The new normal
The festivities are over for another year. Now it’s time to tidy up. The wrapping paper is in the recycling bin, the wine bottles in the glass banks and we have just spent an hour hoovering up all the pine needles from the tree. Well we will probably still be finding those in the summer! […]
Solicitor struck off after failing to pay nearly £5 million into client accounts
A solicitor has been struck off after receiving nearly £5 million from an investment fund in “improper” circumstances and failing to pay it into client accounts as part of “multiple findings of dishonesty”. The funds related to conveyancing transactions, personal injury cases and industrial hearing cases amongst others. Richard Anthony Barnett of Barnetts Solicitors was […]
Mortgage approvals steady into November
Lending for house purchase remained steady into November with the number of approvals 3% above the average over the last six months. According to the Bank of England, the number of loan approvals for house purchase was 70,410 in November, compared to the average of 68,428 over the previous six months. The number of approvals […]
Landlords to mount legal challenge over Buy to Let tax changes
Two Buy to Let landlords have raised more than £50,000 in a bid to hold a judicial review over Buy to Let tax changes. Private Landlords Chris Cooper and Steve Bolton launched a crowdfunding drive on 26th December and have so far raised £50,041. This Monday they announced they had sent a legal briefing document to […]
Government to directly commission 13,000 homes
The Prime Minister has announced plans to directly commission 13,000 new homes to be built on publicly owned sites. The houses will be built by small and medium-sized house builders on five sites in Dover, Cambridgeshire, Chichester, Gosport and north-west London. 40% of those built will be so called “starter” homes – homes that can […]
Ten buyers for each property
Sales to FTBs fell by 10% The number of house-hunters registered per branch rose by 20% as the supply of housing available to buy fell in November NAEA releases November Housing Market Report Supply dipped and demand grew, as number of sales made to first time buyers (FTBs) fell in November, reveals the National Association […]
The ins and outs (Conveyancer Slater – Tweet of the Week)
Barn purchase has entered the entertaining part of the conveyancing process. Storm Frank’s hurling itself about outside, mild vertigo inside — Susan Murray (@pulpthorn) December 30, 2015
Successor practice rules – “marry in haste; repent at leisure”
There can be few law firms of any size who, over the fifteen years of the open insurance market, haven’t considered a merger or acquisition. Organic growth can be elusive in a fluctuating economy, and joining hands with a local competitor can result in a new force stronger than the sum of its parts. The […]
House prices up 5.6% for year in England and Wales, but volumes fall
House prices continued to rise into November with prices up 0.4% since October 2015, and 5.6% since November 2014. The rise takes the average house price to £186,325. The information from Land Registry also shows that despite growth in prices, volumes have fallen with the latest data for September showing a decrease of 8% year […]
Britain’s housing stock worth £7.76 trillion at the end of 2015
Britain’s 28.6 million homes grew in value by nearly £1.4 billion per day during 2015 Brentford and West Drayton are areas with largest increases in 2015 (24% and 17% respectively) But Wales is the region with the lowest price gains over the past 12 months, at 2.2% Edinburgh, Bristol and Glasgow amongst top online property […]
Jonathan Smithers, Michael Day and Land Registry's Graham Farrant predict for 2016
With the New Year almost upon us here are predictions for the conveyancing market from the President of the Law Society Jonathan Smithers, Michael Day, Managing Director at Integra Property Services and traceWise, and Land Registry’s Chief Executive and Chief Land Registrar, Graham Farrant. President of the Law Society, Jonathan Smithers, said: “The Chancellor’s recent […]
OneSearch Direct puts 3.5 million searches on the horizon for 2016
OneSearch Direct, the UK’s largest local search data company, is celebrating a successful 2015 with the news that they have processed over 3.4 million searches since its inception in 1992. Searches include Regulated Local, Drainage and Water, Ancillary, and even Official Council searches obtained via the OneSearch Direct ordering platform. It has been an exceptional […]
Interview with Angelo Piccirillo, partner at AVRillo
Angelo Piccirillo is partner and co-founder of AVRillo, which has enjoyed an award winning year. Jane Common at Today’s Conveyancer asked Angelo what the accolades means to AVRillo – and how he plans to keep winning them… What’s your background Angelo: how did you get into in conveyancing? “Well, I’m one of three brothers and […]
Victorian dust-yards: an early example of recycling in the UK
Whilst most people regard recycling as a recent phenomenon, it has been practiced in many forms for centuries. A number of studies have identified large scale recycling systems arising from the 19th-century Sanitary Movement.2 However, in London, an often overlooked but very effective and well-organised system appears to date back much earlier to the end […]
Home.co.uk predict low price growth for Wales, North East and Yorks as East & South East race ahead
House prices are set to rise by an average of 9% in 2016 across England and Wales according to Home.co.uk. The predicted acceleration in price growth (prices grew 8% in 2015) is being put down to a further restriction in supply. Across the UK however price growth in Wales, Yorkshire and the North East are […]
Letting agents pessimistic over Buy to Let changes
Four in ten letting agents are predicting rental stock supply will fall over the next five years – the highest propertion of agents to predict so this year, according to the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA). According to the report fewer agents are reporting rent increases, 23% for November, the lowest proportion this year, […]
Residential transactions drop 5.7% but strong end-of-year continues
Residential property transactions have dropped 5.7% month-to-month according to the latest information published by HMRC. The provisional seasonally adjusted UK property transaction count for November 2015 was 101,960 residential and 8,970 non-residential transactions. The seasonally adjusted estimate of the number of residential property transactions decreased by 5.7% between October 2015 and November 2015. However this […]
Marsh & Parsons's Peter Rollings predicts a "flood" of home buyers ahead of rates rise
Peter Rollings, CEO at London-based estate agents Marsh & Parsons, is predicting a “flood” of home buyers in the New Year ahead of an increase in interest rates. Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney, had hinted that UK interest rates could rise in the first quarter of the year however that expected rise from its […]
Land Registry to change dispute resolutions process from January
Land Registry have announced measures to end “long running, unresolved disputes.” They now say any unresolved dispute between an applicant and objector must be passed to a First-tier Tribunal after six months if an agreement can’t be reached. The new policy will come into force from the beginning of 2016. The announcement reads: “From January […]
SearchFlow launches the most comprehensive mapping system with land registry’s latest dataset
Conveyancing search provider, SearchFlow has upgraded its online mapping system and ordering platform to incorporate Land Registry’s latest release of boundary data on freehold and leasehold properties. The latest datasets on property boundaries are being phased into SearchFlow’s auto mapping service, following the Land Registry releasing its national polygon datasets showing the boundaries of 14 […]