Free Spoofing Test Available From Lawyer Checker
You may have seen in the news recently the story of Mr Mollett and how fraudsters made off with thousands of pounds of his hard earned cash. If not we’ve summarised it below. Howard Mollett, a charity worker, who was working in the US, encountered problems whilst trying to make a down payment on his […]
Declines in UK Construction Worrying Reading For Future PM
Construction in the UK slumped to its slowest output for more than a decade in June. The IHS Markit/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index witnessed a considerable fall in construction from 48.6 in May to 43.1 in June. When anything below the index baseline of 50 signifies a contraction to construction output, this latest fall indicates […]
Buyer Enquiries Increase Modestly For First Time Since 2016
After significant declines in the opening half of 2019, buyer enquires, and seller instructions increased in June. According to the most recent RICS Market Survey for June, respondents posted a positive number of buyer enquiries for the first time since November 2016. +10% of respondents witnessed a resurgence of buyer activity in the sector last […]
The Southall Stench: Developer facing Legal Action over Remediation
Residents are preparing a legal challenge to the remediation and redevelopment of a former gasworks in Southall, West London. After 2 years of petrol-like odours and numerous complaints to the council, developers and regulators, they want to stop the building work and are seeking compensation for injury. Southall Waterside is one of the most ambitious […]
LFS Shortlisted Firms for Young Conveyancer of the Year 2019
The Law Firm Services Conveyancing Conference and gala dinner with awards ceremony have become a leading conveyancing event in the UK, with its array of innovative ideas, exhibitors and speakers. The 2019 event, which is sponsored by Groundsure, brings together the conveyancing industry to celebrate its achievements in the last 12 months, will take place […]
Stakeholders Discuss Collaborative Improvements To New Build Sector
The new build sector responded to the call from tmgroup who wish to find a collaborative new dawn in the new build sector. It was refreshing to witness the sector’s stakeholders committed to discussing how vital cogs in the new build process could be oiled in order to transform the sector in the future. The […]
Expert Warns Passive Conveyancers Reluctant To Embrace Technological Changes
Technology plays a huge role in the modern home buying and selling process. The majority of home buyers now utilise online property portals in order to peruse available property and assess their options. From this initial starting point, the consumer is looking for similar new technologies to help make the process safe, efficient and quick. […]
Is Housing Dependent On Bank Of Mum And Dad?
‘The Bank of Mum and Dad’ (BOMAD) is set to become the 11th largest financial lender in the UK, highlighting its importance in the property market. There has been an increase in financial support from the BOMAD as older relatives offer loans worth a collective £6.3 billion to the younger generation. Research conducted by Legal […]
Failed Housing Transactions In 2019 Increase Marginally
Over a quarter of home sales fell through in the second quarter of 2019. According to a report from Quick Move Now, 25.49% of home moves fell through between March and June this year. Whilst this represents a 2.16% increase on the 23.33% property purchase fall through rate from the opening quarter of 2019, it […]
Search Acumen Report: Commercial Real Estate Volumes Grew By 20% Since 2016
Contrary to some doom-laden headlines we’ve been seeing in the last year, our new data-driven study found that the commercial real estate sector is healthy across England and Wales. In June 2019, we published our commercial real estate report examining the trends in transactions in non-residential properties in England and Wales using HM Land Registry’s […]
Search Acumen Comments On The Digitisation Of The Local Land Charges Register For Norwich City Council
Since 2016, there have been 7,765 property transactions in Norwich City Council valuing just over £1.9bn Of those, just over 85% (6,629) were residential property transactions, totalling around £1.43bn. Norwich has experienced 1,136 commercial real estate transactions since 2016, totalling £496m In 2018, the number of commercial property transactions in Norwich rose by close to […]
Student Spotlight – Agency Letting Fees: Banned
The story so far Over the past year the problems with letting fees have featured in the news one way or another and it’s only recently that the government has acted. It costs the average person over £200 in tenant fees to move house and that doesn’t even include the deposit they have to pay […]
Local Land Charges Register Facing Delays To Migrated Roll Outs
It has been a year since HM Land Registry (HMLR) launched their fully digital Local Land Charges register. One year on, how successful has the digital migration been? In July last year, HMLR hoped to have fully migrated twenty local authorities to the service. However, up to now only six are using the LLC system. […]
Interim Report Suggests Greater Public Input Into Planning Process
Local councils have been advised to redevelop retail parks into ‘mixed use’ communities and to also offer improved levels of public involvement in the planning process. Currently, many retail parks and large supermarkets were built specifically as retail units to house shops and restaurants. However, the ‘Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission’ interim report claims that […]
Search Acumen Comments On ONS Construction Figures
Andy Sommerville, Director of Search Acumen, comments: “We recently heard that house building has hit a ten-year low in London, but anxiety has spread beyond the capital as investors and developers are being forced to wait out the Brexit-fuelled uncertainty that’s swept the property development market. “The situation is unlikely to change any time soon, […]
SRA Report Claims Conveyancers Improving Complaints Handling Skills
Law firms are becoming increasing adept at successfully handling client complaints without the issue being passed onto the Legal Ombudsman (LeO). According to the ‘First Tier Complaints’ Report, published by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), complaints have increased by 5.8% since 2012. Eight years ago, 26,570 first-tier complaints were made to law firms. However, by […]
New Build Starts and Completions Plateau In Opening Quarter
New build housing, completed and started in the opening quarter of 2019, has decreased marginally. The figures, released by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, at the beginning of July cast a shadow of doubt over the Government’s ability to fulfil its promise of building 300,000 new homes per year by 2025. New […]
LFS Shortlisted Firms for Regional Conveyancing Firm of the Year 2019
The Law Firm Services Conveyancing Conference and gala dinner with awards ceremony have become a leading conveyancing event in the UK, with its array of innovative ideas, exhibitors and speakers. The 2019 event, which is sponsored by Groundsure, brings together the conveyancing industry to celebrate its achievements in the last 12 months, will take place […]
Prevention is Protection
Rowlinsons Solicitors based in Cheshire, is a law firm with a burgeoning Property Department who were one of the first to be awarded the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) accreditation in 2011. The firm has won numerous awards over the years owing to the excellent customer service that they deliver to their clients, most […]
Fraudsters Steal £67,000 From First-Time Buyer
Fraudsters successfully managed to steal £67,000 after hacking into emails between a first-time buyer and his solicitor. Howard Mollett, a charity worker, who was working in the US, encountered problems whilst trying to make a down payment on his property. He emailed his solicitors to make them aware of the problem, as he didn’t want […]
