Walker Foster – “Minerva is the perfect fit”
Walker Foster Solicitors, a law firm serving market towns and rural areas across the North of England for generations, is truly seeing the value in their investment of intelligent client onboarding technology developed by LFS. LFS developed Minerva in late 2019. Helping law firms ensure an exceptional customer experience, the technology provides quote management, ID […]
Rowlinsons raise over £3,000
Rowlinsons Solicitors successfully completed their annual charity challenge on the 18th June and have raised over £3000 for Chester-based charity SPACE. The “Ride, Row Run” challenge started with a 20-mile bike ride from the firm’s Runcorn office to the River Dee at Farndon Bridge. From there, the team rowed in tandem up the River Dee […]
Residential conveyancers must be proactive and realistic as challenges mount
Reflecting on the findings of “The New Normal” report – the latest research from tmgroup, mio and Conveyancing Data Services (CDS) – Rob Hailstone, Founder of Bold Legal Group, explains why it’s so critical residential conveyancers stay level-headed and look for opportunities in the face of current and emerging challenges. Interest rates and consumer confidence […]
Competitions watchdog investigate Dye & Durham again
The Australian competitions watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) have launched an investigation in to Dye & Durham’s acquisition of Link Administration Holdings, a 43% owner of e-conveyancing platform PEXA. In January 2022, Dye & Durham announced it had agreed to acquire Link for an estimated c$3.2bn. In a statement released on the […]
Sanctions breaches now a strict liability offence
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has updated its guidance on its approach to enforcement. This is partially to reflect changes in legislation brought in under the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022. These changes include: A new strict civil liability test for imposing monetary penalties Changes to the review of monetary penalties […]
House prices rise again, but market slowing amid “conveyancing log-jam”
The average price of property coming to market has hit yet another new record for a fifth consecutive month, rising by 0.3% (+£1,113) to £368,614, according to Rightmove’s latest House Price Index. This is the smallest increase since January, as the pace of price rises starts to slow. Despite five consecutive interest rate rises and […]
Race for space runs alongside a growing “crawl to small”
The race for space within the housing market is running alongside an increasing “crawl to small” wherein homeowners look to downside as opposed to upsize, new research has revealed. A survey of 2,000 people by Opinium for Hargreaves Lansdown in April 2022 found that people aged 18-24 are more likely to downsize than upsize, as […]
78% of sellers would pay conveyancer £2,000 or more
A recent survey has revealed that nearly three quarters (78%) of respondents would be willing to pay up to and above £2,000 to a conveyancer for the sale of a property. Users of LinkedIn were asked the following question by solicitor Shaun Jardine of Big Yellow Penguin (BYP): “What are you prepared to pay for […]
First-time buyers now accounting for 1 in 10 transactions
A study has revealed that despite house prices climbing to record highs, first-time buyers (FTB) still account for one in 10 of all property transactions across England. The research, conducted by Stipendium, analysed the latest data (20-21) on stamp duty receipts for residential property transactions at £40,000 or above and what proportion of these were […]
Lawyers and consumers wary of lawtech, research reveals
New research jointly commissioned by the Legal Services Board (LSB) and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) explores the attitudes of the public and solicitors towards using technology to deliver legal services. It showed that the public is generally willing to use technology that is well-established and familiar to them such as video consultations (66%), and e-signatures […]
Gove: Right to Buy will “seduce” – but funding not sorted
As the government floats its new policy to extend the Right to Buy to those living in properties owned by Housing Associations, Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, admitted the shortcomings of the proposed policy. Speaking to MPs, Gove admitted that there will be a cap on the number of […]
FCA: lenders should support consumers through cost of living crisis
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is today writing to more than 3,500 lenders to remind them of the standards they should meet as consumers across the country are affected by the rising cost of living. With household bills expected to continue to rise into the autumn, it is important that firms act now to make sure borrowers […]
Interest rates hit 1.25% as sharp rise continues
The monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Bank of England voted 6-3 to increase its base rate of interest by 0.25 percentage points to 1.25% on Thursday. This fifth consecutive interest rate rise means rates are now rising at the fastest level seen for 30 years. The Bank predicts that CPI inflation will be over […]
Diary of a high street conveyancer; 20th June 2022
I saw that enquiries were being discussed on forums again this week. I did read one article in which it said that the way to deal with this part of the back log is in technology – I am not sure how but I am not very “techy” so am open to being taught how […]
The conveyancer’s view: “I’ll swap you!”
The conveyancer’s view, 20th June 2022 After becoming Prime Minister in 1979, Margaret Thatcher introduced the policy in the Housing Act 1980. It allowed most council tenants to buy their council home at a discounted price (average of 44%). By 1987, over 1,000,000 council houses had been sold to tenants. Michael Heseltine is quoted as saying […]
The Legal Ombudsman: How to avoid client complaints
In this episode of the Today’s Conveyancer podcast David Opie is joined by Ombudsman at The Legal Ombudsman, Jason Chapman. The Legal Ombudsman was introduced in 2010, replacing the Legal Complaints Commission and in the course of discussion Jason reveals that conveyancing is one of the most complained about areas of law In total the […]
