1 in 3 property professionals suffering from burnout
Research by YourBusinessNumber has revealed that one in three property professionals have taken time off work due to fatigue caused by the pandemic property market boom, as a heavy workload and a lack of boundaries between their professional and personal lives cause them to burnout – some requiring over a week to recover. The good […]
SLC supports changes to provision of PII
The Society of Licensed Conveyancers (SLC) has welcomed changes to the arrangements for insurers for the provision of Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) for the Licensed Conveyancer profession. From 2023, firms regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) will have to submit at least one application for PII two months ahead of the renewal deadline. […]
First “Help to Build” mortgage launched
The government’s long-awaited Help to Build Equity Loan Scheme becomes a reality with the launch of the first ever Help to Build Mortgage. Created by BuildLoan in partnership with Darlington Building Society and Homes England, Help to Build will be a game changer by helping people live in brand new homes they have designed themselves. […]
Three-year anniversary of the Women in Law Pledge: a reflection
Law Society of England and Wales president I. Stephanie Boyce reflects on the Women in Law Pledge, which currently has 46 signatories. I am delighted to mark the three-year anniversary of the Women in Law Pledge, which was launched by the Law Society in partnership with the Bar Council and the Chartered Institute of Legal […]
Competitions watchdog investigate Dye & Durham again
The Australian competitions watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) have launched an investigation in to Dye & Durham’s acquisition of Link Administration Holdings, a 43% owner of e-conveyancing platform PEXA. In January 2022, Dye & Durham announced it had agreed to acquire Link for an estimated c$3.2bn. In a statement released on the […]
The Legal Ombudsman: How to avoid client complaints
In this episode of the Today’s Conveyancer podcast David Opie is joined by Ombudsman at The Legal Ombudsman, Jason Chapman. The Legal Ombudsman was introduced in 2010, replacing the Legal Complaints Commission and in the course of discussion Jason reveals that conveyancing is one of the most complained about areas of law In total the […]
Buy-to-let stamp duty costs up £12,000 since Gov changes
New research by Revolution Brokers reveals that, since 2016, the average stamp duty payment on buy-to-let homes has increased by £11,848 in England, and that in some parts of the UK, buy-to-let stamp duty costs are now almost 1,000% higher than that paid by primary homebuyers. In April 2016, the UK government introduced new rules […]
Conveyancers’ wellbeing continuing to suffer, study finds
The latest research from tmgroup, mio and Conveyancing Data Services (CDS) – “The New Normal” report – has revealed that property industry leaders need to step up to the plate and do far more to support their fellow professionals’ wellbeing. 20% completely let down by their employers In the survey of almost 800 property professionals, […]
Johnson confirms return of Right to Buy
Boris Johnson has confirmed plans to extend the right to buy scheme to tenants of housing association homes. In an address yesterday Johnson said there are 2.5 million households whose homes belong to associations, and commented “they’re trapped, they can’t buy, they don’t have the security of ownership, they can’t treat their home as their […]
Data shows “busiest financial year on record” for conveyancers
Busiest financial year on record for conveyancers as transactions increase 60% for the average firm A 60% annual rise in property transaction activity saw the average conveyancing firm clock up its busiest financial year on record in 2021/2022, according to the Q1 2021 edition of the Conveyancing Market Tracker from property data and insight provider […]
Prop tech start-up, YouConvey, secures over £300,000 investment
New prop tech start-up, YouConvey, which aims to make the home-moving process quicker and less stressful, has secured its second round of investment from Nova Growth Capital, taking the total amount of funding to over £300,000 since it was founded in 2021. YouConvey is a first of its kind collaborative conveyancing service, set to revolutionise […]
Feast to Famine. Can this be avoided?
The past 15 years or so have seen dramatic changes to the conveyancing arena. The economic climate and how it impacts upon property transactions is impossible to control and challenging to predict, but the changes that impact conveyancing departments always appear to come as a shock. But why is that? There was a time when […]
RICS: house prices set to rise despite drop in demand
Demand from prospective house buyers fell in May 2022, a potential side effect of the rising cost of living and higher interest rates, although house prices in the short term are expected to rise – this according to the latest UK Residential Market Survey (May), from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Respondents reported […]
Confessions of a cyber conveyancer
Every now and again you get a brilliant idea. When it happens, like your birthday – you feel uniquely special for the rest of the day. You implement it and for a week or so you bask in the glow of your own assumed brilliance. Then it just becomes part of the day job and […]
Pandemic peak in property fall-throughs subsides
Property sale fall-throughs down on pandemic peak but will still cost homesellers £788m this year. Market analysis from property purchasing specialist, HBB Solutions, estimates that property sale fall-throughs could cost the UK property market £787.7m in 2022, despite signs of an early decline in the actual volume of transactions affected. A fall-through is a property […]
Government remains 120,000 homes short of new-build target
The latest new-build sector insight by the new-build sales optimisation platform, Unlatch, has revealed that the Government has continued with its “woeful efforts” where new-build delivery is concerned, missing its latest target in 2021 by -39% – a shortfall of almost 120,000 homes. Unlatch analysed data on the number of new home completions seen across […]
First electronic signature conveyancing transaction completes
The first conveyancing transaction to complete with an electronic signature not requiring a witness, has taken place. The top-100 firm Hugh James, has become the first conveyancer to complete a transaction with HMLR using an electronic signature not requiring a witness. The news comes following completion of a national Land Registry pilot, to test the […]
Diary of a high street conveyancer; 6th June 2022
Celebrating the Jubilee has made me think about house prices over the last seventy years. I always think it is difficult to comprehend the difference in prices over years as the value of money and assets changes so much. I often tell my children that when I was their age, I could buy a packet […]
The Platinum Jubilee road names that command as much as £2m for a property
Inspired by the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, property platform, Boomin, has revealed house prices on the nation’s Jubilee-themed road names. Boomin analysed price paid data records from the Land Registry for homes sold across England and Wales over the last 12 months, looking at the average sold price across some of our most royal road […]
Back to the future: predicting climate change hazards
The data insights we have into climate change impacts never fails to surprise: we know that around 4,000 properties are at substantial risk from coastal erosion across the UK, and over the next 80 years this is expected to jump up to around 23,000. Our data models also show an increase of more than half […]