Angela Brown
SAS Daniels LLP Solicitors I BECAME involved with a woman 20 years my junior. She said she’d left her husband for me and suggested we became engaged, but this never happened. She said she would move in with me when I’d done my house up, so I spent over £10,000 on improvements. Now it’s all off: do I have any claim against her for breach of promise? EVEN if you had become engaged you would have had no claim against the woman. Prior to 1970 when the law was changed you could have sued her for breach of promise; until then an engagement was regarded as a contract which could be legally binding, and you could have taken her to court to recover the expenses you had incurred in preparing for the marriage. As things stand at least you have the benefit of an improved house. converted, and served a party wall structure notice. Our neighbour initially agreed to go ahead without a surveyor and signed the form we gave her. Then several weeks later she changed her mind and appointed a surveyor which we have to pay £800 for; she will not let us use the same surveyor. This will double the cost of producing the party wall award. Can she insist on different surveyors, especially when she has already given consent? YOU only need a ‘party wall award’ from a surveyor where a dispute exists. You already have a signed document to the effect that there is no dispute. If you proceed without a surveyor’s award your neighbour could attempt to stop you by applying to the court for an injunction, but the court would need good reasons to grant such an injunction. You should show the signed document to a solicitor, but if you are employing an approved loft conversion firm, and provided that the nature and extent of the agreed works have not changed, your neighbour should have no grounds for legal action.
GROUND RENT ARREARS
WE moved here two-anda-half years ago. The house has a 999-year lease and our solicitors informed us that the ground rent is £40 a year, but we have had no requests for payment. Is there a limit on the number of years the freehold owners can claim back payment? How much would it cost to buy the freehold? THE freehold owners can only claim up to six years’ arrears. Ask your solicitor whether payments were up to date when you bought the property, since an allowance should have been made for this if they weren’t! Buying your freehold can be a complicated business but your solicitor can advise you on how to approach the freehold owners. However you should familiarise yourselves with the terms of the lease and comply with them.
TRACING A WILL
MY cousin died last year. His solicitor tells me he left a will but that I wasn’t a beneficiary. I have contacted the probate office where my cousin lived, but they say they don’t have a copy. Is there any other way I can see the will? WHEN the solicitor obtains a grant of probate the will becomes open to public inspection. If you apply for a ‘standing search’ the probate registry will send you a copy of the will when it becomes available. The search lasts for six months and costs £10.00. However if your cousin left very little it may be unnecessary for his executors to obtain a grant of probate in order to carry out his wishes; in that case the will will never become available for inspection. Banks and building societies can release small sums without much formality.
Call SAS Daniels LLP Solicitors on 0161 475 7676 or 01625 442 100. Visit www.sasdaniels. co.uk If you have any legal questions, write to Weekly Law and You, MEN Media, Mitchell Henry House, Hollinwood Avenue, Chadderton OL9 8EF, or email mail@lawQs.co.uk