Kate Bayley

Kate has a busy and varied desk with a broad spectrum of residential property work. She specialises in more unusual, complex transactions such as affordable property, transfers of part as well as deeds of easement and covenant.

Kate has a huge amount of experience with auctions, acting for both sellers and buyers in this fast-moving area of the market.

Over the years Kate has developed a broad knowledge and expertise of the different types of affordable housing and staircasing schemes available to buyers. As lender’s criteria continue to evolve, it also makes it an interesting, complex, and fast changing element of residential conveyancing.

In the past, Kate has been a trustee of the Community Land Trust Local (CLT). This experience and knowledge she gained by being a trustee has given her great insight into rural affordable housing schemes which is relevant to Cornwall and the South West.

If you asked Kate which part of her job she enjoys the most it would be complex transfers of part! Particularly as it requires a lot of experience and skill. She has a wealth of knowledge in drafting to ensure the granting and reservation of rights / easements run with the land for future property owners to enjoy.

Notable Residential Property cases

• Auction - Sales & Purchases
  

  Dealing with local agents who are offering modern auctions to their seller clients. Kate provides clients and agents with auction packs, allowing the property to be advertised online under modern auction conditions.

• Affordable - Sale & Purchasing Staircasing
  

  Acting on a sale and identifying an error in the title whereby the property was a former affordable home and the current sellers had staircased to 100% ownership a couple of years prior, without their lawyers at that time merging the freehold and leasehold titles at HMLR. Kate resolved the matter at an early stage meaning the property title was “sale-ready” at the point a buyer was found.

• Buy to Let
  

  Handling regular purchases for residential landlords. This is a complex and rapidly changing area of law that Kate is extremely confident and experienced in.

• Leasehold - Sale & Purchase
  

  Purchasing a leasehold residential apartment in London for over £500K. Kate drafted and negotiated a deed of variation to alter the terms of the lease. She also dealt with various issues attached to the freehold title of the building.

• Equity Release
  

  Acting for clients who were selling a property that had an existing equity release lifetime mortgage and wanted to buy another property. Managing the client’s equity release sale and the new purchase showcased Kate’s breadth of experience when dealing with multiple transactions. She advised her clients to port their lifetime mortgage over and dealt with the mortgagees’ solicitors.

• Deeds of Easements & Covenants
  

  Acting for a client whose existing right of way to his property did not extend far enough along the private accessway. Kate entered the client into a new deed of easement and covenant whereby the access way included appropriate covenants relating to the maintenance and upkeep of the access.

• New Build
  

  Acting on behalf of a local developer in the sale of three newbuild properties which involved splitting the existing title to enable each property to be sold off as a separate entity. A management company was also set up to manage the common shared areas on the small development.

• Re-constitution of Titles / Possessory Title Applications
  

  Acting for executor clients who were selling a property for their late mother whereby the unregistered deeds had been mislaid/lost by a previous law firm. Kate advised her client to have a statement of truth drafted as well as various correspondence and evidence to prove ownership of the property. HMLR granted absolute title and the property was subsequently sold and completed within 6 weeks.