Resources
Here is some useful information:
Birth, Death & Marriage Certificates – HM Government
Bomb damage – searchable map of WW2 blitz damage in London and surrounding
Bomb damage – V2 rockets on London and surrounding
Bomb damage – V1 & V2 incident logs – South London
Building Societies Association – HM Government
Building Societies Association, Conveyancing Handbook – HM Government
Coal Authority and Environment Agency tool to identify mining and groundwater constraints
Conveyancing Handbook – Council of Mortgage Lenders
Conveyancing Handbook – Building Societies Association
Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2015 explained – Health & Safety Executive
Companies House search – HM Government
Company Insolvency Notices – The London Gazette
Council of Mortgage Lenders – Council of Mortgage Lenders
Council Tax valuation list – HM Government
Farmers Guide to the Planning System – HM Government DEFRA
Flooding – London – [link broken]
Flooding risk check – HM Government
Fraud – report a cyberattack, fraud, scam or virus online 24/7 – Police
History – local archives – HM Government
History – Victorian buildings – Victorian Society
History of your house – National Archives
History – City of London Picture Archive
HS2 Maps – HM Government
Japanese knotweed – HM Government guidance
Japanese knotweed – Royal Horticultural Society guidance
Land Registry – HM Government
Lasting and enduring powers of attorney and a court-appointed deputies -search the register
Law Society – Law Society
Leasehold Advisory Service – LEASE
Legislation – Acts of Parliament and Statutory Instruments – HM Government
Legislation – Church Measures – HM Government
Licences – do you need one? – HM Government
Mortgage Lenders – Council – Council of Mortgage Lenders
Ombudsman – Financial – Financial Ombudsman Service
Ombudsman – Housing – Housing Ombudsman
Ombudsman – Legal – Legal Ombudsman
Ombudsman – Local Government – Local Government Ombudsman
Party Wall explanation – RICS
Public Records – National Archives
Radon information – HM Government
Residential Letting Agents – Association of Residential Letting Agents
Residential Managing Agents – Association of Managing Agents
Residents Associations – Federation of Private Residents Associations
Residential Property (First-tier Tribunal) forms – HM Government
Retirement Housing Managers – Association of Retirement Housing Managers
Rivers and Canals – The Canal & River Trust
Rivers and Canals – Lost rivers of London
Septic Tanks – a guide – Environment Agency
Shelter – Shelter
Solar Panels – Energy Saving Trust
Solve a residential property dispute – Property – HM Government
Surveyors – Chartered – Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
Thatched roofs – Thatching Advisory Service
Tribunal – Upper (Lands Tribunal) – HM Government
What’s in your back yard? – Environment Agency
Window installation self-certificate – reorder a copy – FENSA
Government booklet – How to Rent – which must be served on an Assured Shorthold Tenant. (26 June 2018 – check for updates)
Rent Repayment Orders – Government guidance for Housing Authorities
Guide to check-in/out reports, inventories, and schedules of condition
Government guides on permitted and prohibited payments under the Tenant Fees Act 2019
Right to Rent checks
Run a check on a proposed tenant with the Home office
Flowchart to check if someone is allowed to rent a residential property
Home Office Right to Rent Document Checks: a User Guide
Guidance for landlords conducting right to rent checks on undocumented commonwealth citizens
Tenancy Deposits
Deposit holder – Deposit Protection Service
Deposit holder – My Deposits Scheme
Deposit holder – Tenancy Deposit Scheme
Houses in Multiple Occupation
Government general guidance (changing 1 October 2018)
Shelter guidance (changing 1 October 2018)
HMO new legislation from 1st October 2018
Selective Licensing
Government guidance for Local Authorities
Safety
Health and Safety Executive – questions and answers for landlords and letting agents
Landlords’ Guide to Electrical Safety
Gas safety legislation (S.I.1998/2451) amended in 2018 by S.I.2018/139)
Seeking Possession & Disrepair
Notice seeking possession of a property let on or after 1st October 2015 on an AST with Notes
Accelerated possession proceedings online
Pre-Action Protocol for Housing Disrepair Cases
Government general guidance on EPCs for home buyers and sellers
Government guide to EPCs for the marketing, sale and let of dwellings
Government guide to EPCs for the construction, sale and let of non dwellings
Note that the above is amended by legislation with effect from 1 April 2010.
Retrieve an Energy Performance Certificate for a domestic property
Retrieve an Energy Performance Certificate for a non-domestic property
Community Infrastructure explained – HM Government
Listed Buildings – general – English Heritage
Listed Buildings search – English Heritage
Planning Portal – HM Government
Planning practice guidance from Government – contains links to Government guidance and policy on several areas of planning areas including Ensuring Effective Enforcement
Window installation self-certificate – reorder a copy – FENSA
HMRC internal manual for Stamp Duty Land Tax
HM Revenue & Customs SDLT online calculator for residential and non-residential properties
HM Revenue & Customs guidance for filling in an SDLT return
HMRC Guidance – November 2016 – on higher rates of SDLT for purchases of additional residential properties partly superceded
Drains and sewers – the Planning Portal
What to do if there is a blockage
Citizens Advice – who is responsible for repairing
Ofwat – regulator of the water sector in England and Wales
Consumer Council for Water – find your water supplier
Communities can ask their Local Authority to list certain assets as being of value to the community. If an asset is listed as such and then comes up for sale, the new right will give communities that want it 6 months to put together a bid to buy it.
Read more
Chancel Liability
This is a quirk of English law which renders approximately 300,000 homes in England and Wales liable to pay or contribute to the Church for the cost of repairing the chancel of a church.
Read more
Stamp Duty Land Tax on lease extensions
SDLT on lease extensions, including updating to refer to the conditions for which relief from the higher rates may be available to a buyer extending the lease on their only or main residence. Read more