Registers of Scotland increase Scottish registration fees dramatically

Following a recent consultation exercise the Fees in the Registers of Scotland Amendment Order 2010 has been signed by the Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism and has been submitted to the Scottish Parliament. The new fees will come into force on 10 January 2011 The fees are increasing from between 20% and 100%. For […]
Legal Aid reforms challenge client account interest

The Ministry of Justice has issued a consultation paper called “Proposals for Reform of Legal Aid in England and Wales”. The consultation proposes two potential changes to use money held on client account to fund Legal Aid. This is a serious threat because even though conveyancers are not getting the interest that they did it […]
Purchase mortgage approvals down in October

The Bank of England have released their monthly statistical report showing that purchase mortgage approvals for October are down slightly, 47,185, compared with September, 47,369. This makes the approval rates for October lower than the previous six-month average of 48,503. On the other hand approvals for remortgages were up slightly to 29,275 compared with September’s […]
Registrations resilient despite market conditions

The NHBC today reports that the number of new homes registered in October was 10,028 – a slight rise on September’s registration levels (9,033). Numbers have remained consistently between 9,000 and 11,000 since April this year. Imtiaz Farookhi, chief executive of NHBC, said: "We have been slightly surprised by the resilience of registration volumes, given […]
Grainger Plc looking forward to a successful year.

Grainger plc is possibly the UK’s largest listed specialist residential landlord and owns, acquires and trades regulated and market-let tenanted properties. Established in 1912 they now own over 20,000 properties and also manage 4,000 properties through co-investment vehicles. The results demonstrate that despite the tough trading conditions three are profits to be made in residential […]
Fewer homes to let means no ‘let-up’ in rising rents

The buoyancy of the UK rental market continues with over 40% of renters stating they believe rents will be higher in 12 months’ time, according to results from Rightmove’s latest quarterly Consumer Confidence Survey. Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove comments: “For the second consecutive quarter more than 40% of renters are revealing their fears of […]
Cost of renting rises further compared to home ownership

New research from property search website Zoopla.co.uk reveals that buying is more cost-effective than renting in 80% of British cities/towns. The figure is up from 74% in July as asking prices have come down and rents have increased. The average renter pays 9.9% more than an owner with a 5% mortgage The research compares current […]
Autumn rush fails to materialise for Persimmon

Persimmon Homes today confirmed that sales volumes have remained stable with sales prices and margins holding firm in Autumn 2010, despite below expected levels of visitors and reservations. The company would usually expect these to increase after the summer lull, however this increase has not been seen this quarter. Weekly sales saw a gradual increase […]
Barratt conforms weak autumn property market

The company reports that underlying selling prices have remained stable during the period, while total average selling price on completions increased by c. 9% to £180,000. Total completion revenues also increased by c. 9%, driven by relatively flat completion volumes and a significant increase in ASP compared to the prior year equivalent period. Total forward […]
Freeing up data – a nail in the coffin for Official Searches?

On 29th July the Government announced that the fee for carrying out a personal search of the Local Land Charges Register (formerly £22) was to be scrapped with effect from 17th August 2010. Subsequent guidance issued to local authorities by the CLG and DeFRA confirms that most CON29 information is ‘environmental information’ and should be […]
Rental shortage sees prices swell over 12% in London but is it sustainable in 2011?

The prime central London lettings market has seen average rental prices increase by over 12% year-on-year as demand continues to exceed supply, says Sandfords, one of the capital’s leading independent property consultants. The shortage is attributed to the exodus of buy-to-let investors from the market in the last few years, but landlords are beginning to […]
Shelter response to latest Council of Mortgage Lenders repossession figures

Responding to new Council of Mortgage Lenders figures showing there were 8,900 repossessions in July-September this year, Campbell Robb, Chief executive of Shelter said: “While repossessions are lower than predicted, annual levels are still the highest we have seen since the mid 1990s and the number of people in more than 12 months of arrears […]
Rural house prices double in a decade

Rural homeowners have seen the value of their property rise by more than £100,000 over the past decade, according to the latest annual Halifax Rural Housing Review. Based on Halifax’s own data, the average house price in rural Great Britain rose by 96%, or £102,722, from £107,250 in 2000 to £209,972 in 2010 — equivalent […]
Housing and legal bodies warn of 'dire consequences' from new mortgage rules

The Guardian newspaper today reported that a coalition of the UK’s leading housing and legal organisations have written to Chancellor George Osborne warning of "dire consequences" for homebuyers and the building industry if Financial Service Authority proposals for mortgage regulation are implemented. Eight influential bodies, including the House Builders Federation, the National Housing Federation and […]
New board structure for Eclipse

Eclipse is a leading provider of case management, practice management and workflow software. The firm’s Proclaim software system is in use by 12,000 professionals dealing with a vast range of work areas. Eclipse’s flagship product, Proclaim, is in use at over 500 organisations, representing some 13,000 individuals. The company has experienced a surge of expansion […]
September sees little movement in mortgage market

Slight falls in lending to some groups of new borrowers were tempered by comparable rises to others leading to a flat mortgage market in September, according to new data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders. There were 50,000 loans for house purchase (worth £7.4 billion) advanced in September, unchanged by volume but down £0.2 billion […]
Decline in mortgage arrears and repossessions

Mortgage arrears and possessions continued to decline in the third quarter, according to CML data showing that a combination of low interest rates, a responsible approach by borrowers and lenders, and support from the government and debt advisers has been helping to keep payment problems in check. But, with the economic outlook uncertain and in […]
E.surv reports lowest levels of mortgage approvals in 18 months

The number of mortgages approved to buy homes in October (46,507) shrank to the lowest level since May 2009 on a seasonally adjusted basis, down 18% compared to October 2009, and down 2% compared to September 2010 according to e.surv. Remortgage volumes are higher than a year ago (up 7.7%) but remain close to historic […]
Bank of England's September lending data

The flow of net mortgage lending by all UK-resident mortgage lenders increased in August to £1.7 billion, though the annual rate of growth in the stock of lending was stable at 1.0%. According to data from the major UK lenders, net mortgage lending flows fell in September as total gross lending remained broadly unchanged but […]
Buyers confused about purpose of surveys

Homebuyers in England and Wales are facing bills for thousands of pounds by failing to have a sufficient survey of their property before purchase, according to new research from RICS. This is unlikely to come as any surprise to conveyancers. The report indicates that Home surveys help buyers make informed decisions as to whether to […]