Helping Innovate Property (HIP) – Blog, Housing Market News and Articles

There are a number of situations which might occur during a person’s life which may render the name or names appearing on the registers of title to that person’s property inaccurate and in need of correction. It is not a legal requirement to make the correction however it will need to be dealt with when the property is sold (or inherited) and dealing with it straight away will help to avoid delays at that stage, as well as reducing the risk of any fraud whereby a person for example assumes an identity which no longer exists in order to borrow money against the property.

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Building regulations are designed to ensure that building works are done to set standards of safety and energy efficiency. The framework for the law is set out in the Building Act 1984. This statute allows regulations to be made as and when necessary to update the law and there have been several editions since the Act.

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With banks gradually starting to lend again and while interest rates are still low; now could be considered a good time to be thinking about remortgaging, so as to secure a good rate of interest for a few more years.

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The Town and Country Planning Act 1990 sets out the rules relating to the development of land, that is to say any additions, alterations or changes of use. Such works will often require an application for planning permission to be made to the local authority.

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For the past few years obtaining the conveyancing searches has been the responsibility of the home information pack provider since the major ones, the local authority search and drainage & water search, were a compulsory part of it. Now that HIPs have been suspended the searches must be obtained by the purchaser (or his conveyancer).

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Nobody wants to have to evict a tenant but unfortunately there is sometimes no option but to do so. When this happens the proper legal process must be followed to ensure the eviction is successful and the landlord is not guilty of an offence.

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In the context of house moves, conveyancing is the legal and administrative work associated with changing ownership of a property from one party to another. In practice it’s an umbrella term that includes exchanging contracts, transferring finances for the property and a host of other related tasks.

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The modern conveyancing system in England & Wales was born in 1925, with the introduction of the Law of Property Act 1925 and Land Registration Act 1925.

Before we can look at where property conveyancing is going we must look at where we have come from.

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Estate agents Countrywide and property portal Rightmove say they have seen a 35% increase in new properties for sale since the coalition governement announced HIPS were suspended, on 21 May.

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Islamic Mortgages and not just for Muslims which may come as a suprise for some. However, an Islamic mortgage does have its differences.
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In our guide to lease extensions, we look at how a leaseholder can extend their lease and what pitfalls you should look out for.

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