Diary of a high street conveyancer; 18th April 2022
I enjoyed watching the last two series of The Split on BBC1; so much so that I have binge watched the last two series and the latest series over the Easter weekend. Hooray for iPlayer!! And for those of us solicitors who have been watching it , no doubt we have been channelling our inner […]
InfoTrack webinar: AML compliance and understanding Safe Harbour through digital client onboarding
We’re delighted to once again welcome Amy Bell, a recognised expert in law firm compliance, to clarify your anti-money laundering (AML) obligations and answer your questions. Following The Onboarding Summit in February, many of you told us that Amy’s session was like a checklist for law firms’ compliance. Needless to say, this free webinar on […]
Help to Buy on the decline, but will housebuilders miss it?
The latest research by the new-build sales optimisation platform, Unlatch, has revealed that the impact of the Help to Buy scheme within the new-build sector has been in slow decline, despite Help to Buy transactions still accounting for a sizable proportion of homes delivered by the nation’s three biggest housebuilders. Launched in 2013, Help to […]
Is now a good time to buy?
Six months on from the end of the Stamp Duty Holiday, the residential property market appears to be extremely buoyant. House prices have risen at the fastest rate for many years. Although average house prices started to grow slowly at the beginning of January, they grew nonetheless and may continue to grow for the foreseeable […]
Confessions of a cyber conveyancer
So there we were, sitting around, eating bonbons, adding features to our case management system, and generally feeling pretty confident with how we were leading the way in conveyancing technology. When suddenly, last Tuesday, a message popped up at the bottom of the browser on our screens. I can’t remember the words exactly but, roughly […]
Developers: £4 billion cladding bill will prevent new affordable homes
The £4 billion cladding tax bill faced by housing developers will come at the cost of new affordable homes, developers have warned the government. The first round of discussions held between housebuilders and Michael Gove, Secretary of State for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, resulted in some the UK’s biggest housebuilders signing […]
Profits rise by 28% for Co-op Legal Services
Profits have risen by 28% to £5 million over the last year for Co-Op Legal Services in a year that also saw revenue rise 3% to £39 million. Co-op Legal Services was established in 2006 with the initial goal of providing legal services to all Co-op members. Since then, the company has increased its range of services and […]
Coodes conveyancing team appoints new leadership and lawyers
South West law firm Coodes Solicitors’ award-winning conveyancing team is now under new leadership with several new appointments being made. Partner Sarah Cowley has been re-appointed Head of Residential Property, supported by Residential Property Assistant Manager, Partner Kate Bayley. Sarah Cowley has returned to Coodes to lead the department through its next phase of growth. […]
First-time buyers pushed out of market, research shows
Home moving platform, Stipendium, has revealed that the average cost of a mortgage deposit on a first home has climbed by 54% in the last decade, pushing homeownership further out of reach for the nation’s first-time buyers. Stipendium analysed the current cost facing first-time buyers when it comes to a mortgage deposit and how this […]
CA announces Landmark as new affiliate member
The Conveyancing Association (CA) has announced Landmark Information Group as a new Affiliate member Landmark Information Group is the UK’s largest source of land and property data and is on a mission to use data and technology to transform the property transaction process, making it simpler, faster and more certain for everyone involved. Its innovative […]
Brachers integrates Perfect Portal into its systems
Brachers improves clients’ property matters with investment in Perfect Portal system Clients of Maidstone and Canterbury-based law firm Brachers can now expect a more efficient process when buying or selling a property, further to the firm integrating Perfect Portal in its systems. Perfect Portal is a digital system that allows clients in the process of […]
PEXA develops new payment system and partners with ClearBank in remortgage platform
PEXA, the Australian-founded fintech that enabled the world’s first fully digitised property settlement process, today announces the successful development of a brand new payment scheme – PEXA Pay. At the same time, PEXA has partnered with ClearBank, the largest next generation clearing and embedded banking platform in the UK, to broaden access to its forthcoming […]
UPRNs now a requirement of new BASPI
It will now be a requirement to include UPRNs in the new BASPI form. On 31st March 2022, trade and representative bodies representing the legal, surveying, estate agency and property management sectors launched a new version of the BASPI – the Buying and Selling Property Information form. This initiative is part of a wider process […]
RICS begins valuation review implementation
RICS moves forward with Valuation Review implementation as views sought on UK Red Book changes. Senior chartered surveyor, Richard Waterhouse FRICS, has been appointed to chair an expert sub-committee that will oversee implementation of the recommendations of the Valuation Review, on behalf of RICS’s Standards and Regulation Board (SRB). A member of the Standards and […]
Halifax HPI: prices at record high while market “maintains momentum”
Halifax has published its latest House Price Index for March. The index shows that house prices increased by 1.4% in March, the largest monthly increase in six months, climbing by 11% month-to-date. Average house prices are now at their highest since mid-2007. The average house price, according to the Halifax HPI, now stands at a […]
Diary of a high street conveyancer; 11th April 2022
It’s funny when we hear on the news how different the property market is now as to how it was two years ago. We think back to the first lockdown and those in chains were unable to move, even if they had already exchanged contracts. Conveyancers were furloughed. Estate agents were closed. And then we […]
How UPRNs can speed up conveyancing
The Today’s Conveyancer Podcast: how Unique Property Reference Numbers can speed up conveyancing – click HERE to listen to the episode UPRNs, or Unique Property Reference Numbers, have the potential to increase surety and speed up the conveyancing process, according to the guests on this Today’s Conveyancer podcast. David Opie is joined by Nick Chapallaz […]
Does ID/AML have to be a drama?
The recent thought-provoking ITV drama “Our Home” highlighted the possible nightmare scenario of going away for a few days and coming back to find strangers moving into your house. A cleverly orchestrated fraud (if a little too simplistic) sees a London home sold fraudulently, demonstrating real challenges that exist in our system if quite simple […]
AML within the property industry: why the two-tier approach?
Each year there are over 1.5 million homes listed for sale in the UK and the potential sellers of each all require anti-money laundering (AML) checks – often there’s more than one check per property in the case of joint ownership. Since June 2017, property buyers, at the point that an offer is accepted, are […]
Business chiefs call for SDLT refunds on energy-efficient homes
Business leaders have suggested that homeowners who make their property more environmentally friendly within two years of purchasing their house should have their Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) refunded or adjusted based on the energy efficiency of their home. In a letter to Kwasi Kwarteng prior to the Business Secretary’s energy security strategy announcement this […]