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

When the land registry registers a particular piece of freehold land for the first time it will give it one of three “classes” of title. These are absolute, qualified and possessory. Absolute is the best class to have as it is indefeasible, i.e. once it is granted the proprietor is recognised as the absolute owner and no one can challenge his ownership, even if it appears that a person may have a genuine claim to the land.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today, Wednesday 6 October, the Legal Ombudsman will open for business to help people resolve complaints about lawyers.

This is the first time people can come to an independent and impartial body to help them resolve a legal complaint. The service covers all lawyers, including solicitors, barristers and others (see full list below).

Read the rest of this entry »

There are lots of adverts on the internet and even in the press for “get rich quick” schemes that promise, for a small fee, to reveal secrets that will allow you to claim acre upon acre of forgotten land legally and for free.

Read the rest of this entry »

When planning permission is granted for any development, for it to be valid the development must be commenced within a given time period. The local authority can specify a time period but in the absence of this the default time periods of three years (full planning permission) or five years (outline planning permission). Commencing the development for which permission was granted after the time period has expired has the same effect as carrying out development with no permission.

Read the rest of this entry »

What a lender needs to do before it can repossess a property, what happens when a house gets repossessed and what to do if your home is at risk from repossession

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

The leasehold valuation tribunal is part of the Residential Property Tribunal Service and is a body set up to decide cases of dispute between landlord and tenant.

Read the rest of this entry »

Islamic Mortgages and not just for Muslims which may come as a suprise for some. However, an Islamic mortgage does have its differences.
Read the rest of this entry »

In our guide to lease extensions, we look at how a leaseholder can extend their lease and what pitfalls you should look out for.

Read the rest of this entry »

A right over a piece of land for the benefit of another piece of land, such as a right of way or a right to use services running under the land is called an “easement”. The land which benefits from an easement is called the “dominant tenement” or “dominant land” and the land which is subject to the easement is the “servient tenement” or “servient land”. There are several ways in which an easement can be created and once it exists then subject to certain exceptions, it exists for all time for the benefit of the dominant land.

Read the rest of this entry »