Tech Portal April Fool
Last week for April Fool’s day Search Acumen sent us an article suggesting that they were launching "Bot-Con" a virtual conveyancer that even knew the football scores and was also available in a female version. A number of you noticed and tweeted or commented on the joke. Unfortunately the lending magazine Bridging and Commercial Distributor […]
Bridging lending value soars over £2billion
Gross bridging lending has reached a value of over £2billion in the last 12 months. According to a report by West One Loans, gross bridging lending has grown 26 per cent in the 12 months leading to 1 March, reaching £2.02billion. The latest Bridging Index from the one of the largest privately funded bridging lender […]
SRA releases handbook version 9
The Solicitor’s Regulation Authority has released the ninth version of their handbook. The new version came into effect on 1 April and one of the key changes is to the SRA Financial Services (Scope) Rules. As the regulation of consumer credit activities has been transferred to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) from the Office of […]
Halifax House Price Index shows bright forecast
House prices from January to March this year were 2.3 per cent higher than in the final quarter of 2013. The Halifax House Price Index (HHPI) also found that prices in the three months to March were 8.7% higher than in the same three months a year earlier, continuing the upward trend in the annual […]
How will impending MMR affect you?
The Mortgage Market Review (MMR) rules will come into force on 26 April, leaving just weeks for lenders to ensure they are ready. The reforms set out in the MMR and MMR Rules are intended to ensure access to mortgages for consumers who can afford it, so it is anticipated that most of the changes […]
Franklins Solicitors bolsters Equity arm
A Milton Keynes and Northampton based Solicitors have announced the appointment of four new Equity Members. Franklins Solicitors LLP, one of the few firms to be accredited by LEXCEL, ISO9001, Investors in People and be a member of The Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme, added Jane Kingston, Andrea Smith, Lee Holmes and Scott Wright to […]
CLC revises handbook
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) has revised its complaints guidance section in the handbook. An amendment has been made to the example complaints procedure to ‘reflect the timeframes applied by the Legal Ombudsman.’ The CLC advises that ‘you should ensure that your own procedures take account of those timeframes.’ The amended handbook can be […]
SRA wants YOUR views
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has asked for views on two consultations that have been launched to reduce regulatory burden. The first consultation looks at discontinuing the Keeping of the Roll as an annual exercise, while the second explores increasing the level of residual client account balances that solicitors can donate to charity. At present,the […]
99 per cent of homes sell at asking price
The proportion of homes being sold at asking price is currently at its highest level since 2004. The percentage grew from 93.5 per cent of homes in England and Wales achieving their asking price in March last year, to 96.2 in the same period this, a ten-year high ‘reflecting the improving market conditions’, according to […]
Serious late rent down one third
Severe tenant rent arrears have fallen by a third in the last 12 months, according to a new report. The number of tenants behind on rent by more than two months has fallen from 105,000 in the first quarter of last year, to 68,000 in the same period in 2014, a 35 per cent drop. […]
Intelligent Conveyancing – The Future is not what it used to be
Some of you may have seen the April Fool we published in Today’s Conveyancer last week (https://todaysconveyancer.co.ukvirtual-conveyancers-a-solution-to-the-staff-recruitment-crisis-cms-14087). Of course, it was a bit of fun — even if the anagrammatic Olaf Lipor did not agree! But it was also designed to feed the current industry debate on how an increasingly sparse conveyancing human resource can […]