The Online Trend and Conveyancing
How easy are you making it for potential clients to find and deal with your firm? While none of us can predict the future, what is certain is that the legal landscape has changed for good—especially when it comes to how clients interact with your firm. In the not-so-distant past, the ways that legal clients […]
HM Land Registry Release Electronic Signature Guidance
HM Land Registry has released details of its new guidance on “Accepted Signatures.” The guidance covers the types of signatures accepted by HMLR for forms, restriction consents and certificates, defining the options for conveyancers. Wet ink signature: A wet ink signature is a hand-written pen to paper signature. Mercury signing: A defined process by which […]
Firms warned over security risk of WFH
Law firms jave been warned to rethink remote working policies to avoid cyber attacks and data breaches. The “Future of Working from Home” white paper has found that 41% of data breaches are caused by a lost or stolen device, highlighting the requirement for many legal firms’ IT departments to carefully consider working from home policies […]
Subsidence: what is it? What causes it? And how can you find out if you are affected?
Subsidence is a common problem in the UK and is defined as the vertical downward movement of the ground. If a building is located above, this will result in the damage to a building and its foundations. Subsidence is thought to affect up to 20% of residential properties in England and Wales. This is costly […]
Stand out to avoid conveyancer burnout
Burnout. It’s a short but powerful word that means so much and is particularly pertinent to the conveyancing sector at the moment – and particularly in relation to recruitment and retention. The extension of the so-called Stamp Duty holiday and then the coronavirus lockdowns have piled on the pressure for conveyancers. According to the Government’s […]
How to manage client onboarding risks
What’s the biggest AML risk factor? Adopting and implementing an effective Know Your Customer (KYC) standard is an essential part of any law firm’s risk management procedure. Those law firms with uncertain or out of date KYC risk management processes will be rightly concerned about the level of y legal and reputational damage they are […]
Using Search Insurance to minimise local authority delays
As a direct result of the stamp duty holiday and the Covid-19 pandemic, the provision of searches is now a major issue with many areas across England and Wales subject to severe delays with some local councils advising this is likely to continue for several months. The situation has got so bad that in January […]
Groundsure Avista – the best just got even better
Groundsure Avista has already changed the face of conveyancing searches, offering a premium, all-in-one experience and delivering a quality of content and design never before seen. It has become the de facto standard of a premium conveyancing search. Product evolution is a given with Groundsure and we are never resting on our laurels… but even […]
Have Conveyancers’ Needs Changed? Onesearch Launch Survey
OneSearch, the largest local search data company in the UK, has launched an industry-wide survey to determine the needs of conveyancers, as firms recalibrate after the first of two SLDT deadlines. According to Rightmove’s latest House Price Index, “higher prices combined with a lack of fresh choice coming to market are reducing some buyers’ ability […]
FCI Launches New Look Residential Reports
Future Climate Info (FCI) has launched a new, refreshed Residential environmental report range that is available to the conveyancing market from 1st July 2021. The reports have an improved fresh, modern look and feel, providing greater usability and speed of report analysis. FCI Essential, FCI Standard, FCI Premium and FCI Premium Plus Planning reports will […]
LSB pushes legal regulators to put consumers first following BSB governance review
Today, the Legal Services Board (LSB) published the findings of its review of the Bar Standards Board (BSB) under the ‘Well-led’ standard of the LSB regulatory performance assessment framework. The oversight regulator found concerns about leadership and governance at the BSB and little evidence of a focus on the needs of consumers and the public interest. In response, […]
SDLT holiday enters phase two
Today marks the next phase of the tapering of the Stamp Duty Land Tax holiday in England outlined by Chancellor Rishi Sunak in the March budget. From 1st July to 30th September 2021 the price at which the nil rate band applies drops from £500,000 to £250,000. First time buyer relief returns to the first […]
You Did It! Congratulations!! 1st July 2021
So how was it yesterday? Think back over the last 24 hours; how many people did you help to move home? Think back over the last few months; how many people did you help move in to their forever home? In fact, think back over your career; how many people in total have you helped […]
Stamp Duty holiday triggers 171,000 extra sales
The current Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) holiday has helped deliver a property market stimulus that has far outweighed the immediate response to the 2007/08 financial crisis, according to new analysis by Search Acumen, the property data and insight provider. Despite causing an uplift in activity, the current SDLT relaxation has so far triggered a 7% rise […]
Diary of a High Street Conveyancer; 30th June 2021
So how was today? Was it manic? was it stressful? Did you achieve everything you wanted? One of the things that became apparent over the last few weeks was that estate agents and conveyancers could work together for the benefit of the client. Or so I thought until today. I was trying to complete a […]
Absence of Easement Legal Indemnity Insurance: a case study in conveyancing risk management
A series of case study articles giving real life examples of the benefits of specialist Legal Indemnity Insurance: protection for the insured and risk management for conveyancing solicitors. In today’s busy conveyancing market speed is of the essence. In this article, we look at a case study example of where CLS provided Absence of Easement […]
Diary of a High Street Conveyancer; 29th June 2021
Three more days to go……. Monday morning – enthusiastic, ready for the week ahead, and already thinking that it is really only a three day week! But I don’t think some clients got the memo…. my first call was from a client I acted for last year who needed to know whether she could send […]
Solicitors’ leader welcomed SRA’s diverse draft business plan and budget
Solicitors’ leaders today welcomed the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) draft 2021-2022 business plan and budget, which will focus on anti-money laundering (AML), diversity, inclusion, technology and innovation. Law Society of England and Wales president I. Stephanie Boyce said: “We are pleased to see the SRA prioritising its work and resources on its core regulatory function […]
So… you think that mining risk is only a rural thing?
It is easy to assume that, if your client’s property is in an urban area, your due diligence on the transaction would not need to involve purchasing a mining report – but our vast collection of historical mining data tells a very different story. We have previously written various pieces on urban mining but as […]
Key appointment made to sales team at LFS
Law Firm Services, the developers behind Minerva, a complete onboarding solution for law firms, are delighted to be working with Clare Yates of CY Training Works. Clare will be helping to deliver their services as part of the customer success management process and is a welcome collaboration with the team. Having such an experienced consultant onboard […]