Legal Advisors, Agents, Surveyors, Professional Valuers and Tax Advisors – find out more about the different property professionals you’re likely to encounter in a typical property transaction.
Legal Advisors
Legal advisors will be required to prepare and negotiate the legal documents, they will liaise with the vendors solicitors, complete a report on title or certificate on title and register the new ownership of the property with the land registry.
Property Agents
Owners wishing to sell or let their property typically employ a property agent to market their property. They advertise the property in a variety of online and offline publications and media and contact parties who have registered with them. Buyers can register with these agents and ask for details of available properties. Alternatively, a buyer can appoint their own agent to find a suitable property investment (a finder’s fee is usually payable and is often linked to the rental value or purchase price for the property).
Agents also negotiate the key terms of the transaction. Once these terms are settled between the parties, they are documented in “Heads of Terms” which are then used by the parties’ legal advisors to draw up the legal documentation for the transaction.
Surveyors
A surveyor is usually appointed before you buy/rent commercial property. Their job is to report on the condition and structure of the property in which you are interested. There are two main reasons for appointing a surveyor:
- the general rule in relation to property transactions in England and Wales is ‘buyer beware’. The seller/landlord has no legal obligation to tell you about physical defects affecting the property. The onus is on you as buyer/tenant to carry out physical, structural and environmental surveys of the property. Usually there will be no guarantees/warranties available in relation to the physical condition of the property
- typically, landlords want to pass on as many of the costs associated with the property as they can to the tenant so that the income from and capital value of the property can be maintained. To achieve this, leases are commonly granted on a full repairing and insurance basis, where the tenant has to pay the costs of repairing, maintaining and insuring the property (referred to as an FRI lease).
A survey will help you to identify physical defects in the property so that you can properly understand the extent of the liability you may be taking on when buying/renting the property.
Professional valuers
A professional valuer will often be involved in the sale/letting of commercial property, either for the seller/landlord to set the sale price/rental level for the property or for finance providers to satisfy themselves that there is adequate security for their loan.
Given the uniqueness of many commercial properties and the fact that individual properties are not transacted frequently enough to establish a clear market price at any given moment, a valuer is needed to estimate the price a property will fetch if it is sold/let. The valuation will be based upon expert knowledge of the market, market evidence and relevant previous transactions.
You may also want to obtain valuation advice to understand the state of the market and guide you on the value of property so that you are well informed when it comes to negotiating the price and other commercial terms of the transaction.
Tax advisors
A tax advisor will be able to advise you based on your particular circumstances. Stamp duty land tax, Value Added Tax (VAT) and other taxes such as capital gains tax, capital allowances and tax on rental income may be relevant.
