House hijacking to be focus of new ITV drama
Our House, a new ITV drama which will air its first episode on Monday, 7th March, has a storyline centred around the crime of “house hijacking”, a situation wherein a homeowner is impersonated and has their house sold in their name, often having no knowledge of the sale occurring. That is the basis of the […]
SRA updates its guidance on Russia sanctions
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) have updated their guidance for firms and solicitors on making sure they are adhering to the Government’s sanctions on Russian nationals and organisations in light of the conflict in Ukraine. Along with the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC), the SRA published guidance for firms and solicitors in February to help […]
Bank of England considers dropping mortgage affordability test
The Financial Policy Committee (FPC) of the Bank of England has published its consultation on the proposal to withdraw the mortgage “affordability test”, which specifies a stress interest rate for lenders when assessing prospective borrowers’ ability to repay a mortgage. Its removal would contribute to allowing borrowers to take out bigger mortgages, something which could […]
New law will leave Russian property owners with “nowhere to hide”
Foreign owners of UK property will be forced to declare their identities rather than hiding the true ownership of the property behind the façade of a shell company, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday. This is the latest government move against Russia following their invasion of Ukraine. It is designed to tackle the Russian […]
Transaction times up 47% in last 15 years
“Innovation has simply failed to keep pace with demand” – new data from Landmark Information Group shows that the completion time on the purchase of a new home now takes over a month longer than it did 15 years ago. In 2007, the average transaction for UK homebuyers took 83 days from instruction to completion. […]
8 days to go…
There are just 8 days to go until The British Conveyancing Awards 2022, sponsored by Dye & Durham. Voting for the two final categories has now closed with over 2500 votes cast. Both the Today’s Conveyancer Industry Champion, sponsored by Move Reports, and Conveyancing Firm of the Year – National, sponsored by Groundsure, have seen […]
HMRC told a “fundamental review” of SDLT is needed
In November 2021, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) published its consultation on reforming stamp duty land tax (SDLT). The consultation highlighted issues with SDLT which, along with the planned changes, have caused The Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAEW) to call for a “fundamental review” of the code, with The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) also […]
DWSN and the Law Society celebrate the 20th anniversary of the residential CON29DW
Twenty years of providing peace of mind: DWSN and the Law Society celebrate the 20th anniversary of the residential CON29DW. The Drainage and Water Searches Network (DWSN) is a membership organisation for companies who are responsible for producing full and complete search reports in response to the Law Society’s CON29DW Residential and CON29DW Commercial Searches. […]
The Perfect Legal Business
In this latest Today’s Conveyancer podcast David Opie is joined by Simon McCrum, ex-Managing Partner of Darbys prior to it’s sale to Knights in 2016 and now a consultant for law firms. Simon brings his own experience running departments and law firms to his consultancy McCrum and Co. Through working with law firms he encourages […]
