Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023: Changes to the limitation period for planning enforcement
A significant change to the law effective today (Thursday 24th April) is poised to catch many property lawyers off guard. From today a much stricter approach to planning enforcement will be implemented, impacting property owners, developers, and (not to forget) property lawyers. In England (as opposed to Wales) under the new law, when there is an […]
Extension of Japanese Knotweed responsibilities ‘leaves vendors open to litigation’
The updated TA6 property information form, released by the Law Society in the past week, places a new onus on vendors to be clearer about the risks posed by the incursion onto the property of Japanese Knotweed, and failure to properly identify the risk could lead to more claims warns CLS Property Insight, who point […]
Scale of AML non-compliance forces SRA into action
Law firms have been warned they must do more to properly assess money laundering risk after a report last week identified 1/3 of firms are still not fully compliant with their obligations. The scale of non-compliance has forced the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) into issuing a warning notice to “remind the profession of its obligations […]
1 in 3 firms compliant with AML regime – SRA annual report
The latest Anti-Money Laundering (AML) annual report from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has been released, detailing the regulator’s stance and approach to AML regulation for law firms. In it, the SRA warns that it is increasing its focus to “ensure that all solicitors understand and meet the obligations of the financial sanction regime.” Over […]
Conveyancers warned of heightened fraud risk
Conveyancers and home movers have been warned about the increased risk of “Friday afternoon fraud” after data from UK Finance showed £22.5 million of bank transfer losses via the inter-bank Chaps system. The warning, which comes from the National Association of Property Buyers (NAPB), highlights the availability of an estimated 12.5m personal email account details […]
The low-down on effective AML Compliance
Regulation is on the rise and the sanctions landscape is constantly evolving, which can make avoiding complicity in international money laundering or criminal financing feel like a full time job. Law firms are, now more than ever, required to put the right policies and measures in place, and take the necessary steps to prevent money […]
Conveyancing Association Conference Agenda Confirmed
The agenda for the Conveyancing Association Conference 2023 has been confirmed. Hosted at the Leonardo Royal Hotel in the heart of the City of London on 7th February, the conference will discuss a range of topics affecting conveyancers in 2023 including regulation, digitisation and consolidation. Under the title, ‘Change is Coming’, the 2023 Conference will […]
15 years at the coalface of conveyancing searches
In the latest Today’s Conveyancer podcast David Opie is joined by Scott Reece. With a background in the installation of technology in medical practices, Scott (by his own admission) was somewhat of a novice when he and his wife joined the X-Press Legal Services network in 2007 in a complete change of scenery. Their franchise […]
Register of Overseas Entities – what does it mean for conveyancers?
The implementation of a Register of Overseas Entities (ROE) will help law firms tackle the opaque nature of foreign ownership and support efforts to tackle money laundering in the UK property market, says Mike Ward, Executive Chairman of Armalytix on the latest Today’s Conveyancer Podcast Effective today, 1st August, overseas entities are required to provide […]
Tech comparison index will enable conveyancers to benchmark against peers
Conveyancing firms will be able to compare their technology and digitisation against peers with the launch of the Digital Conveyancing Maturity Index by conveyancing technology platform provider InfoTrack. Claimed to be an industry first, the index will survey the digital conveyancing capabilities of law firms to understand how digitally advanced their processes are or are […]
The Ombudsman’s corner: 22nd July 2022
When I speak to service providers I often get asked to advise them on what their approach should be if, having received a complaint from a client, they find that things had gone wrong and they have to uphold the complaint. How should they then put things right? At the Legal Ombudsman our approach, when […]
SRA fining powers increased to £25,000 despite industry push-back
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) will be given new powers to fine rule-breakers up to £25,000, under measures introduced last week. The changes mean the SRA can now fine law firms and individual solicitors for a broader range of offences – from lower-level cases involving inadequate staff training to those with more serious consequences including […]
Money-laundering loopholes missed by property firms
Up to 70% of property firms surveyed for an anti-money laundering campaign have not changed their approach to onboarding new customers since sanctions were imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. The disturbing statistic is revealed in a comprehensive, cross-sector survey commissioned by SmartSearch, a UK provider of anti-money laundering (AML) software. The survey […]
Property sector AML registrations hits record high
Credas Technologies, the anti-money laundering checks provider, has revealed that a record number of AML checks were carried out during the first quarter of 2022 across the UK property industry, as the sector continued to wage war against those looking to exploit it for criminal gain. Internal data provided by Credas provides definitive proof that […]
AML horror stories from the front line
Brian Rogers is well known in the legal services sector as one of the founders of compliance software solution Riliance, and is now Regulatory Director at The Access Group. Having worked with law firms on a range of compliance issues for a number of years, Brian is well versed in the pitfalls and mistakes firms […]
AML within the property industry: why the two-tier approach?
Each year there are over 1.5 million homes listed for sale in the UK and the potential sellers of each all require anti-money laundering (AML) checks – often there’s more than one check per property in the case of joint ownership. Since June 2017, property buyers, at the point that an offer is accepted, are […]
Government’s intent to legislate on identity & legal sector response
The sad events in Ukraine have forced the government and the property industry to pay even more attention to where client money comes from and who their client is. This has had serious implications for the whole industry, not just for those exposed to foreign property transactions. Events in Ukraine forced the government to push […]
AML checks cost the property market £15.5m last year
Credas Technologies, an identity verification service, has revealed that there were an estimated 5.5m anti-money laundering (AML) and identity checks conducted across the UK property market over the last year, at a cost of £15.5m. AML and identity checks have been a legal requirement since April 2018, when the European Parliament passed the Fifth Money […]
Today’s Conveyancer Podcast – The Digital Identity Conundrum
In this episode of the Today’s Conveyancer Podcast, David Opie speaks with Stuart Young of MyIdentity about the work being done to improve the process of verifying the identity of home movers in the conveyancing process. The idea is to create a single verification of an individual’s identity which can then be used throughout the […]
Home Truths: Financial Crime in the Property Transaction
With criminals becoming ever more sophisticated, it’s critical that property professionals keep up to date to recognise the warning signs of fraud, understand new regulatory obligations and implement working practices that reduce their vulnerability to attack. To raise awareness within the industry, AML and digital ID specialist Thirdfort, is leading a panel discussion with experts […]
