Homes England has issued advice for Help to Buy: Equity Loan customers on how they can proceed with purchasing a home during the Covid-19 outbreak. It says that many people are worried because the situation seems so uncertain. In response, it has published a document containing the answers to some frequently asked questions. These are some of the main issues covered:
COVID-19 – Wills and Probate Specialists classified as Key Workers
Wills and Probate specialist lawyers have been classified as Key Workers by the Ministry of Justice
10 Key reasons for making or updating your Will in 2020
Making a Will is an important step to exercising control over your assets when you die. However, as time passes circumstances for you, your family or your beneficiaries may change. Importantly, some of these life events may, in fact, invalidate your current Will whereas others may have unforeseeable impacts on the consequences of it.
Pilot scheme could make home buying ‘quicker and less stressful’
A digital questionnaire designed to make home moving ‘cheaper, quicker and less stressful’ is now being tested in a pilot scheme. The Buying and Selling Property Information (BASPI) has been developed by the Home Buying and Selling Group, an organisation made up of property specialists including solicitors, estate agents and mortgage advisers.
Government to provide cheaper homes and end leasehold abuses
The government has pledged to provide more affordable homes and to clamp down on leasehold abuses on newbuild properties. The measures were announced in the Queen’s Speech
Gardener unfairly dismissed despite drink-driving conviction
A gardener was unfairly dismissed after he was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol, a tribunal has ruled.
Shared ownership scheme to help people on to housing ladder
The government wants to introduce a package of measures to help people on lower incomes get on to the housing ladder. It’s reviewing a new national model for shared ownership to make it easier for people to buy more of their own home, including allowing
The Government’s proposed changes to probate fees have been scrapped in U-turn.
Described in the Law Society’s Gazette as an ‘Inherently unfair’ probate fee hike, the Law Society has welcomed the government’s U-turn on a probate fee hike
Taking medical and legal steps against the onset of dementia
With no cure for dementia diseases like Alzheimer’s likely to emerge soon, health organisations across the world are stressing the need for people to take preventive measures to protect themselves as they get older.
Help to Buy scheme to start allowing 35-year mortgages
Homeowners buying a property under Help to Buy are now allowed to take out 35-year mortgages. The government has moved to close what it describes as a loophole, which has seen purchasers using the scheme facing difficulties and uncertainty if they wanted to take out a mortgage with a term of more than 25 years