it outright, including the land the property stands on. If you purchase a leasehold, you are only buying the right to live in the property for the length of the lease. The land the property stands on...

A renter's guide to common tenancy jargon

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If you are currently renting, or are looking to rent, a property, then the jargon you’ll inevitably come across can appear confusing and overwhelming. Abbreviations, acronyms, you name it – there are plenty of terms you need to familiarise...

How long does it take to get a divorce?

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The breakdown of a marriage is an emotional and stressful time and the prospect of having to undergo lengthy court proceedings is likely to be the last thing you want to contend with during such a delicate period. However, contrary to popular belief, most...

What happens if you are hit by an uninsured or untraceable driver?

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Being involved in a road traffic accident is a traumatic experience in itself, but things can be made even more difficult if the responsible party is uninsured or cannot be traced because they failed to stop at the scene of the accident. You will...

What are the Requirements for a Will to be Legally Valid?

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 Making a Will is one of the most important ways you can plan for the future to ensure as far as possible that your final wishes are respected. In England and Wales, you have complete freedom to leave your money and property to whomever you like....

Are terms and conditions a legal requirement for businesses?

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Terms and conditions (T&Cs) are an essential agreement which set out the legal basis upon which businesses trade with their customers. They are used to protect intellectual property rights, limit or exclude liability and establish a contractual framework...

Removals Advice - How to Find a Removals Company

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Moving house is rarely an easy process. It may be tempting to save money and move all your belongings yourself. However, there are advantages to hiring a removals company instead. Provided you choose the right one, professional movers could take much of the...

What is equity release and how does it work?

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As we get older, it can often be useful to have access to some extra cash to help fund our retirement, pay for care costs or allow us to splash out on home improvements or other plans. With many of us having a large amount of capital tied up in our homes,...

Moving House Tips - A Guide to Moving House

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You’ve done all the legal stuff, got the all-clear from your surveyor, signed and exchanged contracts, and now it’s official – you’re moving house. There is still a lot to do in between exchange and completion but moving house...

When Should you Remortgage your Home?

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You may be able to save hundreds of pounds just by switching your mortgage to a better deal or a new provider at the right time. Most people think about remortgaging at some point and rightly so. Whether interest rates have changed, your home has risen in...

Can I challenge a Will?

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Losing a loved one is a distressing time, and it can be made worse if there are disagreements regarding the Will left behind by the deceased. When drafting a Will, there are strict rules which need to be adhered to and if there are doubts or concerns about...

Are settlement agreements the same as redundancy?

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Settlement agreements and redundancy both involve an employee being paid monetary compensation for the loss of their job, however, they are essentially two different things which offer different legal rights. It you are going through a redundancy process and...

Can my employer change my contract?

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Under normal circumstances, changes to a contract of employment need to be mutually agreed upon by both the employer and the employee before they are made official. If an employer wishes to make any changes to a contract, they are obliged to consult the...

What does TUPE mean?

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If a business you work for has been purchased by a new owner, your employment may be protected under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations, commonly referred to as TUPE. Depending on the circumstances, this could mean that you...

What are commercial property dilapidations?

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Most commercial leases will require the tenant to keep the property in a good condition and to carry out any repairs needed under the terms of the lease. Dilapidations refer to the damages or defects to the property as a result of the tenant breaching the...

What are the landlord's responsibilities under a commercial lease?

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As the landlord of a commercial property, your main responsibilities will be to keep up with any maintenance and repairs to the property and to ensure it is a safe place for people to work. The responsibilities of the landlord will vary depending on the...

What are the grounds for an unfair dismissal?

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If you have been dismissed by your employer, it can be a big shock and it can feel unfair. If your employer has not followed correct procedures or the reason for your dismissal is deemed to be unreasonable, then you may have a claim for unfair dismissal. It...

Can I refuse to sign a settlement agreement?

Paul Hardy
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A settlement agreement is a written agreement signed by two parties (usually employer and employee) that outlines agreed terms and conditions to settle a potential employment tribunal claim or other court proceedings. Settlement agreements are a way of...

What are Mirror Wills and are they a good idea?

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Making a Will is one of the most important things you will do in your life, as it ensures that when you pass away, your wishes are fulfilled and your estate is passed on to the beneficiary or beneficiaries of your choice.  Mirror Wills are...

What checks and searches are involved in conveyancing?

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What is conveyancing? Conveyancing is the legal process of transferring property from one person to another, which begins once an offer has been accepted on a property. This process can be conducted by a licensed conveyancer or a conveyancing solicitor. ...

What are the advantages of setting up a limited company?

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Working for yourself can give you a greater sense of freedom, more flexibility and often the chance to earn a higher income. However, when starting a business, you should give careful thought to how to structure your enterprise as there can be some important...

New Partner - Stuart Wild

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Bird and Co are delighted to announce that Stuart Wild has accepted an invitation to join Bird & Co Solicitors LLP as a Partner with effect from 1st February 2019. Stuart started at Bird & Co in April 2004 and was soon appointed Head of the...

Can a site purchase be conditional on getting planning permission?

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When buying a site that lacks planning permission, whether to self-build or as a developer, your plans and the ultimate value of the site will be heavily dependent on whether you can secure planning permission. It is therefore understandable to want to...

Joint tenants or tenants in common - what is the difference?

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When you buy a property with another person, whether it is as your home or as an investment, there is more than one way you can own it. You can buy a property as ‘joint tenants’ or ‘tenants in common’ and it’s important to know...

What can you do if you believe your personal injury claim was under-settled?

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Personal injury claims can be quite difficult to value as they don’t just take into account the monetary losses that a victim faces, but also the emotional and physical losses such as prolonged pain and suffering and missed job opportunities. There are...

Are gifts liable for Inheritance Tax?

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Inheritance Tax (IHT) is paid on the assets that someone leaves behind when they die, i.e. property, money, businesses etc. Inheritance Tax is usually paid on estates worth more than £325,000, although the threshold can be higher under certain...

What to include in a shareholders' agreement

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What is a shareholders ’ agreement? A shareholder agreement is an agreement entered into by all or some of the shareholders of a company that outlines how it is managed, the ownership of the shares and the protection and rights of the shareholders....

Can you claim personal injury compensation for a hit and run accident?

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Being a victim of a hit and run accident can be incredibly stressful, and in some cases – life changing. A ‘hit and run’ is when the driver who caused the accident, fails to stop at the scene or provide their details. This is a criminal...

Are settlement agreements and compromise agreements the same thing?

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On the 29 th July 2013, compromise agreements were renamed settlement agreements. The name change was merely a stylistic decision by the government, who believe the wording better represents the agreements. The actual substance of the agreement, remains the...

What to know when buying a site to self-build

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Self-building can be an attractive way to get the home of your dreams, allowing you to create exactly what you need at a significantly lower cost compared to buying an existing property. However, there are various issues to consider so you can make sure...

What to do if you find a problem with your home after the sale is final

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When you buy a property in the UK, you do so under the general principle of “caveat emptor” also known as “buyer beware”. This means that it is your responsibility as the buyer to check the condition of the property you are buying. ...

Who inherits when there is no Will?

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If a loved one dies without leaving a Will, their estate will be divided according to the standard rules of intestacy as set out by the government. These rules strictly define who inherits depending on what surviving family the deceased has and the size of...

TIME LIMIT: How long do you have to make a personal injury claim?

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If you have been injured as a result of someone else’s negligence or malicious action, whether at work, in public, or under any other circumstances, you may be entitled to claim compensation. However, it is important to be aware that there are strict...

Why your business's terms and conditions matter

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For any business, your terms and conditions (or T&Cs) set out the legal basis on which you trade with your customers. They help to clearly establish what customers should expect from you when doing business with you and can be vital if you need to...

When should you make a Lasting Power of Attorney?

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A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) allows you to nominate one or more people to help you with making decisions about important issues if you lose the capacity to do so yourself in the future. An LPA will therefore commonly be used where you have reason to be...

What to know when buying property at auction

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Buying property at auction can allow you to get the right property at a lower price and is also usually faster than buying a property on the open market, allowing you to avoid the delays associated with property chains, the current owners needing to move out...

What to know when buying property off-plan

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Buying a new-build property before construction has started or while it is being built (known as buying ‘off-plan’) can allow you to get a pristine home or investment opportunity at a significant discount compared to buying a finished property....

Common conveyancing problems and what to do about them

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The conveyancing process is an essential part of buying or selling a property, covering key things such as preparing and exchanging the contracts of sale, having checks and searches carried out on the property for the buyer, the transfer of funds and...

What is digital conveyancing?

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Digital technology has revolutionised conveyancing in recent years, allowing the entire process to be handled remotely by email, over the phone and via video messaging. This makes things much faster and more convenient for homebuyers and homeowners, allowing...

Nottinghamshire County Show

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We are at the Nottinghamshire County Show (at Newark Showground) this weekend. Are you going to be there? If so come and visit our stall. We will be close to the main ring (please see the official map ). We have plenty of freebies to give out. Come...

How do settlement agreements work?

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Settlement agreements are an increasingly popular option for resolving employer-employee disputes, as well as heading off potential disputes during redundancy proceedings and other types of employee terminations. Settlement agreements act as a replacement...

Announcement - Chris Jeyes

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On 16 February 2018, Christopher Jeyes, Barrister and Partner, left Bird & Co Solicitors to pursue more advocacy opportunities. Christopher started his career with us in February 2010 as In-House Counsel, progressing through to be Partner in 2014. ...

So Long, Fare-well - Can My Tenant End Their Tenancy Early?

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The one thing buy-to-let landlords value above all else is a good, long-term tenant who looks after your property and pays their rent on time.  Trying to find new tenants is always slightly stressful – with buy-to-lets, it is often a case of...

Celebrating our very own Susan Burton

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This coming Wednesday, our very own Susan Burton will be appearing on BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio Sussex and Radio 5 Live following the launch event of the book that shares her incredible story. Written by the journalist Cole Moreton, The Boy Who Gave His...

What is a Personal Injury Claim?

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Here at Bird & Co Solicitors we are more than happy to speak to you  about an accident. We offer a free initial consultation either by phone or in person at our offices. If your accident has prospects of success we are able to offer funding which is...

Our Managing Partner Welcomes You To Our New Website

Estelle Conron
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Bird & Co Solicitors LLP are delighted to welcome you to our new website.  This is the firm's fourth website, offering an improved user experience across mobile devices, tablets and computers. After teaming up with Conscious Solutions to...