Diary of a high street conveyancer: 5th February 2024
What provoked my tale last week of the double murder in a house my client was buying was a post I saw relating to unnecessary enquiries. The query posted was – have any crimes been committed in the property? And bearing in mind, last week’s tale, I think we can conclude that acting in […]
The importance of performance management over appraisals
Hamza Hafesji, Group Product Manager at Advanced Legal, joins the latest Today’s Conveyancer podcast to discuss the importance of implementing a culture of performance management in a business. For years the only time most employees receive any sort of constructive feedback has been in an annual appraisal. For Hamza, something has to fundamentally change and […]
The ex-conveyancer’s view: Launching a new technology platform
Today’s Conveyancer podcast host David Opie is joined by former-conveyancer Chris Scantlebury, the founder and director at conveyancing platform ProConvey. Chris explains how he has moved on from front line conveyancing to develop ProConvey; an digital conveyancing tool that helps conveyancers and estate agents better collaborate. Having spent 10 years “down the mines” at the […]
Diary of a high street conveyancer: 29th January 2024
Conveyancing is not always about the law – yes, we need the law to underpin the work we do each day but a lot of what we do is a process. But every conveyancing transaction is different and that is because all properties are different and all people are different. How client X reacts to […]
Planning essentials case update: when can an enforcement notice against an unlawful use also require the removal of related structures?
There are currently two different limitation periods for breaches of planning law dependent on the type of breach. The general rule is that where there has been a breach of planning control consisting of building operations without planning permission, no enforcement action can be taken 4 years after the operations were substantially completed. Whereas, where there […]
Confessions of a cyber conveyancer
I’ve never made any secret of my opinion that the core problem in conveyancing is a lack of usable data to help lawyers make better decisions. When combined with a completely manual process of dealing with risk, this results in the almost unmanageable chaos that most property lawyers face every day. Given the increased risks […]
‘So, what difference does it make?’
Music fans of a certain vintage will recognise these lyrics from one of The Smiths’ powerhouse singles of the 80s no doubt, and wonder why they headline this particular article on conveyancing. Well, I start with this question, because it’s one we tend to get a lot from conveyancers when asking ‘what difference’ membership of […]
How to better deal with complaints and compliance considerations
Kate Burt joins this latest episode of the Today’s Conveyancer podcast. Kate is a solicitor and compliance consultant, running specialist consultancy Hive Risk. The topic of discussion is compliance and the way external organisations can support firms, before moving on to specifically talk about complaints handling. As Kate says, compliance is not just the SRA […]
The Ombudsman’s Corner: January 2024
Our approach to offers made at first tier When a consumer first brings a complaint to us, one of the first thing we do is to establish whether the service provider has made an offer to resolve it during their own complaints procedure. If this is the case, and we think the service provider’s offer […]
Diary of a high street conveyancer: 22nd January 2024
One of the things that bothers me is what we should do when we receive a contract pack which is not correct and perhaps has missing documents and what we should do when we receive enquiries which are standard and clearly not CQS-compliant. It is clear from what I read that the quality of conveyancing […]
The regulator’s view; anti-money laundering and the CLC
The Today’s Conveyancer podcast returns for it’s third series with our first episode of 2024. And we’re launching with a bang with Sebastian Haller, Deputy Director of Anti-Money Laundering at the Council for Licensed Conveyancers sharing the regulator’s views on the challenges conveyancers and property lawyers face when it comes to anti-money laundering (AML) Sebastian […]
Diary of a high street conveyancer: 15th January 2024
Many years ago, it was common for buyers to have the keys of an empty property between exchange and completion in order to carry out works, clean and decorate. This does not happen as often now. I recall that on one of the first occasions when I was acting for a buyer who was given […]
Marketing Your Law Firm in 2024: Strategies for Standing out in 2024
With 11,500 law firms in the UK differentiation can be a constant challenge. When it come to legal services marketing, law firms in 2024 must adopt innovative marketing strategies to distinguish themselves. Legal Growth, a marketing agency specialising in law firms, highlights key approaches to ensure your firm not only competes but excels in this […]
Navigating Through the Storm – predictions for the UK Legal Sector in 2024
Despite a challenging economic climate the UK legal sector remains resilient and, according to the LexisNexis GLP Index, is poised for growth in 2024. Although a general slowdown is projected, the good news is that specific pockets of expertise remain in high demand. This presents opportunities that the more agile small and medium sized firms […]
Diary of a high street conveyancer: 8th January 2024
Happy New Year to you all! I hope that 2024 is going to be a good year. It is always at this time of year when I think about how we can achieve a better work/life balance and how perhaps conveyancing land can be better. So, with that in mind, here are my top five […]