Every now and again a new risk to conveyancers emerges that require a change in the way risk is managed. Examples include the development of environmental searches and also chancel enquiries. Surprisingly many conveyancers still avoid doing these searches despite warning cards and case law. Such cases can and do give rise to negligence claims. […]Read More
The Law Society recently announced that Todmans SRE in Rayleigh, Essex were the 500th law firm in England & Wales to secure the Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) accreditation. Partner at Todmans SRE, William Todman, commented: “We’re delighted to be the 500th firm to achieve CQS accreditation. The standard sends out a clear message to the […]Read More
Countrywide’s Nigel Stockton last week criticised the lack of context that accompanied the issue of CML circular 2531, listing the firms that have been accredited under the Law Society CQS scheme. The circular highlighted the benefits of the CQS without explaining why Licensed Conveyancers could not be accredited. This leaves readers to potentially misunderstand that […]Read More
A well respected survey has revealed some interesting views from solicitors generally about the post ABS direction of prices in the conveyancing sector. As we all know conveyancers are happy to fall over themselves to reduce prices ever lower despite concerns over quality, risk and outcomes. Every town has a conveyancer who is prepared to […]Read More
City of London based Prime Professions have been appointed as the new brokers for the Council for Licensed Conveyancers’ (CLC) Master Policy Scheme following a formal tender. The specialist professional indemnity insurance (PII) broker will provide a service team headed up by directors Robin Bayly and Martin Ellis, experienced professionals with several decades of experience […]Read More
Louise Humphries Associate of Cowling Swift & Kitchin Solicitors in York has written this conveyancing article to balance the views that change in the legal profession is always good and she advocates that many of the longstanding values of the profession are the key to its success. “Before I even begin this article, please accept […]Read More
According to The Insurance Times, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) have scrapped their recently redrafted version of the Qualifying Insurers’ Agreement for Professional Indemnity Insurance following complaints that some insurers were unfairly “under-declaring” Assigned Risks Pool (ARP) contributions. If a solicitors firm is unable to obtain insurance in the open market they are, for a […]Read More
Whilst many professional indemnity insurance companies are running for the hills when it comes to small solicitor firms Marsh believes it has identified and partnered with two that want to insure them. Marsh has issued a statement saying “Small legal practices are bracing themselves for another challenging renewal season for solicitors’ professional indemnity (PI) insurance, […]Read More
Paul Hajek a solicitor with Clutton Cox and one of the most active conveyancers using social media to promote his business has used his skills to launch an e-petition to kick start housing activity. We all know that the volume of transactions in the market are significantly below the long term trend with the number […]Read More
Local firm reminds Liverpool of EPP2 and the need to register septic tanks. Is it time to change your procedures now before the compulsory date? Whilst the ability to register septic tanks has existed since April 2010 the deadline for compulsory registrations of tank at the 31st December 2011 is fast approaching. If you are […]Read More
Proposed new public and consumer interest tests for regulation in a diverse market – will the Legal Services Board discussion paper mean an increase in reserved legal activities or a reduction in regulatory restrictions? The Legal Services Board recently launched a discussion paper concerning the nature and reach of legal services regulation. The new proposed […]Read More
The Department of Communities and Local Government has produced two leaflets on rent charges and the Rentcharges Act 1977 which will be of interest to conveyancers. Since 1977 the Rentcharges Act has limited the creation of new rentcharges and will cause most rentcharges to be automatically extinguished in 2037, but until then existing rentcharges can […]Read More
Often solicitors complain about the Law Society policy or procedures. A reasonble response is that if it matters that much to you go and get involved and make a difference. Richard Barnett has for the last four years been involved and has been trying to make a difference. At the end of his term as […]Read More
The latest LSL Acadametrics HPI release shows that transactions, year on year, are down 5.9 per cent with price falls of 0.1 per cent, the lowest level for some 19 months. The only region showing growth is London, who have shown consistent price growth in the last four years. The report shows that, of the […]Read More
Senior Supervising Solicitor for Optima Legal’s Newcastle and Bradford offices, Paul Mason, has recently been promoted to Partner. Having joined the firm in 2009 Paul, who has in excess of 20 years experience specialising in residential property work, had his role extended to Senior Supervising Solicitor of both the Bradford and Newcastle offices in 2011, […]Read More
Readers of Today’s Conveyancer have been offered discounted tickets to the next Legal Futures conference “New ways to practise law” on 17 October in London. New ways to practise law will look at the challenges facing lawyers and the range of strategic responses to them. How should they respond to ABSs? Join a national brand […]Read More
The latest RICS UK Housing Market survey, released today, reports that housing market activity remained stagnant in July and house prices dipped further. There was a slight improvement on June’s net balance of -26 as 22 per cent more chartered surveyors reported price falls in July, giving a -22 reading. These figures have now remained […]Read More
NHBC recently reported a “stable first half of the year for new home registrations” but indicated that there was still some way to go as far as the housing market is concerned. Statistics for January to June show that: – Registrations in the private sector were up 6 per cent – Registrations in the public […]Read More
Optima Legal have won the ‘What Mortgage’ award for ‘Best Legal Services Provider’, having been nominated alongside Legal Move, Rose & Rose Solicitors, and 1st Property Lawyers. What Mortgage is a monthly mortgage magazine whose ethos is to help consumers by giving them as much information as possible when it comes to home buying decisions, […]Read More
The Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) renewal date is fast approaching and Chartis UK, a leading provider of Professional Indemnity Insurance, announce that they will not be writing new business in this sector. Chartis, amongst other insurers, recently criticised the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority’s (SRA) strategy for reforming the Assigned Risk Pool (ARP) and cite this as […]Read More