On the blog today we meet the lovely Louise Hyland, who is currently a partner at Bromley-based Judge & Priestley solicitors, helping people move house (and of course, dealing with many complicated property-related issues!). Here, Louise chats about her role, what her typical day involves, and what she likes to do in the Bromley area in her free time…
Hi Louise, tell us a bit about your background- how long have you been a solicitor for?
I trained at Judge & Priestley, qualifying as a Solicitor in May 2013 and I made Partner in the firm in May 2018. We acquired Beckenham firm Pritchard Joyce & Hinds (PJH) in 2019 and I moved to open a new Beckenham office on the High Street where I head up my team now comprising of 7.
Describe your typical day if you can? What is involved behind the scenes?
I run a busy department so organisation is key! After my morning cup of tea I usually organise the tasks for myself and the team in terms of incoming post and email correspondence. In fairness to all Clients we try to deal with all correspondence in date order as much as possible, although there can sometimes be a pressing matter that requires urgent attention so I may need to prioritise this if needed, after all we are dealing with peoples homes and want to do all we can to help a matter progress quickly.
I work through my To-Do pile which will typically consist of dealing with sale enquiries, raising enquiries on Contract papers received or a purchase and preparing final pre-exchange Reports.
Do you have any tips for property buyers and sellers to make the process run smoother? What can they do to help make your job easier?
Again it is all about organisation, when a Client comes to us with all the documentation needed for their sale it makes things so much easier. When completing a purchase we will write to a Client at the end with all the important documentation for their safekeeping – so please keep this safe!
Most interesting property case you have worked on?
As there are not standard proforma documents for property transactions it means that we do sometimes come across weird and wonderful anomalies within the documentation received. In this situation we can discuss and then draw on each other’s knowledge to find a suitable solution, which is why it is so beneficial both to my team and our Clients to be part of such an established wider J&P property team with so many years of experience behind us. Unfortunately “interesting” can often lead to delays if your Conveyancer does not have the requisite knowledge to be able to think outside the box. Without boring you with technicalities, I have navigated through registration errors, leasehold issues, restrictive covenant disputes and rentcharge variations to name a few.
What’s your favourite thing to do/ place to visit in the Bromley area?
I have a Cockapoo called Hugo (the office dog) so often my outings in Bromley centre around the best places to take him for his extra long Sunday walks. Beckenham Place Park has to be a firm favourite for the great walks and market, or otherwise High Elms Country Park too.
Thanks so much Louise for talking to us! Read more posts like these, over on our blog
