Immigration Bill to tighten laws on property letting
The Government could be introducing new legislation into the private rented sector (PRS) which requires landlords and letting agents to ensure tenants have legal rights to reside within the UK. Many compliant landlords already carry out such checks, but there are some rogue landlords who fail to do so, in order to let sub-standard accommodation. […]
Client focus sees Napthens named North West’s top conveyancing firm
Lancashire law firm Napthens has been named the region’s best conveyancing firm. Last night the law firm’s Residential Property team won the coveted Regional Conveyancing Firm 2014. A panel of judges at the National Conveyancing Conference, which took place in the West Midlands, including industry experts from The National Association of Estate Agents and banking […]
Business Development and Compliance seminars for solicitors and conveyancers
Legal Eye are hosting two free CPD seminars with a difference in Kent in October. In addition to practical advice on compliance, risk and anti-money laundering, law firms will be given tips on a range of ways to attract and retain clients — both locally and nationally. Jaunita Gobby says Compliance requirements have changed substantially […]
Regulatory reform will reduce burden on more compliant firms
The latest SRA decision regarding regulatory reform will ensure that they will remain informed of firms that have poor compliance to the Accounts Rules, says top-20 UK accountancy firm, Wilkins Kennedy LLP. Following last week’s announcement, the Board of the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority (SRA) has taken further steps to deliver its programme of Regulatory reform […]
HMRC UK Property Transactions Statistics for August 2014 released
This week, the HMRC have released their UK Property Transactions Statistics for August 2014. Data Summary Provisional, seasonally adjusted UK property transaction count was 99,930 residential and 9,090 non-residential. Residential Transactions Seasonally adjusted estimate of residential property transactions decreased by 1.7% between July 2014 and August 2014. 8.4% increase in seasonally adjusted transactions compared to […]
Henderson will encourage use of “three Rs” to aid housing crisis recovery
Mark Henderson, Chief Executive at the Home Group, will be addressing all political parties and will encourage them to put greater focus on recovering the housing industry and applying the “three Rs” to impending strategies. The Home Group is one of the UK’s largest housing providers and owns 55,000 properties across the nation. Research carried […]
Land Registry release developer pack to support new Business Gateway system
The Land Registry have published a Business Gateway developer pack, demonstrating how to implement their new business to business web services. The newly developed system offers CMS vendors and conveyancers the opportunity to streamline processes and access Land Registry e-services more efficiently. The system being adopted will use Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) — an […]
Passmore addresses key concerns in conveyancing with regards to the Regulatory Reform
Over the weekend, the Conveyancing Association held a meeting with its members, where Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Director, Crispin Passmore addressed the key issues in conveyancing, detailing the steps they are making to relieve burdens for law firms and reform regulations in the industry. Passmore stressed this won’t be a major transformation, and the SRA […]
OneSearch Direct to Sponsor Law Firm Services’ Conveyancing Conference & Awards 2014
OneSearch Direct, the largest local authority data search company in the UK, has been named as one of the sponsors for the Law Firm Services’ Conveyancing Conference Awards 2014. The event is to be held at the Ricoh Arena on 24th September 2014. OneSearch Direct will also exhibit at the event which is set to […]
Future Climate Info Flood Reports include full flood data and Insurability
PCCB and Law Society Guidance Note Compliant Includes Contaminated Land and Flood All from £39.00 + VAT To assist your client in making their decisions, the report includes insurability considerations, which are even more relevant as a result of the recent information set out below. Flooding Insurance and Problems Downstream The flood events of 2014 […]
100 Miles for 100 Years – PSG rise to the challenge
On Saturday 13th September, PSG offices up and down the country came together to walk a combined total of 100 miles in support of the Royal British Legion. Four teams made up of PSG staff and sponsors from GroundSure, Landmark and CLS, laced up their walking boots and set off on their respective 25 miles […]
How will the proposed Regulatory Reform affect you?
Plans of a Regulatory Reform have been discussed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Board and further steps have been agreed to put the proposed changes into practice. All the plans must be approved by the Legal Services Board prior to being implemented. Once approved, the changes are set to encourage establishing business and reduce […]
Comprehensive guide to property flood resilience solutions
Following last year’s severe flooding across the country, flood risk awareness and prevention has become a necessity for many homeowners. Those who are looking to buy, as well as current home owners, must be made aware of property flood data and be given solutions and tools to increase resilience. Over 5 million residents within the […]
Right to Buy Maximum Discount Increase
On the 21st July 2014, the maximum Right to Buy discount for tenants wishing to purchase their rented property was increased to £77,000.00 (from £75,000.00) across England (£102,700.00 from £100,000.00 in London). The changes have also seen an increase in the discount that previously applied only to houses. The maximum discount for houses has been […]
Registration open for the 2014 Conveyancer of the Year Awards
It’s time to register for the 2014 Conveyancer of the Year Awards in association with The Sunday Times and The Times — all entrants need to register by September 26, with the award ceremony taking place at the Lancaster Hotel in London on December 5. Last year Rowlinsons Solicitors in Cheshire won the conveyancing trophy […]
Conveyancers need to rethink how they handle personal data
Whether working for a solicitor’s office or as an independent conveyancer, one of the universal principles of the legal industry is the need to maintain confidentiality. Property transactions, by their very nature, necessitate the handling and sharing of a wide array of private and sensitive information; the majority of which will, at one time or […]
Is Fracking the Future?
The issue of fracking has received a huge amount of media attention and coverage in recent weeks and continues to divide the nation’s opinion. The process, which involves drilling into shale rock and pumping water, sand and chemicals into the ground, is opposed by many due to its supposed links with contamination of groundwater, pollution […]
Potential advancements for CILEx members
The House of Commons have approved an order from the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) which allows their members to conduct conveyancing work — without supervision of a regulated solicitor. A draft order was presented to Justice Minister, Shailesh Vara at the end of June. It was then expected to be approved prior to […]
SLC partners up with the Bold Legal Group for its 2014 Conference.
The SLC Conference will be staged this year in association with the Bold Legal Group on 12th November at the Riverside in Derby. The event which will be sponsored once again by PSG, CLS, Groundsure and Red Brick Solutions promises to be the biggest and best yet. The Gold, Silver and Bronze sponsors from previous […]
New EU rules announced for buy-to-let mortgage lending
The European Union have set forth plans to enforce new regulations for mortgage lenders that will restrict the lending process for new buy-to-let property owners. From 2016, lenders will be forced to apply tougher restrictions on certain buy-to-let mortgages, which at present do not have the same level of rules applied as regular mortgages. Borrowing […]
