Month: April 2011

Exactly one month on from the announcement in the budget of the Government’s First Buy scheme to help first-time buyers, research from Rightmove reveals what impact the scheme looks set to have on first-time buyer numbers and the wider property market.  This will in turn impact on who will be buying conveyancing services from whom […]Read More

The Law Society’s new home buyer quality mark, the Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS), is receiving the backing of the Legal Ombudsman in their commitment to ‘drive up standards in the home buying market’. The Legal Ombudsman, the complaints body for the legal profession, say the scheme, which opened for applications in January, has ‘a strong […]Read More

In a move that may generate further competition in the searches market the Land Registry has confirmed that it is exploring the possibility of developing its range of information services to include searches of the Local Land Charges Register and other information currently supplied by local authorities. Land Registry has stated that "Market research and […]Read More

With the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) announcing their full endorsement of the CQS, stating that it sees the scheme as becoming a ‘prerequisite’ for membership to lenders’ panels, firms are keen to announce their involvement and protect their lender panel status. Firms are also keen to use the CQS mark to demonstrate the quality […]Read More

Some of the industry’s leading experts have put their weight behind ‘Moving with the Times’, the UK Conveyancing conference, which takes place on 7 September 2011. Harry Hill, ex-CEO of Countrywide Estate Agents and CPL, Desmond Hudson, Chief Executive of The Law Society and Eddie Goldsmith of The Conveyancing Association are just some of the […]Read More

Age Partnership, an equity release specialist, who are based in Leeds have appointed Goldsmith Williams as its exclusive legal services partner.  The move is to enable processes to be streamlined and to realise ‘considerable operational efficiencies for clients’. With the new agreement in place all Age Partnership clients will be offered a ‘specialist legal service […]Read More

Taylor Wimpey, the new home builder, have told the Stock Exchange that their order book for new homes has seen a 20 per cent increase since December.  Is this a sign that the new homes sector is on the mend? The statement provided to the Stock Exchange says that their new homes order book saw […]Read More

The Legal Ombudsman (LO) is setting up a new stakeholder advisory panel just six months into looking at the service provided by solicitors.  The panel is being created in order that the LO can ask the outside world what is going well and what areas could benefit from improvements and also with the aim of […]Read More

The latest research carried out by Connells Survey and Valuation has indicated that housing market activity has seen a slight increase – with 7 per cent more residential valuations being conducted compared to one year ago. Residential mortgage valuation activity has seen its fourth successive rise, year on year with the first quarter of 2011 […]Read More

Chartis, who hold the leading share of the primary England & Wales Solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance market have made a their disappointment with the new rules clear. A spokesperson for Chartis said they “believe that the ARP needs a fundamental overhaul before this year’s renewal season (October 1st 2011).  According to our projections, between 2005 […]Read More

The Chairman of the Conveyancing Association, Eddie Goldsmith, is asking that firms of Solicitors and Licensed Conveyancers take “a more definitive role” when it comes to tackling mortgage fraud, claiming that “if conveyancers don’t take action lenders will simply continue reducing their panels.” The Conveyancing Association believes that conveyancers could play an important role in […]Read More

The SRA have issued the following press release The draft Strategy builds on work conducted by the SRA over the past two years which has focused on the risks posed by a small number of firms engaged in property-related fraud and money laundering.  The draft Strategy will be further developed over the course of the […]Read More

Anthony Ruane of Optima has said, “Lenders are waking up to the idea that they need to take more control over their own destiny in appointing firms to act in the future” and that “Lenders now have a golden opportunity to take a leading role in the house purchase transaction”. Optima is one of the […]Read More

Rightmove have released their House Price Index for April 2011 showing that agents are holding unsold stock at around 74 properties per branch, up from 70.  It just goes to show that the increased number of sellers coming to market is not being matched by an increase in purchasers’ ability to buy. Property supply is […]Read More

The latest National Mortgage Index released by Mortgage Advice Bureau and Coreco Group has indicated that the bulk of new mortgage applicants are opting for a fixed rate mortgage.  Of the total mortgage applications for March 80 per cent were for fixed rate deals, up 1 percent from February.  Borrowers who appear to be making […]Read More

Last week the SRA announced the outcome of its review into solicitors professional indemnity rules.   In summary main changes are in relation to the operation of the Assigned Risks Pool (ARP). They are: – In October 2011 the amount of time a firm can remain in the Assigned Risks Pool will be reduced from […]Read More

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has warned that the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) proposals to reform the Professional Indemnity Insurance market ‘are inadequate and will increase fears for the future of the market. The ABI have reportedly called for the closure of the assigned risks pool this year, instead of October 2013, and have […]Read More

The Conveyancing Protocol is a 160 page softback text that sets out the Law Society’s “preferred practice” for conveyancing transactions for freehold and leasehold property. From the 1st April 2011 the new Conveyancing Protocol has taken effect and will be compulsory for firms seeking to be members of the Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS).   This […]Read More

Barnetts Solicitors, a leading provider of volume conveyancing to lenders, has become the first volume conveyancer in England & Wales to achieve the Conveyancing Quality Scheme accreditation. Around 800 firms have so far made an application to join the scheme but Barnetts is the first of its size to achieve the quality mark.  Richard Barnett, […]Read More

Mortgages for Business recently launched the MFB Complex Buy to Let Index which tracks buy to let loan size, property value, loan to value and yields with the results being published quarterly.  According to the latest Index the number of buy to let products has more than doubled since Q1 of 2010 with an average […]Read More