November 2019, and the River Don is in the living rooms of Fishlake. Every house sold in the village since has carried that month in its paperwork, and so, less visibly, has every house in Bentley, Stainforth and the other low-lying districts that the Don, the Torne and the drains of Hatfield Chase keep only just dry. A property solicitor in Doncaster orders a flood search as a matter of course, asks whether the buyer can actually insure the house, and reads the answer before the mortgage offer, not after.
Underground, the other search matters as much. Most of the borough's villages stand on worked coal seams, and a Coal Authority mining report, showing old shafts, workings and any subsidence claims, is standard on nearly every purchase. The houses themselves are mainly former Coal Board and council terraces and semis in Rossington, Armthorpe, Edlington and Askern, bought cheaply under the right to buy and now the backbone of a first-time buyer and landlord market; newer estates at Bessacarr and Edenthorpe and the Georgian houses of Bawtry and Tickhill are the dearer end. Leasehold is rarer than in the cities, though flats at the Lakeside raise the usual lease and service charge questions.
Landlords are a large part of the client base. Solicitors draft tenancies, advise on the selective licensing schemes the council has used in Hexthorpe and other areas, and pursue possession and deposit claims in the county court in Doncaster. Commercial work is dominated by warehouses and transport yards, from leases at iPort to a haulier's depot at Thorne, with planning for new sheds and solar farms, agricultural tenancies and farm sales for the rest.
Fees for buying and selling a home are almost always fixed; ask for mining and flood searches to be quoted separately.
Property firms serving Doncaster are listed below, verified firms first. Read what conveyancing involves, the legal costs of buying and selling, landlord and tenant law and the general property solicitors guide.
