Government Reservation Agreement Trial Delayed
Government housing officers have delayed the proposed reservation agreement trials until late Spring. The government had announced that a trial into reservation agreements was set to take place in the first quarter of 2020. However, whilst the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) await responses from consultants on the issue, the trial has […]
Use Of Help To Buy Increases In 2019
Help to Buy purchases made using an Equity Loan reached record highs in the year to September 2019. 52,703 Help to Buy homes were purchased using an equity loan in the year to September, a rise of 4.6 per cent on the 50,402 completions in the year to September 2018. Whilst 81 per cent of […]
Lords Critical Of Government’s Housing Targets
The House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee has criticised the government’s housing targets, branding them ‘unrealistic.’ The government’s target of releasing land to build the equivalent of 160,000 homes was deemed an ‘aspirational’ target by the committee who had found actual numbers of released land to be around 100,000 units short of the target. […]
Webinar: Protecting Your Law Firm From Phishing Attacks
Is your law firm prepared for the incessant bombardment of phishing attempts? Today’s Training’s inaugural webinar on understanding the threat of email-based attacks could help prevent your law firm from falling foul of cyber criminals. The legal sector is a prime target for unscrupulous cyber criminals. Lured in by the abundance of sensitive data and […]
CMA Preparing Legal Enforcement Action Against Leasehold Developers
The Competition Markets Authority (CMA) are set to ‘launch enforcement action’ against house builders and developers who mis-sold leasehold properties, trapping buyers in unfair contracts and unattractive or unsaleable properties. Based on the evidence uncovered, the CMA are now completing the necessary legal preparations before committing to legal enforcement procedures against developers it feels have […]
Government Urged To Address Housing Energy Efficiency
A leading group of construction industry bodies has urged the government to ensure that legislation is in place to address the environmental impact of the current housing stock so that it meets sustainability goals. The group, including Builders Merchants Federation, Federation of Master Builders and Building Alliance, highlighted the fact that current housing stock is […]
Landmark Legal co-founds Conveyancing Information Executive
Landmark Legal, the property, land and environmental data specialist, has today announced its role as one of the founding members of a brand new trade body for the property search industry; The Conveyancing Information Executive (CIE). Having announced its intention to withdraw membership from the Council of Property Search Organisations in 2019 to establish a […]
Conveyancing Information Executive Launches
A new trade body designed to raise data quality and content standards in property searches used in the conveyancing process has officially launched. The Conveyancing Information Executive (CIE), founded by Groundsure, Landmark Legal, SearchFlow and Geodesys, has released a new set of Standards and Code of Practice to maintain and improve the quality of information […]
Conveyancing Search Provider Urges Caution Over Flood Plain New Builds
According to information from the Environment Agency, there are currently 5.9 million properties at risk of flooding in the UK, equating to one in six homes – an increase of 400,000 properties since 2013. Put into monetary figures, the statistics are even more startling, with the effects of flooding and managing flood risk costing the […]
January Property Sector Boasts A Third More Buyers
Spring is on the horizon and house hunters are awakening from their winter hibernation with almost a third more prospective buyers flooding the property market. The number of potential buyers registered per estate agency branch has increased by 29 per cent between January 2019 and January 2020, rising from 297 house hunters per branch to […]
Digital Remortgaged Deeds Surpass 7,000
The 7,000th remortgage deed was signed and registered digitally at the start of February. In October 2019, HM Land Registry (HMLR) announced the signing of the 1,000th digital remortgage. However, since this time conveyancers and lenders alike are increasingly looking to embrace digital remortgaging options. The speed and growth of the technology has prompted HMLR […]
Expert Warns Government About Future Flood-Prone Developments
The Environment Agency Chief Executive has urged the government to only approve developments on high-risk flood plains when there is ‘no real alternative’. In a speech at the World Water-Tech Innovation Summit, the Environment Agency claimed it was unrealistic to impose a total ban on all developments in high-risk flood plains but believed developers and […]
‘Big Thinking’ Housing Spring Budget Required
The government’s pledge to build 1 million new homes over the next five years has been accused of lacking ambition. The Intermediary Lenders Association (IMLA) has released a set of suggested priorities the government should consider in order to deliver a ‘big thinking’ Spring Budget which would help fix the ‘broken housing market’. IMLA referred […]
Capital Gains Tax – Beware The Transition Period
Christopher McNeill says: beware the transition period at the end of the tax year in which both reporting systems might apply to the sale of residential property. After 5 April 2020, any CGT due must be paid and reported within 30 days of the disposal of residential property being completed using the new online “real-time” […]
New Homes Ombudsman To End Shoddy Developments
The government are ploughing ahead with plans to introduce a New Homes Ombudsman. The government statement claimed the Housing Secretary is set to ‘clamp down on shoddy housebuilders’ by offering the new independent ombudsman increased powers to protect homeowners. Following concerns about redress and the time it takes developers to rectify issues if homeowners of […]
Housing Sector Crisis Solved By 2035
Estimates suggest that the current housing crisis gap will not be closed until 2035, based on the current speed of new build completions. The BBC has produced a briefing paper on the state of the housing sector, claiming that the current crisis is set to take 15 years to solve, and that is if the […]
January Mortgage Approvals Fall Slightly
First-time buyer activity increased in January whilst mortgage approvals fell slightly in the opening month of 2020. Small deposit borrowers, usually made up of FTBs gaining their first rung on the ladder by acquiring lower priced property, increased from 25.5 per cent in December to 26.7 per cent in January. This key demographic had 17,623 […]
500,000 Trapped In Unsafe Homes
Over half a million people could still be living in unsafe buildings clad in flammable materials. The analysis of apartment buildings by The Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA), found that the number of apartment blocks that had previously passed building control, are now housing more than 500,000 people. As more dangerous materials are added […]
Land For A Million Homes Unused Despite Planning Permission
Data indicates that land for over a million homes remains dormant and unused despite being granted planning permission over the past ten years. Having researched government data relating the number of planning permissions granted for new homes since 2009/10, the Local Government Association (LGA) found that only 1,530,680 of the 2,564,600 units had been completed […]
Increased January Transactions Indicate Continued Recovery
The UK’s housing market recovery continued in January with HM Revenue and Customs data highlighting significant transnational increases at the start of the calendar year. The 102,810 residential seasonally adjusted transactions in January 2020 appear to be 5.2 per cent higher than a year ago and have increased by 4.1 per cent in the past […]