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

You’ve recently discovered that your house is sitting on top of a mine; or you’ve known all along but you’ve never really been concerned about it, but now, your house is starting to sink – what do you do? Sadly, this isn’t just the stuff of nightmares, this is something many people have had to face and will have to face in the future. With so many mines in use and disused across the UK (171,000 coal entries are recorded, but it is thought that there could be more), houses are sinking all the time, but would you know if this was happening to you and what can you do?

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For most people, their home is the most valuable thing they will ever buy. So the current difficulties in the housing market are indicative of just how hard the economic times are in which we live. House prices are falling, so-called second steppers cannot afford to move up the ladder to larger properties, huge deposits are required to get a mortgage, and the list goes on.

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Exchange of contracts is the point in a conveyancing transaction when everybody becomes legally bound to proceed to completion. Failure to complete once exchange has taken place can lead to heavy penalties on the defaulting party. Conveyancers are well aware of this of course and as a result will ensure that everything is in place for completion before exchange so that their client does not end up in the position of having to default. Nonetheless, occasionally there will be circumstances beyond their control.

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It was more bad news for the property market as according to the latest Lloyds TSB study, so-called ‘second steppers’ face the worst market for a generation. Those that are looking to take their second step on the property ladder by selling their first home and moving to a bigger property actually face being locked-in to their current mortgages.

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House sales have plummeted almost 40 per cent since the peak of the boom five years ago,1 while UK property prices dropped 0.6 per cent in July.2 But according to a leading South London estate agent, Wooster & Stock, there are small steps vendors can take to increase the chance of a quick, smooth and profitable sale.

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If you are moving home, you will probably want to complete your purchase or sale on a Friday. It is a perfectly reasonable desire, as it allows you the weekend to move in, so you have to take less time off work. This will generally fit in with what everyone else in the chain wants and probably 80% – 90% of conveyancing sale and purchase completions do take place on a Friday.

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When purchasing a flat in a block, particularly where there are communal areas such as stairwells and landings, there will usually be a liability to pay service charges (also called maintenance charges). This is an annual payment (though it is often paid in quarterly or monthly instalments) and it is a contribution toward the upkeep of the communal parts of the building and any shared services such as lifts or a concierge. It is paid to the landlord or management company, often via a managing agent.

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We all want the best for our children and their choice of schooling continues to be one of the biggest decisions that parents face – to the extent that families are prepared to buy a new home just to get within a particular school catchment area. In some respects the options available have always been more or less the same, do you send your child to the nearest comprehensive school or to the rather more expensive option of a private school?

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As Home Counties go, Kent is definitely one of the prettier ones and is often referred to as the Garden of England – with good reason. The coastline is absolutely stunning and it’s the ideal place to live if you and your family are fans of long walks in the countryside, cycling or horse riding. Wherever you live in the county, you’re never too far from a green field or some woodland where you can go tramping about at the weekend to get some fresh air and exercise.

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The government’s shared ownership scheme is in place for those who want to buy a property of their own, but just can’t afford to. In these schemes, people are offered the chance to buy a share of their home, paying rent on the share that is leftover.

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Has the rental market superseded the property ladder?

The official London2012 website states that ‘the Olympic and Paralympic Games have been the catalyst for the physical transformation of East London’ raising the profile of the area and bringing it to the attention of the world.

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