Goldsmith Williams partners with Age Partnership
Age Partnership, an equity release specialist, who are based in Leeds have appointed Goldsmith Williams as its exclusive legal services partner. The move is to enable processes to be streamlined and to realise ‘considerable operational efficiencies for clients’. With the new agreement in place all Age Partnership clients will be offered a ‘specialist legal service […]
A rise in demand for new homes
Taylor Wimpey, the new home builder, have told the Stock Exchange that their order book for new homes has seen a 20 per cent increase since December. Is this a sign that the new homes sector is on the mend? The statement provided to the Stock Exchange says that their new homes order book saw […]
Housing Market has a ‘spring’ in its step
The latest research carried out by Connells Survey and Valuation has indicated that housing market activity has seen a slight increase – with 7 per cent more residential valuations being conducted compared to one year ago. Residential mortgage valuation activity has seen its fourth successive rise, year on year with the first quarter of 2011 […]
Legal Ombudsman to “tell it like it is”
The Legal Ombudsman (LO) is setting up a new stakeholder advisory panel just six months into looking at the service provided by solicitors. The panel is being created in order that the LO can ask the outside world what is going well and what areas could benefit from improvements and also with the aim of […]
Chartis say PII reforms are "highly disappointing".
Chartis, who hold the leading share of the primary England & Wales Solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance market have made a their disappointment with the new rules clear. A spokesperson for Chartis said they “believe that the ARP needs a fundamental overhaul before this year’s renewal season (October 1st 2011). According to our projections, between 2005 […]
SRA sets out new plans for conveyancing supervision and enforcement.
The SRA have issued the following press release The draft Strategy builds on work conducted by the SRA over the past two years which has focused on the risks posed by a small number of firms engaged in property-related fraud and money laundering. The draft Strategy will be further developed over the course of the […]
Solicitors should take a lead role in tackling mortgage fraud
The Chairman of the Conveyancing Association, Eddie Goldsmith, is asking that firms of Solicitors and Licensed Conveyancers take “a more definitive role” when it comes to tackling mortgage fraud, claiming that “if conveyancers don’t take action lenders will simply continue reducing their panels.” The Conveyancing Association believes that conveyancers could play an important role in […]
Lenders to take a leading role in flight to conveyancing quality say Optima.
Anthony Ruane of Optima has said, “Lenders are waking up to the idea that they need to take more control over their own destiny in appointing firms to act in the future” and that “Lenders now have a golden opportunity to take a leading role in the house purchase transaction”. Optima is one of the […]
Unsold stock at a four year high
Rightmove have released their House Price Index for April 2011 showing that agents are holding unsold stock at around 74 properties per branch, up from 70. It just goes to show that the increased number of sellers coming to market is not being matched by an increase in purchasers’ ability to buy. Property supply is […]
Borrowers race to fix mortgage rates
The latest National Mortgage Index released by Mortgage Advice Bureau and Coreco Group has indicated that the bulk of new mortgage applicants are opting for a fixed rate mortgage. Of the total mortgage applications for March 80 per cent were for fixed rate deals, up 1 percent from February. Borrowers who appear to be making […]
SRA professional indemnity insurance reforms welcomed by Law Society boss
Last week the SRA announced the outcome of its review into solicitors professional indemnity rules. In summary main changes are in relation to the operation of the Assigned Risks Pool (ARP). They are: – In October 2011 the amount of time a firm can remain in the Assigned Risks Pool will be reduced from […]
A missed opportunity say the Association of British Insurers
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has warned that the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) proposals to reform the Professional Indemnity Insurance market ‘are inadequate and will increase fears for the future of the market. The ABI have reportedly called for the closure of the assigned risks pool this year, instead of October 2013, and have […]
Conveyancing Protocol – Book review
The Conveyancing Protocol is a 160 page softback text that sets out the Law Society’s “preferred practice” for conveyancing transactions for freehold and leasehold property. From the 1st April 2011 the new Conveyancing Protocol has taken effect and will be compulsory for firms seeking to be members of the Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS). This […]
First volume conveyancer attains CQS
Barnetts Solicitors, a leading provider of volume conveyancing to lenders, has become the first volume conveyancer in England & Wales to achieve the Conveyancing Quality Scheme accreditation. Around 800 firms have so far made an application to join the scheme but Barnetts is the first of its size to achieve the quality mark. Richard Barnett, […]
Buy to Let mortgage products more than doubled since 2010
Mortgages for Business recently launched the MFB Complex Buy to Let Index which tracks buy to let loan size, property value, loan to value and yields with the results being published quarterly. According to the latest Index the number of buy to let products has more than doubled since Q1 of 2010 with an average […]
What do Alternative Business Structures mean for Conveyancers?
Having been lucky enough to attend the Legal Futures Conference yesterday in London it seems apparent, to me, that the legal market could eventually be turned on its head and that there is more potential change coming than there has been in the past. Outside investment seems to mean innovation and more competition in an […]
How bad is the assigned risk pool?
We all know of the horror stories of premium rises for solicitors who conduct conveyancing and that if you can’t buy insurance on the open market the assigned risk pool will at a price enable solicitors to carry on in business but what is the actual cost of the ARP to the solicitors market. Steve […]
Quality Solicitors and WHSmith sign deal
Quality Solicitors (QS) and W H Smith have signed a deal that will see QS members of staff placed in 150 high street stores, eventually rolling out to 500, at what will be known as Legal Access Points. It is not yet clear what qualifications the QS employee will have but the idea is that, […]
Countrywide acquires Mortgage Intelligence. Who will do the conveyancing?
Monday saw the announcement that Countrywide have acquired Bournemouth based Mortgage Intelligence, one of the largest mortgage distribution networks, for an undisclosed sum. Countrywide owns CPL one of the largest conveyancers in the country and is one of the UK’s largest and most successful estate agency and property services Group, operating more than 1,300 associated […]
Homes Solicitors close their doors
From 7th March this year Homes Solicitors LLP closed their doors, citing the excessive costs of Professional Indemnity Insurance premiums as the reason for closure. Homes Solicitors said that ‘despite not having a claim against us our premiums quadrupled and this made it financially impossible for us to continue practicing under the Solicitors Regulation Authority.’ […]
