The SRA and PII – Consulting Adults?
Back in May this year, on the same day as one Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) consultation was concluded without action, another four consultations were announced. Whilst the withdrawn (for now) proposal to ban unrated insurers from the solicitor Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) market would undoubtedly have made life more difficult for some (if not, many) […]
QualitySolicitors to acquire stake in Move with Us
Palamon Capital Partners, the owner of QualitySolicitors, have attained a controlling stake in the company of probate specialists – Simplify legal. The Simplify Group is currently comprised of probate specialists Chorus Law and leaders in conveyancing, DC Law and Move with Us. DC Law having recently acquired the Barnetts business in Southport. With a turnover […]
eConveyancer lists on the stock exchange
United Legal Services also known as eConveyancer, listed on to the stock exchange on Monday. ULS, established in 2003, launched the eConveyancer platform in 2004 to provide a web based comparison service for its customers purchasing conveyancing. Over the years, the company has formed relationships with nationwide intermediaries including Lloyds — which is estimated to […]
SearchFlow announces strong line-up for 2014 Property Forum Dinner
SearchFlow has announced that this year’s Property Forum Dinner will include a Question Time-style panel debate with industry luminaries. Panellists include Paul Smee, Director General of the Council of Mortgage Lenders; Viv Williams, Chairman of Ochresoft; Miles Shipside, Commercial Director of Rightmove; and Mike Ockenden, Chief Executive of the Council of Property Search Organisations. […]
Lexsure Risk Management Products Cited by PII Industry as Renewal Season begins
Risk management products developed by legal software house Lexsure are figuring in on numerous professional indemnity renewal forms for 2014/2015, according to the technology company. With a number of insurers and their preferred brokers, the risk management systems are actively promoted and incented. "One ‘A’ rated insurer has gone as far as offering a financial […]
Scam alerts at record high mid-year.
A couple of years ago it is fair to say that as an industry we were not exactly quaking with fear at the prospect of identity theft. Yes, we were all aware of it as a notion; certainly we may well have all been vigilant for quite some years in respect of personal identity theft. […]
2014 sees largest remortgage loan ever recorded
This year has seen the largest amount ever recorded for an average remortgage loan, with the figure standing at £163,161, according to new figures. Rising house prices have pushed remortgaging loans up and the increases is nine per cent higher than in June last year, and five per cent up from May. Rising property values […]
New scam hits conveyancers
Conveyancers are being warned about a new scam that intercepts emails and uses the information in them to steal money. The scam, reported to have hit firms in South Africa, works by sending an email to a conveyancer and asking for monies owed to them, such as a refunded deposit, to be put into a […]
Interview with Tim Higham of Trethowans
Tim Higham is a Partner at Trethowans, specialising in all aspects of residential conveyancing. He tells Today’s Conveyancer how he always pushes for quality in the industry — and wishes other firms would do the same. Do you believe there is a quality issue in conveyancing at the moment, Tim? ‘I’m always one for pushing […]
New consultation on stamp duty and land tax
The government is holding a consultation to discuss making changes to the stamp duty and land tax rules. The consultation seeks views on changing certain collective investment schemes: the seeding of property authorised investment funds; and the wider SDLT treatment of co-ownership authorised contractual schemes. The consultation will seek to better understand the property funds […]
New bill to end landowners' funding church repairs
A new Private Members’ Bill to ‘end the liability of lay rectors for the repair of chancels’ has been introduced into Parliament. Liberal Democrat Peer Lord Avebury put the new legislation forward on July 16 to stop landowners having to fund repairs for their parish church. In an article by the Law Gazette, Lord Avebury […]
Be More Uruguay? No! Be More Germany!
Back from an extended holiday and I am still smarting from the World Cup – even though it ended nearly three weeks ago. I think it was receiving sympathy from my German neighbour the morning after the Uruguay game that was so hard to take. My inferiority by nationality was palpable and reflected in his […]
ETSOS on the case with integration: Cognito FiLOS
Conveyancing technology specialist ETSOS is set to collaborate more closely with case management suppliers in a bid to increase system integration within conveyancing departments. A survey conducted by ETSOS revealed that only 27% of respondents using a case management system (CMS) had their search provider(s) integrated within that system. But with 94% of those reporting […]
It’s a big deal for Ochresoft
Legal workflow specialist, Ochresoft, has announced details of the largest contract to date for its Intelliworks conveyancing software. Leading Cornish law firm Coodes has rolled out the solution to over forty staff across its seven offices, with the project completing in less than three months. It comprised Cloud-based content-enabled workflows and Quotes module, with the […]
Planning – positive or negative?
Planning can sometimes seem to be a subjective topic, but changes to your local environment could positively or negatively impact your quality of life and value of your property. The planning system in this country is in a constant state of flux and the current government introduced the Localism Act in November 2011 with the […]
Landmark Legal podcast
In their latest podcast Landmark Legal discuss how Johnny Dawes, when rock climbing, precisely assesses very high risk and how lessons learnt can be applied when considering environment risk. Listen to the podcast now
Fall in mortgage approvals
Mortgage approvals in the UK continued to fall for three months to May, according to new figures. The latest research by the Bank of England (BoE) showed that while mortgage approvals dipped, gross secured lending remained broadly the same in the same period, with an average monthly net lending flow of £1.8billon. SME lending over […]
Family friendly building society opens
The first new building society to enter the market in three decades has dubbed itself ‘The Family Building Society that will help a family across the generations’. The mutual opened its doors on July 14 and its flagship scheme aims to allow parents, grandparents or other relatives to pool their savings or use some of […]
Remortgaging boosts UK housing market
Remortgaging activity is boosting the UK housing market, according to new research. After a sharp correction in March and April that saw May make a slow recovery of three per cent, property valuations in June saw a sharp increase of 30 per cent, with remortgaging forming the backbone of the recovery, picking up by 61 […]
Councils' plan half a million new homes
A plan to provide half a million new and affordable homes for families has been put forward by a group of by over 370 local councils. The Local Government Association is representing the councils in England and Wales and wants to implement a set of new measures to help the large numbers of people unable […]