Webinar: Maximising Your Conveyancing Enquiries
Ever wonder what your customers really experience when they contact your offices? The way a member of your team answers and subsequently handles a phone call can make or break a relationship with your prospective client. In a busy conveyancing office, it might be forgiven if the odd phone call goes to voicemail. But firms […]
Conveyancing Market Suffers Worst Conditions Since 2009
The conveyancing sector suffered its worse quarterly performance since 2009 in the final quarter of 2019. According to Search Acumen’s ‘Conveyancing Market Tracker’, the 226,444 quarterly transactions between October and December represented the lowest levels since 2009. The figures also indicated a 15 per cent fall on the 267,438 final quarter transactions from 2018 and […]
Building Blunder For 34% Of Local Authorities
Over a third of UK local authorities failed to reach their housing delivery targets in 2019. In total, 34% of local authorities fell short of meeting their housing targets for 2019 with some struggling to get anywhere near, according to the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government’s ‘Housing Delivery Targets 2019’ data set. Of […]
Conveyancing Market Nose-Dives In Q4
Coveyancing Market Nose-Dives in Q4 As Policitcal Uncertainty Quashes Transaction Volumes And Active Firms Search Acumen Conveyancing Market Tracker – Q4 2019 edition Quarterly transactions down by 8% in Q4 to the lowest level since Q2 2017 Number of active firms now at 3,920 – a record low and 5% down in the last 12 […]
March Budget Should Address Property Tax
The Spring budget needs to consider stamp duty and address the tax placed on additional dwellings according to a number of property experts. The Spring budget is still just around the corner despite the recent resignation of Sajid Javid as Chancellor and the appointment of his successor, Rishi Sunak. The new Chancellor confirmed that the […]
Help To Buy Vulnerable To Negative Equity
A financial services regulator has warned that Help To Buy users are extremely vulnerable to changing economic conditions and negative equity. Up to June 2019, 236,313 properties were bought with a Help to Buy Equity Loan. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) claim that 211,000 consumers had used Help to Buy to purchase their home by […]
Local Land Charges Awards for Excellence 2020 Finalists Revealed!
Land Data, the National Land Information Service (NLIS) regulator, is delighted to reveal the shortlist of finalists for their upcoming 2020 Land Data Local Land Charges Awards for Excellence. After weeks of deliberation involving judges from HMLR, the Law Society, The Coal Authority, the Local Land Charges Institute, NLIS and Land Data, the shortlist is […]
Conveyancing Sector Enters Price Comparison Market
MoneySuperMarket are set to launch a price and service comparison for the conveyancing sector. Optimus, the conveyancing panel management business for mortgage brokers, recently announced the collaboration with the price comparison giants. The partnership will allow MoneySuperMarket access to the panel management service which will enable consumers to view the best rated conveyancers and property […]
Government Tax Changes Contradict Housing Plans
Two authoritative organisations in the privately rented sector (PRS) have released a joint statement calling on the government to use the next budget to overhaul the current tax system which ‘contradicts policy objectives’ on housing. The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) and National Landlords Association (NLA) are pleading with the government to consider relinquishing the perceived […]
Government Urged To Consider Commonhold
The Government have been urged to make commonhold ownership compulsory on all new-build flats. The Leasehold Solutions Group claim the current leasehold system is damaging to leasehold property owners and their suggested changes will ‘eradicate leasehold ownership within 50 years.’ Onerous leasehold conditions and onerous ground rents have dominated the property sector in recent years, […]
Mortgages And Remortgages Increase In December
The mortgage market improved again in December as the market responded to political certainty following the General Election. The 29,490 new buyer mortgages completed in December represented a marginal 0.3% rise in completions from the same month a year earlier, according to UK Finance’s ‘Mortgage Trend’ report. More homemovers felt confident enough to take a […]
Cladding Nightmare Causes Reducing Saleable Housing Stock
Up to 200,000 homes have been left unsaleable because of unsafe cladding. As the Government scramble to rectify the cladding nightmare enveloping the nation, homeowners have been left stranded in their dangerous homes as stakeholders in the property sector argue over who should take accountability and responsibility for the issue. The latest release from the […]
Conveyancing Heavyweights Set To Merge
Two major high street conveyancing providers are exploring a potential merger, according to the Gazette. Sources close to the legal publication believe McMillan Williams and Taylor Rose TTKW are considering joining forces to create ‘a conveyancing powerhouse.’ It is thought negotiations started over the weekend and are likely to be ongoing all week. The deal […]
Technology Gets Buyers To Exchange Of Contracts In Just 7 Days!
Tech innovator Yourkeys has partnered with MBU Capital, Dezrez Legal and case management platform provider, Convey Choice, to make history in the sale of new build homes. This partnership has accelerated the conveyancing process to regularly achieve exchange of contracts in just 7 days, for MBU’s Park Place Development in Stevenage. Yourkeys hit the headlines […]
Housing Stock Returns As Confidence Improves
New instructions, housing supply, buyer enquiries and agreed sales all increased in January as the UK enjoys a post-Brexit boom in activity. Despite supply falling to historically low levels at the end of 2019, with fewer than 43 properties per estate agency branch, the RICS UK Residential Survey for January suggests that new instructions are […]
Law Society Remind Firms Of Solicitor Indemnity Fund Closure
The Law Society has reminded the legal sector that the Solicitors Indemnity Fund (SIF) will close to new claims from 30 September 2020. The fund, which currently provides ongoing professional indemnity insurance (PII) to closed firms from the end of their mandatory six-year run off period, will no longer cover firms which closed after 30 […]
Ex Solicitor Found Guilty Of Forgery And Fraud
Having been struck off the roll of solicitors last year for misconduct spanning over five years, Martin Burnett has now pleaded guilty to allegations of forgery and fraud. The offences were committed in May 2011 and relate to a conveyancing transaction he was instructed to carry out. In 2007, a Cumbrian couple, Barbara and Lawrence […]
Estate Agents Struggle With AML Compliance
Over 66% of UK estate agents are failing to comply with HM Revenue and Custom’s (HMRC) anti-money laundering (AML) expectations or the EU’s fifth anti-money laundering directive (5AMLD). According to recent findings by conveyancing firm iamproperty, estate agents are struggling to adequately understand their obligations when it comes to cracking down on money laundering in […]
Warnings For Landlords Who May Fall Victim To Tax Overhauls
Warnings have been issued by a tax specialist to homeowners who rent out their second property. Gary Priest, a partner at MFG Solicitors, has warned that property owners must prepare ahead of a ‘game-changing’ second property tax. From April, the Government’s overhaul of the Private Residential Relief may mean that many who own more than […]
CLC Consults On New Guidance On Client Funds And Aged Balances
Draft guidance on how firms regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) can use third-party managed accounts (TPMAs) – instead of holding client money themselves – has been published today by the regulator. The CLC is consulting on proposed guidance which follows forthcoming revisions to the CLC’s Accounts Code. The guidance is for the […]