Countrywide research highlights obstacles to moving house
Countrywide has today released the results of its research undertaken with YouGov to highlight the affordability issues that are faced by potential home-movers. The research covered over 6,000 UK adults and included private rental tenants, home-owners with mortgages, owner-occupiers, home-owners with shared equity stakes, and those living rent-free. When asked about reasons for not […]
CML sees mortgage lending annual rise by 20% in February
The CML has released its Regulated Mortgage Survey for February 2012. During the month 36,600 house purchase loans were taken out, with a value of £5.4 billion. The number of loans taken out rose by 4% compared to January 2012, and is a 17% change annually. The value of loans rose by 2% over the […]
Phoebus Software comments on CML Regulated Mortgage Survey data
The CML today released the Regulated Mortgage Survey data for February 2012. The figures show a large rise in the number of first-time buyers taking out mortgages. First-time buyers took out a total of 14,100 loans, with a value of £1.7 billion. This is a monthly change of 8% in the number of loans, and […]
Congratulations to the Conveyancing Association
The Conveyancing Association announced last Friday that it had signed up its 50th member since its re-launch in September 2010. This achievement gives the Conveyancing Association both a critical mass of members but also a reasonable amount of funding to pursue its goals. The 50th firm signed up is Mayo Wynne Baxter, a three office […]
SDLT boom has gone, now the bust?
The record numbers of completion associated with Easter and the first time buyer SDLT rush may soon be a thing of the past as new mortgage approvals plummet. Both Connells Survey and Valuation and LSL House Price Index report that the last few months have been very active for the conveyancing market but e.serv highlights […]
Licensed Conveyancers welcome June Mulroy
Following our report last week that the CLC have appointed Jane Mulroy as their new interim Chief Executive the Society for Licensed Conveyancer has welcomed the new appointment. A SLC spokesperson said:“The Society of Licensed Conveyancers (SLC) would like to welcome June Mulroy into her post as interim Chief Executive for the Council of Licensed […]
ETSOS extends product range with latest portal update
Online search provider and conveyancing technology specialist, ETSOS, has announced the latest update to its free-to-use search ordering portal. The portal already offers the widest search choice in the market and ETSOS is now adding yet more options. Highlights include DevAssist, a new development risk/opportunity report that goes beyond the usual planning search by not […]
New search for land and farms
On April 2nd, GroundSure launched a new commercial environmental report for agricultural land and farms.The development of this new product was spurred on by market demand. The primary objective of GroundSure Agricultural is to respond to the Law Society Warning Card on Contaminated Land. As with all other GroundSure reports, GroundSure Agricultural uses the most […]
Richard Mathias interview – the LFS conveyancing awards
Richard Mathias of Law Firm Services is as well known in the conveyancing market for holding strong opinions as he is for his annual conveyancing conference. This September, Richard is not only holding a conveyancing conference but also an award ceremony. As we are only a couple of weeks away from the closing deadline for […]
Bold Group reminder
With only a few days to go before the first Bold Legal Group conference Rob Hailstone is looking forward to having over 90 people attend to hear their plans.
Compensation Fund claims for solicitor mortgage fraud exceed £100 per mortgage in 2011
Lenders are annoyed about the way the compensation fund is being managed in light of new figures from the SRA that indicate that mortgage fraud claims against the compensation fund for fraud by solicitors are higher than most conveyancers realise Following a recent data cleansing exercise the SRA has reclassified 147 claims in 2011 against […]
Halifax House Price Index shows monthly rise of 2.2% in March
The Halifax House Price Index has been released and shows a very slight quarterly change, although prices in March rose by 2.2%. In the first three months of 2012 house prices were 0.1% lower than quarter four of 2011. The average house price in March was £163,803, almost the same level as July 2011 (£163,765). […]
RICS figures for March show trend towards price stabilisation
The RICS UK Housing Market Survey for March has been released today. It shows that there is a trend moving towards price stabilisation. The net price balance advanced from -13 to -10 in March. This means 10% more surveyors reported falls than those reporting price rises. This is the least negative reading since June […]
Myhomemove increase market share
Myhomemove have recently been celebrating the appointment of Doug Crawford as their new Chief Executive but also a strong year for growth. Already considered one of the largest independent providers of conveyancing services in both England and Wales, Myhomemove have announced that, during 2011, market share and the number of completed cases both increased by […]
Law Society of Scotland “extremely concerned” about Nationwide’s panel cull.
The Law Society of Scotland is holding discussions with Nationwide Building Society following the UK-wide review by the building society of its solicitors’ panels which is reported to be reducing the panel from approximately 700 to 500. Ross MacKay, convener of the Law Society’s Property Law Committee, said: "We remain extremely concerned about the long […]
SLC new lender panel proposition survey results released
Yesterday I attended the Society for Licensed Conveyancers final regional meeting to present their findings on how to deal with conveyancing risk for lenders. About 25 licensed conveyancers attended the meeting most of whom recognised the need to change their methods of work to build trust with lenders to allow them to stay on lender […]
June Mulroy appointed as CLC’s interim Chief Executive
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) has appointed June Mulroy as interim Chief Executive. Working in both private and public sectors, Mulroy’s experience has largely been in financial services and includes stints with Coopers (PwC) and KPMG. Mulroy was also interim Chief Accountant for Paris based UNESCO before taking up her role as Executive Director […]
CLC response to LSB’s Litigation and Advocacy decision
The Legal Services Board’s (LSB) decision not to approve the Council for Licensed Conveyancers’ (CLC) application to regulate both litigation and advocacy services must have been very disappointing but they remain upbeat about future approval. While the LSB have rejected the current application they have given CLC some positive feedback as to how a future […]
Nationwide defends lending panel review
Yesterday we reported on the Law Society update about changes to Nationwide’s lender panel. The Building Society has informed the Law Society that it will be suspending those firms that have performed less than four transactions for Nationwide in the last year, subject to an appeals process that has been put in place by Nationwide. […]
Hometrack research shows Olympics has not resulted in higher residential property values
New research by Hometrack reveals that the Olympics have yet to have an effect on residential property values in Stratford, the area adjacent to the Olympic site. Measuring using a £ per square foot (£psf) basis, residential property values for the postcode E15 which covers Stratford have been 35% less than Greater London. This is […]