Most homes for sale in Brighton & Hove are flats, and most of those flats are leasehold, carved out of Regency squares, Victorian terraces and the big mansion blocks along the seafront. Property solicitors in the city therefore spend their days on lease terms rather than fields and boundaries: how many years are left, whether the lease can be extended, what the service charges have paid for, whether the freeholder consented to the loft room, and whether the management company is solvent. A short lease on a Hove flat can sink a mortgage offer, and lease extension and collective enfranchisement are everyday instructions here.
Renting is the other half of the job. Brighton & Hove has a very large private rented sector, with students from the University of Sussex and the University of Brighton, young professionals priced out of buying and families on long lets. Landlord and tenant solicitors deal with the licensing of shared houses, deposit disputes, damp and disrepair claims, possession proceedings in the county court in Brighton and the fallout of short-term holiday lets in blocks whose leases forbid them. The reform of private renting has sent both landlords and tenants to local firms for advice.
Houses exist too, in Preston Park, Fiveways, Patcham, Rottingdean and Portslade, and conveyancing there follows the usual course, with added questions about chalk, flint walls, conservation areas and planning consents for extensions on steep plots. Commercial work ranges from leases on shops in the Lanes and the seafront arches to office space for the digital sector and the sale of hotels and guesthouses.
Conveyancing is almost always fixed-fee; ask for a quote that shows the leasehold enquiries or lease extension work separately from the basic charge.
The property firms around Brighton & Hove are listed below, verified firms first. Read what conveyancing involves, landlord and tenant law, the legal fees for buying a house and neighbour disputes, or the general guide to property solicitors.
