Month: March 2013

Regardless of whether the deal to sell Lloyds branches to the Co-operative Bank goes ahead, Lloyds will rebrand 632 branches under the TSB name. The deal has hit problems regarding whether the amount of capital the Co-operative plans to set aside for the new operation will satisfy regulators. The deal is looking increasingly shaky, and […]Read More

Research has shown nearly a third of home buyers fail to commission a survey and of those a fifth end up with homes they would not have bought had they been aware of its true condition. According to RICS data released today, homeowners who did not take out a home survey are left with an […]Read More

Legal Eye Ltd is proud to announce the appointment of Priya Anand Patel as a Director. Priya joined Jaunita, the founder of Legal Eye in January 2012. Together they have expanded the Legal Eye team with more firms signing up to compliance packages and support across England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. We have […]Read More

The Future High Streets Forum was launched last week in order to build on the foundations of Mary Portas’s High Street Review. The group will bring together civic and business leaders from a range of sectors. Local Growth Minister Mark Prisk announced a £1 million package of mentoring and support for town teams across the […]Read More

Adrian Whittaker is to join myhomemove as Corporate Sales Director. Mr Whittaker is well recognised in the industry having headed up corporate relationships at Santander and Lloyds Banking Group. Dev Malle, Group Sales Director at myhomemove said: “We know Adrian had several options available to him and it is a testimony to the strength of […]Read More

This month has been an exciting time for all of us at BCL Legal as after 10 years of growing the business around the UK, we’ve now opened our first office in London. The new office is situated in the heart of the Square Mile and our initial focus is on interim/ locum and document […]Read More

The Law Society is currently recruiting for new members to join their Conveyancing and Land Law committee. They advise that applicants should have an active interest in law reform and an understanding of practical issues relevant to the profession. The Law Society is particularly keen to ensure that a member for Wales is appointed to […]Read More

Santander and the Law Society have indicated today that some solicitor conveyancers who are waiting for the CQS applications to be approved will not be removed from the Santander conveyancing panel on the 31st March deadline previously set. If your firm is a solicitors practice and has not applied or are accredited for the Law […]Read More

Santander and the Law Society have indicated today that some solicitor conveyancers who are waiting for the CQS applications to be approved will not be removed from the Santander conveyancing panel on the 31st March deadline previously set. If your firm is a solicitors practice and has not applied or are accredited for the Law […]Read More

From 2 April the Land Registry will trial extending their service hours as part of a three month trial. Services are normally available from 6:30am until 10pm from Monday to Friday and up to 5pm on Saturdays. As part of the trail business customers will be able to access portal and Business Gateway from 6:30am […]Read More

The Law Society of Scotland last week voted in favour of separate representations but this week their England and Wales counterparts have taken quite a different view on the issue. Jonathan Smithers, chair of the Law Society’s conveyancing and land law committee said: "The regulatory environment and market conditions are very different in Scotland. “The […]Read More

The SRA have repeated their advice urging firms facing financial difficulties to seek outside help and advice at the earliest opportunity. The call comes after the intervention by the SRA into eight firms so far this year. Based on trends from previous years, the SRA had estimated the total number of interventions for 2013 would […]Read More

It is set to become much easier for new banks to enter the market following a review into the barriers to entry new banks face. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Bank of England have set out significant changes to regulatory requirements. Some of these changes have already been implemented and the remainder will […]Read More

We are pleased to welcome again Anis Waiz, solicitor at Ozon Solicitors Limited as he continues his critical review of current case law. In this post, Anis considers Hooper & Anor v Oates [2013] EWCA Civ 91 (20 February 2013). 1. Introduction This case raised an interesting point as to the assessment of damages for […]Read More

PSG Financial Services Limited (PSG), the insurance arm of conveyancing search giant PSG has gained approval from the FSA to provide Insurance services. This significant step in the development of PSG’s business has led to the announcement today that Title Insurance provider, Conveyancing Liability Solutions Limited (CLS), has integrated it’s market leading ConveySure£® range of […]Read More

Last Friday, the Law Society of Scotland AGM voted in favour of introducing mandatory separate representation for borrower and lender. Here Rob Hailstone, founder of the Bold Group, gives us his views on the decision and what he thinks should happen next. “Is it any wonder that solicitors are trying to protect their interests when […]Read More

SearchFlow, the electronic conveyancing search provider, has announced the first ten dates of its 2013 programme of CPD seminars. Following a successful programme of events in 2012, SearchFlow has now expanded its series for this year, aiming to cover up to 80 local seminars throughout the remainder of this year offering professional training and development […]Read More

Legal Eye has launched today an exciting new innovation for legal practitioners — a smart phone and tablet application that delivers the latest guidance on client care, compliance, risk management and training.  It offers free and regularly updated tips on maintaining client care standards, ensuring compliance and transparency to engagement letters and terms of business […]Read More

Paul Bassett has launched a campaign for mandatory separate representation for buyer/borrowers and lenders. The campaign is called ‘Big Banks Bad for Local Business’ You can follow the campaign on twitter and banksbad4biz.wordpress.com. He set up the campaign as he felt that lenders were not acting in the interest of the consumer, the High Street […]Read More

In the last six months of 2012 independent estate agents in the Move with Us Partner Network held on average of 11.8% market share locally compared to the 8.8% market share held by corporate agents. According to the data from www.Home.co.uk the Move with Us Partner Network also sold properties on average of four days […]Read More