Rack Rent
Means the full or maximum rent obtainable for a heritable property.
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Rebuilding cost
This is the recommended amount (from your property valuation) that you should take out buildings insurance cover for. This may be higher or lower than the market value of your property.
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Recission
When the sale of a property is cancelled or revoked.
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Registry searches
This involves obtaining the title deed for the property along with the Land Registry certificate. Careful scrutiny by your solicitor will hopefully confirm that the seller actually owns the property, has good title (i.e. is free to sell it) and that the sale includes any covenants associated with a property or its land.
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Rent
The money paid by a tenant to a landlord for the right to occupy a property.
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Rentcharge
A charge placed on a freehold property, sometimes known as a Chief Rent. The amount payable frequency and any other conditions or restrictions on use of the property are set out in the conveyance which created the rentcharge.
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Retail Price Index
An index of the average level of prices in the UK.
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Right of way
The legal term for the right to use someone else's property such as a shared driveway or a footpath.
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Searches
Checks carried out during the conveyancing. These checks are made with local authorities and other official organisations to check planning proposals and other matters that may affect the value of the property, and if it can be sold in the future. The HM Land Registry is also searched to establish that there are no unknown charges registered against the property.
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Service charge
This pays for maintenance and insurance of communal areas and is usually only applicable to flats.
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Solicitor
Legal professional who is instructed to act on behalf of the buyer in the purchase of a home. They check the legal position of the house carry out a local authority search land registry searches and oversee the smooth exchange of contracts between concerned parties.
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Solicitor's fee
Your solicitor will usually charge you a basic fee to cover taking your instructions advising you throughout the course of the sale acting and investigating on your behalf explaining the contract for purchase and completing the matter on your behalf. Though this is rarely charged as a percentage of the property value it can be stepped so that buyers of more expensive properties pay higher fee.
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Solicitor's Letter Fee
This is charged when your account falls in arrear and the lenders instruct solicitors to act on their behalf.
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Tacit Relocation
The legal principle that, where no notice is given to terminate a Lease, the Lease is renewed for a further year on the same terms and conditions (if originally for a year or more); and for the period of the Lease if originally for less than a year.
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Tenant
A person who has a legal right to occupy a property they do not own by signing a contract with the landlord to whom rent is paid.
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Tenure
Whether a property is freehold or leasehold.
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Terraced
A house attached to another on both sides.
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Title
The right to ownership of a property.
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Title deeds
These are the legal documents which prove the ownership of the property and set out details of anything affecting the property such as rights of way and boundaries.
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Title searches
Undertaken by a solicitor or conveyancer to ensure that there are no unusual circumstances governing the ownership or use of a property.
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Transfer deed
A document that, once you sign it, actually transfers the ownership of the property to you.
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