Tina Gosal joins the Legal Eye team
The Legal Eye Team has expanded once again and welcomes the newest member, Tina Gosal. Tina will be based in London. Tina is a qualified solicitor and has been practicing matrimonial law for the past 5 years at two Legal 500, Lexcel Accredited firms. Despite enjoying a fruitful and successful career, Tina has always […]
Subsidence and the key documents conveyancers should obtain
In his latest blog, Andy Lucas, Managing Director of Property Assure, looks at properties that have been affected by subsidence and the key documents Conveyancers should be obtaining. The Valuation Survey includes questions pertaining to evidence of movement and subsidence. (It should be noted that the Valuation Surveyor is not equipped to identify whether the […]
CLC calls for help developing Apprenticeship scheme
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers is reviewing paths to qualification as a Licensed Conveyancer to make sure they fit the needs of legal businesses. As part of this process they are looking for representatives from firms that train Licensed Conveyancers or employ students on the route to qualification as a Licensed Conveyancer. They are asked […]
Huge increase in traffic to search portals
Leading portals Zoopla and Rightmove have seen an increase in traffic of 64% over the last twelve months, meaning Zoopla, Rightmove and Primelocation now account for 59% of all online property traffic. The latest data from independent web traffic monitoring firm Hitwise shows that the number of visits to the UK’s leading property portals owned […]
SRA takes steps to simplify training
The SRA has taken the first steps towards replacing the prescriptive requirements of the training contract with a more targeted approach to ensure solicitors have the skills to deliver high quality legal services. Following agreement from the SRA board, in early December an SRA consultation will be published on the review of the SRA Training […]
Reaction to Funding for Lending changes
The Bank of England and HM Treasury has announced changes to the terms of the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) extension, designed to re-focus the incentives in the scheme towards supporting business lending in 2014. The first phase of the FLS, which ends on 31 January 2014, is unaffected by this announcement. The Bank of […]
Land Registry open data challenge winners announced
The Land Registry has announced Adzuna and Dan Hilton as the first winners of its open data challenge. Both entries win a £3000 prize. The winners were awarded on the basis of their ability to demonstrate the economic potential of the Land Registry’s data with applications that focus on helping jobseekers and online shoppers. Eddie […]
Conveyancing firm welcomes Help to Buy in Wales
Convey Law, Wales’ largest conveyancing company, has welcomed the Welsh Assembly’s decision to introduce Help to Buy in Wales. The £170 million shared equity loan scheme is designed to support home ownership, stimulate building activity and provide a boost to the housing sector. First time buyers and existing home owners will be able to purchase […]
Land Registry releases historic price paid data
The Land Registry’s historic price paid data from over 18 million sales is now available to download for free as part of its open data programme. The dataset goes back to 1995 and contains more than 400 million data items which developers and businesses can now use for commercial and non-commercial purposes. This data is […]
SLC conference round-up
Paul Lewis, presenter of Radio 4’s Moneybox, was host of the SLCs 3rd Annual Conference held at the Riverside Centre in Derby on 20th November with a record number of 170 delegates. The first speaker was Ed Lester, CEO at the Land Registry who provided a clear view of the direction for the future ambitious […]
DUAL announce new asset underwriting division
DUAL, the underwriting arm of Hyperion Insurance Group, has launched a new asset protection division, DUAL Asset Underwriting (DAU). The division provides niche insurance products to protect home buyers, real estate investors and will executors and will be supported by carriers including AA rated Catlin Group. The initial focus will be to provide insurance solutions […]
October sees decrease in Land Registry transactions
The Land Registry has released the latest figures for those organisations that hold accounts with them, showing their activity for October 2013. Information relating to applications for transfers for value (i.e. an approximation of purchase activity) showed the number of total number of application fell from 75628 to 71086 between September and October. Whilst the […]
TM Group wins Internet Business Award
TM Group, the UK’s leading provider of residential property conveyancing searches has this week been named Best Building and Property Internet Business at the IBA Awards 2013/14. The award is in recognition of their innovative and effective conveyancing search platform. The Internet Business Awards are the only UK awards dedicated to the celebration of websites […]
BCL Legal November Edition of The Brief out now!
This issue of The Brief is once again bursting with news, interviews and insights. Firstly, we have an exclusive chat with Linda Woolley – managing partner at Kingsley Napley – on her decision to introduce performance remuneration; whilst Ben Scott – head of legal at Nisa – is in the interview hot-seat talking about his […]
SRA advises uninsured firms of next steps
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has advised of the next steps for firms that have failed to secure a new professional indemnity insurance policy. The 141 firms that are still in their extended policy period (EPP) having failed to obtain cover by the 1 October deadline, have been written to the SRA. The period lasts […]
Legal Services escape Co-op review
Following allegations made against their former chairman the Co-op bank are to undertake a ‘root and branch’ review of the bank. This review will not include the banks legal services arm. The review follows an expose by the Mail on Sunday of chairman Paul Flowers, where video evidence appeared to show him buying illegal drugs. Flowers […]
John M Lewis & Co awarded Legal Eye Quality Standard
John M Lewis & Co, one of the largest specialist residential conveyancing companies in Derby, has been awarded the Legal Eye Quality Standard. The award follows a 12 month review of the company’s legal systems, practices and procedures. In order to gain the award the company had to demonstrate excellent risk management policies and registers. […]
Mixed reaction to Help to Buy results
The latest statistics on the Help to Buy scheme show that in the schemes first six months there were 5,375 properties bought with the support of the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme. The average price of a property bought under the scheme was £194,167, with an average equity loan of £38,703. Total loans amounted […]
Supply and demand imbalance continues
November’s National Housing Market Monitor from haart has shown that Help to Buy fuelled a 92% annual rise in new buyer enquiries in first week of October whilst new property supply fell 2%. The average first time buyer property price now £152,593, up 6.1% annually with the average UK property price up 11.5% annually to […]
ASA upholds complaint against search provider
The Advertising Standards Agency has told a website that offers Land Registry property searches and documents it must remove wording from its website which implies it offers an official government service. The website www.landregistryonline.net, states it is "The home of official Title Documents & Property Searches … We are the leading Land Registry online search […]