Compare the Market owner buys Minster Law
In the largest outright purchase deal to date the BGL Group, the owner of a number of businesses including price-comparison site Compare the Market, has bought personal injury specialist Minster Law. The BGL Group has a claims management company and insurance firm in its portfolio. The two businesses are understood to have a held a […]
New home registrations on the increase
Year-on-year figures show that new home registrations are 26% higher for the period January to April compared to the same period last year, 43,223 in 2013 compared to 34,236 in 2012. According to the latest figures from the National House-Building Council (NHBC) new home registrations increased 39% in April from 8,238 in April 2012 to […]
Money Box looks once again at fraud
Saturday’s Money Box looked at the issue of fraudsters cloning the websites of financial advisors in order to encourage consumers to make fake investments and then make off with the money. The programme reported that there have been as many as 50 cases over the last year. Money Box had been contacted by a firm […]
House prices increase
The latest Land Registry’s House Price Index showed that annual prices increased by 0.7 per cent. The April Index showed increases taking the average property value in England and Wales to £161,458. The monthly change from March to April shows an increase of 0.4 per cent. The Land Registry also released figures for those organisations […]
Mortgage lending by mutuals continues to rise in April
The number of mortgages approved by building societies and other mutual lenders has increased by 30% this April. This April saw a total of 30,651 approvals, a significant increase compared to the 23,617 approvals in the same month last year. The value of gross mortgage lending by building societies and other mutual lenders increased by […]
Excitement Mounts for PSG’s ‘Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge’
With only one day to go, staff from across the PSG network of offices are hard at work breaking in their walking boots, dusting off their fleeces and completing last minute training exercises to take on the ‘Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge’. This will be the PSG networks first ever collaborative charity fundraising event in support […]
Land Registry releases its house price index as open data
From today, 30 May 2013, Land Registry’s data tables based on over 17 million cash and mortgage sales, are being made available as open data. The aggregated House Price Index (HPI) tables dating back to 1995 can be downloaded in CSV and Excel formats free of charge and, from July, they will be available in […]
myhomemove appoint John Duke as Finance
The new role will bring together Finance, Management Information (MI), Commercial Activity and Compliance. John will develop these key areas of the business, giving myhomemove the momentum to continue with its significant growth plans. John joined myhomemove on the 30th April 2013 and has previously worked for a significant number of years in the Financial Services […]
myhomemove scale new heights and take on the 10 Peaks Challenge
Energetic members of the UK’s largest conveyancing company myhomemove, participated in the 10 Peaks Challenge last weekend (18th May 2013) to raise money for their 3 adopted charities. 20 people from the Leicester-based firm took to the mountains despite adverse weather conditions and climbed the 10 peaks (a total of 14 miles!) in just over […]
Indeed Online PLC cuts directors pay
The online conveyancer Indeed Online has announced they will be making significant reductions in the salaries and fees of their Directors. Following disappointing second half results for their conveyancing business, Runnett & Co. the business have made a number of operational changes in order to cut costs. In a trading update the company was fairly […]
Howden Windsor and AmTrust announce PII arrangement
New capacity will be added to the Solicitors’ Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) market as Howden Windsor, the specialist Professional Indemnity division of Lloyd’s broker Howden Insurance Brokers Limited, announces it is to team up with A-Rated Insurer AmTrust Europe Limited. The firms are seeking to exploit an area of the market with capacity available as […]
Nationwide joins Help to Buy
From today Nationwide Building Society will accept applications from borrowers wanting to participate in the Government’s Help to Buy scheme. The decision of the UK’s largest building society to enter the scheme could potentially benefit tens of thousands of first time buyers. The scheme offers equity loans of up to 20% to new build home […]
STL launches new website
STL, the largest independent search company in England & Wales, has re-launched its website as part of its ongoing efforts to enhance the quality and availability of information for property lawyers and other industry professionals and make it faster and easier to access. The new design – which includes rotating news items and polls on […]
Stamp Duty has risen at seven times rate of inflation
The average stamp duty paid on buying a home has increased from £532 in 1995/6 to £5957 in 2011/12. According to the new report by the HomeOwners Alliance “Stamping on Aspiration: the real cost of stamp duty”, stamp duty in London has risen to an average of £17,529. This equates to home buyers parting with […]
The Importance of Flood Searches
Flooding is a growing risk for property owners and according to the latest information from the Environment Agency, approximately 5.5 million, or 1 in every 6, homes in England is currently deemed to be at risk of flooding. The physical damage caused by floods is obviously costly and time consuming to put right, but it […]
New rights for park home residents
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has announced a number of new rights to protect residents from unscrupulous site owners. The Department for Communities and Local Government said that some dishonest park home operators abuse their position, bullying and intimidating their residents and manipulating the law. The rights; – remove site owners from the park home buying […]
Thursfields Solicitors expands
Thursfields Solicitors have appointed a new Conveyancing Executive to help manage growth in its property department. Nicky Curtis had joined the firm from Painters solicitors in Kidderminster. The firm is also recruiting staff for their Worcester office. The firm has recently been successfully re-accredited under the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS). Thursfields Managing Partner, […]
Typical time on the market falls for unsold property across the UK
The typical time for an unsold property to spend on the market has fallen by 80% since May 2009. The typical time for an unsold property to sell in May 2009 was 184 days. That figure has fallen to 102 days according Home.co.uk. The reduction in time is subject to significant regional variation, with Greater […]
Remortgaging levels are low but some reports suggest a proportional increase
Reports from CML say that remortgaging is at its lowest level for 15 years, whilst other organisations are interpreting the statistics positively. LMS in particular are reporting that remortgage lending is the highest proportion of total lending since October 2012. CML data reveals that of the 6.9 million regulated mortgages taken out in 2005 remained […]
The Law Society Flood Risk Practice Note
On 23 May 2013 The Law Society of England and Wales issued its long awaited Practice Note on Flood Risk. For the first time solicitors now have clear guidance on their client obligations with regard to understanding flood risk in a property transaction. The Practice Note comes days after the revision to the Property Information […]