House prices continue to rise
UK house prices have increased by 3.9% from July 2012, their highest annual rate since August 2010. According to the latest Nationwide House Price Index the average UK home is now worth £170,825. Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s Chief Economist, said: “UK house prices rose by a robust 0.8% in July, providing further evidence of an upturn […]
Land Registry e-DRS terms and conditions update
The Land Registry has opened up their electronic Document Registration Service (e-DRS) to every professional customer who sends an application to change the register. Previously the service was only open to conveyancers but the Land Registry have decided to meet customer demand by simplifying the terms and conditions that govern the use of electronic channels […]
New Governor of Bank of England could end Help to Buy
If the Help to Buy scheme threatens to create a housing bubble, the new Bank of England governor has pledged to bring it to an end. Speaking to Sky News, Mark Carney said the scheme would not be extended if it posed any threat to the stability of the economy. Mr Carney said: “If the […]
Enhanced mapping facility launched on PSG Connect
PSG has announced a major enhancement to it’s on-line mapping tool in PSG Connect. The enhancement now enables users of the state-of-the-art search ordering platform to automatically select a boundary (Flood Fill), negating the need for manual manipulation of the drawing tool. The enhancement also allows users to select an additional plot, of particular use […]
Chancel Repair Liability – misconception vs fact
Chancel Repair Liability (CRL) does not stop after 13th October 2013. The Land Registration Act 2002 has meant that overriding interests must be registered by midnight on 12th October 2013. However, because the liability only falls away at the point of first or next registration, there is in fact no deadline for Chancel Repair Liability […]
Beaumont Legal to expand by 50%
Wakefield-based solicitors Beaumont Legal has announced plans to hire 35 new members of staff as part of their plans to become the largest conveyancing firm in the UK within the next three years. Beaumont Legal is now looking for 15 solicitors, 10 legal secretaries and 10 legal assistants to join them at their headquarters at […]
OFT launches investigations into quick house sale firms
The OFT has announced today that it has opened formal investigations into three quick house sale firms for alleged unfair practices. Some consumers may have lost tens of thousands of pounds thanks to the practices by three unnamed firms. As well as the three firms in question 120 providers have been written to by the […]
Estate agent calls for new stamp duty tier
The managing director of Beresfords has called for a new 2% stamp duty land tax tier. Paul Beresford believes a 2% tier between £250,000 and £375,000 could substantially increase the number of transactions. He suggested that introducing such a tier would be consistent with the other 1% stamp duty increments below £1m and remove the […]
Legal Services Board approves CLC referral fee approach
The Legal Services Board (LSB) has decided to grant the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) application to make rule changes in relation to referral fees. The decision follows a CLC review and consultation, carried out earlier this year, which found no justification for a ban on referral fees in conveyancing. Anna Bradley, Chair of the […]
60% of tenants priced out of buying
The number of ‘trapped renters’, tenants who would like to buy but can’t afford to, has risen from 56% a year ago to 60%, of those 31% have owned property previously. According to research from property website Rightmove as many as 96% of people living in rented accommodation aspire to own a home, despite on-going […]
Moneypenny signs on as latest Thomson Reuters Elite Alliance Partner
Thomson Reuters Elite announced yesterday that Moneypenny, an outsourced switchboard provider for businesses throughout the UK, has become an Alliance partner. Moneypenny is a professional 24-hour telephone answering service experienced in looking after calls for the legal sector. Whether Elite clients need 24-hour support for an in-house team, a fully outsourced switchboard solution, or ensured […]
Over 500 contacts for Land Registry fraud line
The Land Registry’s property fraud line has taken 505 calls and emails in its first six months of operation. The property fraud line was launched on 5 February 2013 for owners to alert the Land Registry if they are concerned their property might be subject to a fraudulent sale or mortgage. The telephone number is […]
New directors appointed at CoPSO
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) has made three new additions to its board. Chairman James Sherwood-Rogers will continue to Chair the board with Paul Albone of the TM Group – one of the UK’s largest search providers; Matt LeBreton of CLS — a provider of title insurance to the conveyancing community; and Dan […]
Rob Hailstone’s Bold Group reviews changing risks
On the 1st August I received two emails from Bold Group members, the first one informing me that they had received what purported to be a new email instruction with an attachment which affected their computer when opened, the second email explained how a firms email address had been obtained and that as a result, […]
Water Companies publish Conveyancer Service Survey for CON29DW
97% of the 153 conveyancers asked in a recent survey said that the process of ordering a CON29DW met or exceeded their expectations. The Water Industry Property Information Network (WPIN) incorporates all the Water Companies of England and Wales and runs the survey twice a year to enable water companies to bench mark their […]
SRA interventions fall
Over the last year the number of interventions the SRA has undertaken has fallen by 25%, compared to the previous year. According to the SRA’s quarterly performance report 38 firms were closed in the year to June 2013. Dishonesty was listed as grounds for intervention in an increased number of cases. 32% of interventions in […]
Countrywide PLC sees strong results
Countrywide PLC, one of the largest conveyancers in the country, has revealed profits from conveyancing of £3.4million. The company’s reports for the six months to June 2013 revealed that profits increased 12%, or £0.4million, compared to the same period last year. Instruction volumes generated from Countrywide were 17% higher than the prior year. Bob Davies, […]
First time buyers relying on parents to tune of £2billion a year
More and more young people are being priced out of home ownership, leading to parents paying out an estimated £2 billion a year to help their children get on the property ladder. According to research by NatCen Social Research, on behalf of housing charity Shelter, parents are facing growing pressure to help their children afford […]
Are you doing enough to provide a service to customers with learning disabilities?
A research report has shown that lawyers often struggle to provide consumers with learning disabilities with the specialist support they need. The research was undertaken by the Norah Fry Research Centre, based at the University of Bristol, on behalf of the Legal Services Board, the Legal Services Consumer Panel and learning disability charity Mencap. The […]
Land Registry remove commercial fee from Register Extract Service
The Land Registry has announced that from 1 August 2013, the commercial fee from their Register Extract Service (RES) will be removed. RES is available exclusively to Land Registry customers using Business Gateway — the Land Registry’s case management system feed. It is an electronic data stream which automatically populates customers’ casework management systems with […]
