April saw ‘surprise’ increase in mortgage approvals, Bank of England data reveals
The pipeline of future housing transactions remains resilient, with net mortgage approvals tracking above the latest six month average, according to the latest Bank of England Money and Credit Data for April 2026. Net mortgage approvals for house purchases increased to 65,900 in April, above an average of around 63,100 over the previous six months. […]
Grazing sheep not enough to convince FTT property was non-residential
A failed claim for Stamp Duty Land Tax exemption on part of a property on which sheep would graze has cost home owners nearly £50,000 after a first tier tribunal (FTT) ruled the use of the field was “intermittent” and the grazing counted as “maintenance”. Couple Ian Sinclair and Diana Chilvers bought the Grade II […]
Legal whistleblowers gain greater protection as SRA gets PIDA designation
Anyone reporting wrongdoing in the legal sector to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) now has greater protection against the risk of retaliatory action. The SRA has been designated a prescribed person under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA), giving anyone in the legal sector who acts as a whistleblower legal “protection from detriment”, such […]
Housebuilder who fraudulently transferred £250,000 of land to his partner sentenced
A Bradford housebuilder who cheated creditors by secretly transferring company land to his partner has been sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 12 months, at Leeds Crown Court. Ishfaq Hussain moved £250,000 of development land out of a failing company, transferring it to a newly formed company in the name of the mother […]
Why the next 18 months matter more than the next 18 years in conveyancing
Ed Molyneux argued last week that the agent-ready firm is a four-layer stack – data, skills, hooks and oversight – and that the biggest leverage point this quarter sits in the integration layer most firms have skipped. This week he sets out why the time pressure on building that stack is more urgent than the […]