115,000 Housing Delays Per Year Cost £15 Million
For many, following a long and exhausting buying process, moving into your house is a landmark occasion indicating the next chapter in your life. However, for too many of us, the day itself turns into a litany of delays and additional costs. Staggeringly, according to the study conducted by YouGov on behalf of HomeOwners Alliance […]
Property Hijacker Stopped And Jailed
A dishonest daughter turned ‘property hijacker’ has been jailed for three years following the attempted sale of her father’s home whilst he was in a care home and his wife was abroad caring for a sick relative. HM Land Registry have reported an astronomical rise in Friday Fraudsters and Property Hijackers over the past five […]
Public Apathetic To Importance Of Remortgaging
A new report has highlighted consumer confusion or apathy regarding remortgaging their property in order to find a cheaper deal. Which? Mortgage Advisers’ report has found that those on a Standard Variable Rate (SVR) mortgage could be paying over £350 per month extra on their current mortgage deals. This will be an excess of over […]
SearchFlow wins Gold and Silver at the Customer Experience Awards
SearchFlow, the UK’s leading conveyancing search solutions provider, has won two national awards at this year’s prestigious UK Customer Experience Awards (CXA). The first award was in the UK’s ‘Best Contact Centre Small – Customer Satisfaction’ category, where the team scooped the first place Gold award. It was also presented with a Silver award for […]
Final Call To Slow Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have delivered their starkest warning yet that we must make fundamental changes to how we live right now, or else the effects of potentially catastrophic warming cannot be undone. The report says that the world is now completely off track, heading instead towards an average temperature rise of 3C, […]
Family Lenders Become Financially Savvy
In 2018 more people are reliant on close family and friends to help fund their property purchases. In fact 27%, up from 25% in 2017, of UK purchases were funded by friends and family with a value of over £5.7 billion. When this sector of housing lenders is becoming so strong, it is not surprising […]
IMLA Concerned Over Potential Help To Buy Changes
The Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA) have warned that withdrawing the Help to Buy scheme could destabilise the first time buyer lending levels that have recovered to pre-financial crisis levels. IMLA, that represents 43 banks, building societies and specialist lenders, has advised the government to provide clarity on HTB and the Equity Loan Scheme to […]
Revealed: The New Groundsure Reports That Will Revolutionise Commercial Property Transactions
Groundsure is delighted to reveal that following an extensive programme of customer-led product and market research, the redesigned and enhanced Review and Screening commercial search reports are now available. Groundsure – Expert geo-risk analysis and transaction-led advisory Groundsure Review The Groundsure Review is not just data – the report’s value rests on unrivalled data analysis […]
Government To Cap Leasehold Ground Rent
Communities Secretary, James Brockenshire, is set to announce plans to significantly reduce and then cap ground rents on all new build properties. According to a government statement released on Sunday, the Government will begin a consultation into proposals that were made yesterday. The Government are to cap ground rent at £10 a year in the […]
SRA Continues To Ensure Solicitor Honesty
The SRA are attempting to ensure the honesty and integrity of law firms and their representatives in order to provide a more transparent system for consumers. In the space of two days, the SRA have also made their intentions, concerning dishonest solicitors, very clear by invoking the use of section 43 orders. The section 43 […]
Lords Debate Tenants Fees Bill
The Tenants Fees Bill has taken a step closer to becoming law this week following the second reading in the House of Lords. Having already completed the process, including committee and report stage amendments, in the House of Commons earlier this year, the House of Lords are repeating the process before the Bill will become […]
Corporate Bodies Own More Than 3,000 Square Metres Of Land For Every Household In England And Wales
Land holdings amount to three five-a-side football pitches or 12 tennis courts for every household across England and Wales South East has the largest area of land owned by domestic corporate and commercial entities – nearly a fifth (19%) of the total across England and Wales Highest concentration is in the North East, where corporate […]
SearchFlow Appoints Tracy Burtwell As Sales Director
SearchFlow, the UK’s leading conveyancing search solutions provider, has today announced the appointment of Tracy Burtwell as Sales Director. Tracy joins the business with twenty years senior sales experience, including board-level responsibilities with Linde Materials Handling, Briggs Equipment and Viridor, which is one of the UK’s leading recycling, renewable energy and waste management companies. Based […]
RICS Reports Weakening Housing Market
The September report by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has indicated that the housing market is struggling in many key areas. When looking at buyer demand, headline enquiries declined for the second consecutive month. Enquiries in August dropped by 9% and September, despite the usual pre-emptive Christmas boom, has dipped to minus 11%, […]
National Construction Output Increases
The Office of National Statistics (ONS) has revealed that construction has increased by 1.5% in the last three months. Overall, there has been a 0.3% gain in national construction output compared with last year and 2.9% more output in comparison to the last three months. Significantly, construction of new builds has continued to rise with […]
Help To Buy Could Be The Next PPI Scandal
A new report carried out by home move company Reallymoving.com has speculated that the Help to Buy scheme could become a similar scandal to PPI. The claim follows the report’s key findings that those using the Help to Buy scheme pay 8% more for a similar property than those that did not use the scheme. […]
Helping Clients Make Better Informed Choices
Last week the Council for Licensed Conveyancers published details of the new Informed Choice Rules along with implementation guidance for the firms they regulate. The new rules are the CLC’s way of meeting the CMA’s (Competition and Markets Authority) recommendations for greater transparency around quality, service and price in the legal services market. The recommendations […]
AI Auctioneer Conducts World’s First House Sale
The property market took another step into modernity this week with the first property sale conducted by Artificial Intelligence. Artificial Intelligence auctioneering company clicktopurchase® simulates the traditional property auction but uses an online medium to facilitate the sale. It is thought the AI auctioneer, named gAbl, will eliminate the problematic element of a human error; […]
Proposals Could Help Generation Rent
Following the Conservative party conference, rumours have been circulating regarding the government’s plans to help ease the housing crisis. As the Autumn Budget approaches, fresh concerns of how the government could tackle the increasing reliance on private rental properties has emerged. The conservatively minded think tank, Onward, suggests that making rental properties exempt from Capital […]
Cheapest Homes Too Expensive For Most Young People
A new report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) has found that the majority of the cheapest homes are too expensive for 40% of young adults in the UK. Attributed to a meteoric rise in house prices and wages increasing lower than the rate of inflation over recent years, the gap between salary and […]