Land registration: Practice guides
Charities: advice for applications sent to HM Land Registry (PG14) Page summary: Advice about applications to be sent to HM Land Registry to register transactions involving charities (practice guide 14). Change made: Section 1.3 has been amended to reflect the changes to sections 18(2)(b) and 18(3)(b) of the Charities Act 2022 following the end of […]
‘No relief’ from AML fines as SRA highlights £100,000 in penalties
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has said it will continue to ‘ratchet up the consequences’ of non-compliance with anti-money laundering regulations, as it released details of fines totalling almost £100,000 in the first two weeks of May. In a media briefing last week, the SRA’s chief executive Paul Philip acknowledged that non-compliance with AML rules ‘is […]
April lull in buyer demand is temporary and will bounce back, says Rightmove
A 4% drop in buyer demand reported in Rightmove’s April house price index is a ‘temporary lull’ that will bounce back in May, the property portal reports. Despite the fall, year-to-date buyer demand is 3% ahead of the same period last year, sales agreed are 4% up for the same period, and Rightmove says its […]
£4 million fine for ‘serious and intentional’ misuse of client funds
The owner and manager of former London-based law firm Kingly Solicitors has been fined over £4 million for ‘serious’ and ‘intentional’ misconduct in the largest penalty the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has ever issued. Nurul Miah, who is not a solicitor, was ordered to pay a financial penalty of £3,984,440, costs of £41,670 and banned […]
Stamp duty rush pushed conveyancing costs to ‘all-time high’ of £2,434
The cost of conveyancing increased by 11.9% between Q1 2024 and Q1 2025, ‘driven by competition for services and a rush to complete before the stamp duty changes’. An analysis of 59,000 conveyancing quotes by the home moving company reallymoving revealed an average cost of £2,434 for combined sale and purchase, including expenses and disbursements. […]
Material information guidance withdrawal – what next for conveyancers?
The withdrawal of the material information guidance published by National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT) appears to have taken much of the industry by surprise. Law Society of England and Wales vice president Mark Evans the withdrawal has left ‘consumers, conveyancers and estate agents in the dark’ and Sheila Kumar, chief executive […]
Climate Change Practice Note Published
The Law Society has published the Climate Change Practice note and accompanying Supplementary Technical Note outlining its expectations on property lawyers when it comes to providing advice on the impact of climate change on property transactions. The new practice note ‘complements’ existing guidance on flood risk and contaminated land says the Law Society and follows […]
What does the Climate Change Practice Note mean for conveyancers?
Following the publication of The Law Society Climate Change Risk Property Practice Note Today’s Conveyancer Podcast host David Opie speaks to former Groundsure CEO and now consultant to the market Dan Montagnani about what the Practice Note does, and critically, doesn’t include and what action property lawyers might take as a result. Building on the […]
Diary of a High Street Conveyancer – The benefit of picking up the phone
As conveyancing appears to become more adversarial with never ending queries and some abrupt emails from time to time, it is interesting when I speak with other conveyancers to find out that actually we are all quite a nice bunch! That one conveyancer who has been quite stroppy and does not like the replies to […]
Spring clean AML controls to ensure compliance with 2025 guidance
We all know that conveyancing is a known high-risk area for money laundering – criminals exploit property transactions, especially high-value or opaque deals, to wash illicit funds into the legitimate economy. Recent analysis underscores the urgency: the UK remains vulnerable to money laundering, particularly from illicit proceeds generated overseas. The National Crime Agency notes that […]
