Conveyancing community share ‘strange’ enquiries
Professionals in the conveyancing community have taken to social media to share some of the amusing enquiries they have received from a client’s solicitor as part of the conveyancing process. Hannah Dowling, took to LinkedIn to share one of the stranger enquiries that she has received. Her post read: “We note from the Memorandum of […]
Conveyancers advised excessive letters is causing homebuying delays
Conveyancers have been warned by the UK’s biggest mortgage lenders that continually sending needless correspondence will interrupt the home buying and selling process for their clients. They advised conveyancers that it could have been avoided by simply checking the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook first before sending out unnecessary letters to them. In the Law […]
SDLT Holiday; where do we go from here?
One thing that is for certain is that the SDLT holiday has vastly increased the number of residential property matters that we are currently dealing with. On reflection, and looking at our own statistics from the weeks following the initial relaxation of the governments lockdown measures, was such a SDLT holiday required so soon? Maybe […]
Price transparency review reveals solicitors are more affordable
A one-year review of Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) transparency reforms indicates encouraging trends as research found most consumers now believe that solicitors are not as expensive as they originally thought. The regulator surveyed 3,539 recent users of legal services and found that only 10% of consumers, who now have access to information on price, believe […]
Conveyancing bodies unite to manage homebuyers expectations
Overheated property market causing delays in the homebuying process. The Society of Licensed Conveyancers (SLC), the Bold Legal Group (BLG) and the Conveyancing Association (CA) have come together in a concerted effort to manage the expectations of those currently engaged in the home buying and selling process. A variety of factors are currently contributing to […]
OLC appoint new Chief Ombudsman and Chief Operating Officer
The Office for Legal Complaints is pleased to announce the appointments of Paul McFadden as Chief Ombudsman and Sandra Strinati as Chief Operating Officer of the Legal Ombudsman. Elisabeth Davies, Chair of OLC, said: “Paul and Sandra are joining the Legal Ombudsman at a critically important time, for staff and customers, and for recovering and […]
Conveyancing Scheme blocks entry to non-solicitor law firms
The Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS), a recognised quality standard for residential conveyancing practices, has been described as a “market barrier” by The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx). CILEx have told the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that it blocks entry to non-solicitor law firms and said it was “at least questionable” whether […]
Should SDLT be scrapped? Holiday showing positive results
Research commissioned by estate agency Benham and Reeves, has revealed that 20,238 property transactions have been made since the announcement of the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) holiday by Chancellor Rishi Sunak. Of the 20,238 transactions, 85% were below the £500,000 SDLT threshold, and have a sold value of £6.7bn. Without the holiday, based on […]
Conveyancing Information Executive gains a significant Associate Member
The Conveyancing Information Executive (CIE) is pleased to announce that PinPoint Information has become an Associate Member of the trade body organisation. PinPoint Information is an established market-leading supplier of due diligence reports to property professionals. Its portfolio includes PinPoint Coal mining searches and PinPoint Chancel, which is a chancel repair liability search report. The […]
Do not penalise solicitors because of financial crime
Plans to hit the legal profession with a levy, when they are already devoting resources to preventing the system from being abused by money launderers, have prompted solicitors’ leaders to warn of an unjustified negative impact on the sector. In particular, the Law Society of England and Wales warned in its response to a government […]
CoPSO urges Conveyancers to order searches as early as possible
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) has today urged all conveyancers to work closely with their search provider to avoid any unnecessary delays in processing purchase transactions. With lead times to access data at many local authorities increasing by the day, the importance of ordering searches in a very timely fashion cannot be overstated. […]
CMA review: CILEx calls for regulatory change
The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) has called for changes to the legal regulatory framework to accommodate the growth of emerging lawtech solutions and the increasing use of remotely accessed legal services. It says that the impact of Covid-19 has accelerated consumer demand, particularly in private client and conveyancing work. This is set to […]
Bold Legal Group respond to proposed Conveyancing Standards Bill
The reported “Conveyancing Standards Bill,” a Private Member’s proposal brought before Parliament by MP for Dudley North, Marco Longhi, has prompted a lively response from Bold Legal Group Members. The proposed Bill, which according to Mr Longhi would aim to: “Protect people who wish to buy a house, sometimes their first home, from being exposed […]
Three tier Covid restrictions system announced by PM
Boris Johnson has addressed both Parliament and the nation today as he’s outlined his latest measures in a bid to simplify and standardize the rules regarding the Coronavirus restrictions implemented in England. The cases of coronavirus has quadrupled in the past four weeks, and the Prime Minister wants to do all he can to protect […]
Conveyancing vacancies exceed 900
Since the re-opening of the property market in May, no-one could have predicted the way the housing market exploded, with demand rising at an exponential pace. Pent-up demand and the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) holiday were said to be the main contributing factors as all areas of the housing transaction pipeline came under strain […]
Tackling the Digital Identity Challenge
A new group aimed at tackling Digital Identity has been formed to address the need for an industry wide approach to the question of an assured digital identity verification. The Digital Identity Group, met for the first on the 1st October. The meeting, chaired by Stuart Young from Etive set the objectives: “Digital identity was […]
Latest updates for conveyancers on Local Authority turnaround times
The largest local search data company in the UK, OneSearch Direct, keeps conveyancers abreast of Local Authority turnaround times. Following the opening of the property market back in May, the pent-up demand and Stamp Duty Land Tax Holiday caused a huge strain on the sector, causing increasing delays at various points in the buying and […]
Pandemic impacts on conveyancers’ mental health
Today’s Conveyancer wanted to mark and recognise World Mental Health Day today (10th October) to raise awareness of the importance of good mental health and well-being in the conveyancing sector and legal industry as a whole. Mental health has been endemic in the legal profession for some time, and the well-being of practitioners is especially […]
SRA disclose a flurry of email scam alerts in days
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) have issued eight separate email scam alerts impersonating law firms in a matter of days. All eight scams were reported on 5th, 6th and 7th October where emails had been falsely claiming to be from a law firm or an individual working for the business – with four of them […]
HMLR discuss the developing use of eSignatures
Adopting technology and taking the leap has always seemed to be a tricky thing to implement in the legal sector, especially in conveyancing. Since July 2020, HM Land Registry (HMLR) started to accepting electronic signatures on conveyancing deeds, removing the last strict requirement for paper and wet-ink signatures in the conveyancing process. Naturally with the […]