SDLT petition calls for holiday to be triggered upon exchange
Last month, a Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) petition was launched by Christopher Holland, who wants the current SDLT holiday to be triggered upon exchange of contracts. Launching his petition, he wrote: “People are finding themselves becoming trapped in a scenario whereby house prices are much higher, and at the same time they will now […]
Perfect Portal shortlisted for the British Conveyancing Awards
On 30th April 2021, The British Conveyancing Awards announced which law firms, teams, individuals, and legal technology providers were shortlisted for the seventeen separate categories for this year’s awards. The judges have factored in the uncustomary nature of the past year, by considering how the nominated candidates have worked through such adversities to best support […]
What Score Does Your Conveyancing Website Get?
As a conveyancing law firm, with competition for services high, your website needs to be appealing and easy to use for potential legal clients. There’s no room for error or complacency when a competing firm’s website is just a click away from yours. How do you assess if your site is performing at its best? […]
Accreditation success for Aconveyancing
Investors in People is delighted to award midlands-based law firm Aconveyancing, the We invest in people, standard accreditation. It means principles and practices around supporting staff are in place and everyone understands how to use them, to make work better. Supporting staff welfare and structured career progression sits at the heart of what Aconveyancing offers […]
Time-consuming Report on Title preparation is a thing of the past
For many conveyancers, the practice of preparing a Report on Title is an onerous task and one that hasn’t changed for over 30 years, still dependent upon word documents which require editing in every single case. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Did you know… There is an affordable electronic solution which simplifies the […]
Leveraging LinkedIn
Not long to go… We are gearing up for our next webinar which takes place Thursday 13th May, in which we will be discussing all things LinkedIn with our guest Rich Dibbins. Rich, joins us from Staxton Digital, and comes with a wealth of knowledge and experience when it comes to marketing for the legal […]
LEAP and InfoTrack: End-to-end digital conveyancing
Providing a powerful suite of solutions from client onboarding and searches to post-completion and e-signature services, the InfoTrack integration with LEAP digitises the entire conveyancing process and assures compliance and productivity throughout. Seamless, two-way integration empowers firms to operate more efficiently, achieving savings up to 30% of time per matter. The past year has been […]
Conveyancing Association appoints new Non-Executive Chair
The Conveyancing Association (CA), the leading trade body for the conveyancing industry, has today (6th May 2021) announced the appointment of a new Non-Executive Chair. Nicky Heathcote, who has over 30 years’ experience in the public sector, takes over as Non-Executive Chair from Paul Smee with immediate effect. As with Paul, Nicky will be an […]
Firms struggling despite housing market boom
Begbies Traynor, an insolvency specialist, has released their latest Red Flag report which shows that more and more UK firms dealing with the residential property market are facing financial distress. The report says: “Despite the booming residential property market, the whole real estate and property sector – a key indicator of the economy’s performance – […]
Eleventh-hour EU-UK deal ratification welcomed by legal sector
News the European Parliament has ratified the UK’s deal with the EU brings a degree of certainty to our future relationship – even if many questions remain to be resolved, solicitors’ leaders said. Law Society of England and Wales president I. Stephanie Boyce said: “We welcome MEPs’ decision to back the Trade and Cooperation Agreement […]
HMLR Practice Guide updates: PG80
Here are the latest practice guide updates issued by HM Land Registry. Coronavirus (COVID-19): useful information for conveyancers (PG80) Page summary: Information about pre-existing and new practice of particular relevance in the current circumstances (practice guide 80). Change made: Section 3.1 has been amended to clarify we calculate the application cancellation date from the date […]
Free Learning and Development Portal launches for Property Lawyers and Conveyancers
SearchFlow, the UK’s largest provider of legal due diligence data for residential and commercial property transactions, has today launched a free self-learning hub that gives property lawyers and conveyancers access to a rich selection of resources and insights, to help them meet professional competence requirements. The SearchFlow Academy provides access to videos, webinars and tutorials […]
A Kent Council joins Land Registry’s Local Land Register
HM Land Registry’s digital Local Land Charges Register continues to grow, enabling the digital transformation of homebuying with Kent Council now joining Land Registry’s Local Land Charges Register. Anyone requiring local land charges (LLC) searches in the local authority area of Sevenoaks District Council will need to get them from HM Land Registry rather than […]
Passed Fire Safety Bill to leave leaseholders liable for cladding bill
There was outcry over the Fire Safety Bill being passed in Parliament last week as critics believe the reforms will leave leaseholders footing the bill associated with the removal of dangerous cladding. The survivors and bereaved families of the Grenfell Disaster were unhappy just prior to the passing of the Fire Safety Bill, which is […]
Billing in advance – A tricky path to take
As part of our ‘Technical Corner’ we want to bring you information that will help you to continue to learn and grow in your career. This month’s technical corner article comes from Robert Blech LLB, FCCA, ACA. Robert.blech@mhllp.co.uk 020 7429 4100 One of the first points noted when the SRA Accounts Rules 2019 were released […]
Arrears mediation scheme can help lettings industry to avoid eviction backlog
The pilot of the government’s Housing Possession Mediation Scheme can help letting agencies and landlords recover arrears without lengthy waits for court evictions, according to PayProp. Launched by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the free arrears mediation service aims to help parties resolve disputes more quickly without the need for court action. […]
Property Lawyers Convey Law working with the Government to prevent crime
Property Lawyers Convey Law can now check information provided by clients against information held by the government to help verify someone’s identity at the start of a property transaction. This is the first such integration with a legal practice in the UK. The Document Checking Service (DCS) pilot is a government initiative designed to offer organisations […]
Conveyancers given extra time to respond to requisitions
HM Land Registry will be asking conveyancers for written evidence to show they have taken steps to resolve a request for information (requisition) before granting an extension from next month. This change comes after the window for replying to requests for information was extended in January to 20 days. But conveyancers now have an extra […]
How to predict flood risk more accurately to mitigate risk
In March 2020, we wrote about this topic as the UK had just experienced “the wettest February on record.” 2021 has already had it’s share of heavy rainfall and flooding: The Met Office reports that “Storm Christoph brought some heavy, and at times record-breaking, rain to parts of the UK. Provisional figures show Honister, in […]
Shortlist announced for the British Conveyancing Awards 2021
We’re excited to announce the shortlist for the inaugral British Conveyancing Awards! The awards are brought to you by Today’s Conveyancer, alongside headline sponsor, Lawyer Checker and Champagne Sponsor Simplify, and proceedings begin at 3.30pm on 25th May 2021. The shortlist Category Shortlist Best Use of Marketing Sponsored by The Society of Licensed Conveyancers […]