World Class Apprenticeships in Conveyancing-
Doug Crawford, CEO of "myhomemove", said, "We are investing in the future of the conveyancing profession by supporting the development of a new apprenticeship and we are delighted to make this announcement during National Apprenticeship Week". They are hoping to welcome the first new apprentices to "myhomemove" in October this year. They already employ around […]
Mortgage Drought Expected from April 2014
The tough new rules are part of the City regulator’s Mortgage Market Review, which was designed to ensure borrowers are issued with mortgages they can afford. The Financial Conduct Authority is concerned that lenders were making it too easy to get a mortgage — and aid short-term profits — before the financial crisis. To ensure […]
Campaign Launches to Save the Land Registry
The Land Registry is under threat as a new government consultation, closing on March 20 2014, examines its future. In response to this, a new website — www.savethelandregistry.co.uk — launched this week and the man behind the Save the Land Registry campaign, Gary Yantin, MD of High Street Lawyer, is urging high street law firms […]
Law Society issues further concerns about Lender Exchange.
I wanted to update you again regarding the developments with Santander and Lender Exchange. Following correspondence with Santander and internal discussions we have identified a number of issues that we remain concerned about; in particular the requirement to agree that information can be passed to affiliates/group companies of Decision First. We will continue to raise […]
Birmingham City Council Local Land Charges Scoop National Customer Satisfaction Award
Birmingham City Council was awarded the Customer Satisfaction Award for Local Authority Searches at the 2014 Land Data Local Land Charges Awards for Excellence. The council’s local land charges team were highly commended for the same award category in the 2013 Awards. The national awards, now in the 7th year, celebrate the work and achievements […]
Operational note – further e-mail scam claiming to be from SRA
A further e-mail scam has been discovered claiming to be from the SRA and targeting law firms. Reports have been received from solicitors’ firms saying they had again received email messages purportedly from the SRA, some of which referred to pending investigations. These have been sent from an email account that does not end in […]
Leasehold Reform Bill set to become law
A long-ignored but problematic issue in the law regarding collective enfranchisement and individual lease extensions for leasehold flat owners has finally been addressed, with the passage of a new bill in Parliament today. The Leasehold Reform (Amendment) Bill — an initiative championed by law firm Seddons and the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP) — […]
Anna Bradley, Chair at the CLC to headline Brentwood event
The Society of Licensed Conveyancers (SLC) is delighted to confirm that Anna Bradley the Chair of the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) will be the headline speaker at the Society’s CPD event next Saturday 8th March in Brentwood. Aside from a general update, Anna will speak about the CLC’s proposals to extend their regulatory envelope […]
Welsh firms see more activity
Welsh law firm Howell Solicitors has recruited eleven more staff as the South Wales market sees an increase in activity. The firm has employed experienced chartered legal executive Sharon Thomas and solicitor Elise Stark as house sales completions continue to rise. Sharon said: “I was very pleased to be offered the position. The company was […]
Bogus law firms on the increase
The number of fake law firms created to scam money from clients has increased by 57 per cent, a report from the SRA has revealed. Spiders in the Web was published by the SRA a week earlier than planned in light of the recent scam emails carrying the name of the SRA, with an attachment […]
Are your conveyancing referring brokers about to vanish?
Almost 1 in 10 mortgage intermediaries will leave the industry before the new MMR rules come into place later this place, figures from the FCA have revealed. Eight per cent of firms that submitted a survey for the FCA’s second MMR readiness review will choose to exit, however the FCA said that almost all of […]
Revealed: the top 12 reasons people move house
The results of a recent questionnaire to find out why people move house has revealed the top reason to be a change in lifestyle. Out of 1000 buyers who took the survey carried out by Strutt and Parker, 57. 1 percent said they chose to move because of a change in lifestyle, which could cover […]
'Spectacular' mortgage fraud solicitor jailed for six years
A solicitor who committed ‘spectacular’ mortgage fraud of more than £1million has been sentenced to six years in prison. John Fitzpatrick pleaded guilty to two charges of obtaining money by deception and seven charges of theft amounting to £1,157,000 between 1997 and 2001, where he acted as a facilitator to a dishonest mortgage broker and […]
Today’s Conveyancer speaks to APL’s Stephen Coupland about thriving in a difficult market
Advantage Property Lawyers (APL) has just celebrated its fifth birthday. In 2013 its annual turnover increased by over 40% to £2.42M and it completed over 4000 sale and purchase transactions. Jane Common spoke to Head of Sales and Marketing Stephen Coupland about how the company has managed to thrive in a difficult market…. What do […]
Register now for our new conveyancing jobs board
Today’s Conveyancer has partnered with Hot Lizard the leading supplier of recruitment web services and Karen Babington the highly respected industry consultant to create a new industry leading conveyancing jobs board. Conveyancing in 2013 is hard enough and anything that can make life easier for conveyancers looking for new roles and conveyancing firms seeking new […]
Paragon Buy to Let Debate
The Great Buy-to-Let Debate hosted by The Wriglesworth Consultancy took place in London last week, with key figures and journalists within the property industry in attendance to discuss the latest issues in the lettings market. The panel following a BBC Question Time format and chaired by John Wriglesworth, compromised: John Heron, Managing Director of Paragon […]
Remortgage Lending Rises 33% in Jan 2014 from Jan 2013
In Jan 2014 remortgage lending rose to £4.27 bn, up 33% on the same month last year. Source LMS Remortgage report Gross mortgage lending was an estimated £15.5 billion in January, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. This is down 8% compared to the gross lending total of December 2013; however, it is a […]
Increase in First Time Buyers
There is a current swelling wave of lending, first time buyers who are looking to get on the property ladder will need to catch this swelling wave of lending- mortgages are currently more available than a year ago but with a limited supply of homes available rising house prices could counterweight the excitement of cheaper […]
Comment: ‘Pay as you Trade’ Provides Reassurance for Landlords with Tenants in Administration.
A landmark ruling from the Court of Appeal involving the now insolvent retailer, GAME, has restored the balance between landlords and insolvent tenants. The Court has ruled that when a tenant is in administration, the rent payable for the premises they are continuing to occupy should count as an administration expense. Landlords (following the […]
PSG sponsor the first SLC Road Show for 2014
Market leading conveyancing search provider PSG, will once again support the Society of Licensed Conveyancers (SLC) as sponsors of the first in the 2014 series of national Road Shows. The event, which is to be held on March 8th in Brentwood, will run from 10am until 2pm and will carry 4 CPD points. Topics covered […]