SRA has no plans to reform indemnity insurance market
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) leaders have commented they have no plans to reform the indemnity insurance market. Delegates at the SRA’s recent compliance conference raised the issue of increasing premiums, saying that price hikes will inevitably affect the survival of many firms. But despite concerns the SRA has signalled it is unwilling to step in. […]
Diary of a High Street Conveyancer; 29th November 2021
There are those times when a client calls … “Hello, you may not remember me but you acted when I bought my house four years ago. I wonder if you could just witness my signature on a document.” Those words ‘just”… although actually the entire phrase ‘just witness my signature on a document’ leads to […]
HMLR announces updates to form RXC
Following customer feedback HMLR has now published an updated version 2 of its form RXC. Form RXC is a new way to provide a consent or certificate to comply with a restriction in the register and has been available since the end of July 2021. The changes have been prompted after HMLR was able to hear […]
The Dispute Service selected as New Homes Ombudsman
The Dispute Service has been selected as the New Homes Ombudsman after it won a competitive six-month tendering process. The New Homes Quality Board (NHQB) has announced that The Dispute Service will act as the independent ombudsman tasked with enforcing a new housebuilding industry code of practice “the New Homes Quality Code” (NHQC). The new […]
Conveyancing digitisation no longer “science fiction”
A few years ago, the words “digital” and “digitisation” were bandied around the property sector a lot and, for a while at least, I know many conveyancers simply saw this as some kind of science fiction talk. A look way into the future rather than propositions with any immediacy. It all sounded somewhat glamorous and […]
5 easy wins to improve your AML compliance
Last month Today’s Conveyancer reported that failure to introduce “proper risk assessments” was the number one AML failure in the recent SRA Report on their Anti Money Laundering work. What is clear from the SRA’s report is firm visits are here to stay, and that when they come, they are thorough reviews of what a […]
SRA proposing to end post six-year run-off cover
The SRA has announced proposals to end the provision of post six-year run-off cover (PSYROC), because the protection is thought to be disproportionately expensive. If effective, this means that the Solicitors Indemnity Fund (SIF), which provides the additional cover for closed firms, would end, and any remaining funds would be handed to the Law Society. The […]
Industry Insight: PII and mitigating SDLT risk
Mitigating risk in your conveyancing business was on the agenda at the latest Today’s Conveyancer industry roundtable. Welcoming Marc Rowson of Lockton Companies LLP and Hannah Mackinlay of SDLT Compass, the discussion centred on the ways in which firms can demonstrate to their insurers how they are taking a proactive approach to client service and […]
New cyber laws to protect smart devices from hackers
New government legislation has been introduced to protect people’s smart devices from being hacked. The Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill will give ministers new powers to bring in tougher security standards for device makers, including: Banning of easy-to-guess default passwords preloaded on devices. All products now need unique passwords that cannot be reset to […]
Lincolnshire amongst northern hotspots for buyers moving out of London
Lincoln and other areas in the Midlands and North have been dubbed hotspots for buyers looking to move out of bigger cities such as London, due to the introduction of flexible working by many employers across the country. Working from home has become the new normal for many people in the UK due to Coronavirus […]
Over 5000 new homes to be built on floodplains
A new report published by the think-tank Localis reveals that almost 200 planning permissions have been granted on floodplain land in 2021 so far, for more than 5000 new homes in high-risk local authorities across the UK. The report, titled “Plain Dealing – building for flood resilience“, is calling for Housing Secretary Michael Gove to […]
Electric car chargers to be installed in new homes from 2022
New legislation announced by Boris Johnson will require new homes and buildings, such as supermarkets and workplaces, to install electric vehicle charge points from next year. Under the new regulations up to 145,000 extra charge points will be installed across England every year before 2030 when the sale of new petrol and diesel cars will […]
Access Group acquire Legal Bricks
Access Legal, the Law technology specialist, has announced the acquisition of the Legal Bricks group of companies, a provider of conveyancing searches and property related services to the legal sector. Part of The Access Group, a provider of business software solutions to the mid-market, Access Legal say their latest acquisition strengthens its footprint in the […]
Housing market appears to be cooling
The latest figures released by HMRC appears to show a cooling of the housing market in England and Wales. Transaction figures for October 2021 show provisional non-seasonally adjusted estimate of 85,090 home moves, 30% lower than October 2020 and just under half of the September 2021 volumes. September figures were expected to be artificially higher […]
New forms to drive better up front information
Conveyancing trade and industry bodies The Conveyancing Association, The Law Society, CILEX, and the Society of Licenced Conveyancers have thrown their weight behind new versions of LPE1, LPE2 and FME1 forms which are to be launched from 11th January 2022 14 trade and representative bodies, from across the legal, surveying, estate agency and property management […]
Consultation could pave the way for APP fraud refunds
A consultation from the Payment Systems Regulator could see legislation introduced forcing banks to refund those affected by authorised push payment (APP) fraud. APP fraud is typically perpetrated by criminals impersonating trusted individuals and organisations in order to trick people into authorising a payment to an account controlled by a criminal. The criminals will send […]
British Conveyancing Awards 2022 Categories Released!
This year, Today’s Conveyancer launched The British Conveyancing Awards to recognise the herculean efforts of the conveyancing industry in keeping the housing market moving through 2020 and into 2021. Launched to coincide with the end of the original SLDT holiday, the ceremony in May saw the industry come together to recognise and celebrate the incredible […]
InfoTrack triumphs with wins for Product of the Year for eCOS and Supplier of the Year
InfoTrack has won two awards at the 2021 British Legal Technology awards. Taking the win for Product of the Year for their eCOS client onboarding solution, the award recognises innovative new products and solutions which deliver vision, differentiation, practicality, and importance to help evolve technology for the legal sector. eCOS is a powerful digital onboarding […]
Flexibility overtakes pay as top priority for practitioners
Flexibility has overtaken pay as the top priority for practitioners entering the jobs market, according to new research by legal recruitment consultancy, Realm Recruit. As part of its annual market research conducted in June 2021, Realm Recruit surveyed more than 100 practitioners on a number of topics, including jobseeker status, employee engagement, wellbeing and pay. […]
Could cyber regulation for IT service providers be introduced?
Third party IT service providers could be required to follow new cyber security rules such as the National Cyber Security Centre’s Cyber Assessment Framework as part of new proposals to help businesses manage the growing cyber threat. A consultation by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) looked into the security of digital […]