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

Figures released today reveal that the net number of homes added to the housing stock in England fell to a record low in 2009-10, down 23% on 2008/9.

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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.

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Property prices continue on their downward trend in September for the third month in a row. This downward trend is evidenced from figures released from Nationwide, Halifax and today RICS and certainly not the news those who recently enetered the market will be wanting to hear.

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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).

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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.

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Since the demise of Home Information Packs, the housing Market is somewhat flooded with an over supply of property. Houses are selling, but not as fast as most people would like, many properties being on the market for many months and even in some cases, years.

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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.

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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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The Big Property List, a new Google-powered, free-to-use property portal, has been launched today, laying down the gauntlet to everyone in the business of buying, selling and renting property in the UK.

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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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