If you were in any doubt about the importance of the housing and mortgage markets to the UK economy, then recent weeks should have disavowed you of that notion. Currently, the heat has been turned
For all the talk about change within the home buying and selling process, it does genuinely feel like we’re at a tipping point in terms of moving into the next stage and that we are
I’m writing this slap bang in the middle of the inaugural National Conveyancing Week and I can’t think of a better time to be holding this series of events which make up the week, and
We might think we have focused a lot on upfront information (UFI) in recent times and there has been considerable cut-through and understanding on this subject right across our industry. However, I wonder whether we
At the start of any year, it’s positive to have a series of goals that you’d like to see resolutions for. Especially when you have been working on these for a long time and you
Last week we held a series of member meetings in various buildings around the Old Royal Navy College in Greenwich. Reminders of Britain’s historical past on the high seas are everywhere in that part of
When it comes to the perceived abuse of leaseholders and what might be termed a dereliction of duty over the years by various stakeholders, there might be a temptation to throw every single one collectively
This has, without doubt, been an “interesting” time for the conveyancing sector and, I think it’s fair to say, it remains a challenging one. I’m writing this just prior to the Government’s “fiscal event” and
There is a considerable amount of evidence in the marketplace to show just how damaging aborted transactions and fall throughs can be for every single stakeholder – from the customer themselves to the agent, to
You will hopefully have seen some of the results from our 2022 survey of conveyancing firms looking at their lender interactions, relationships, and communication channels. Each year, we ask conveyancers to give their assessment and
There is a lot of talk about “modernisation” in the news at present and how that chimes with job retention, better working conditions, pay increases, and the like. This is not a debate that is
When it comes to the process of conveyancing, I’ve written before that the industry is not always singing from the same hymn sheet, and that presents a problem. While we might like to think we
When it comes to improving the home buying and selling process, momentum gained has to be momentum sustained, and the recent White Paper on Levelling Up appears to provide the industry with the opportunity to
Welcome to 2022. Given the rollercoaster ride the sector enjoyed/endured in 2021, I’m sure many conveyancing firms will be hoping for a few less ups and downs over the course of the next 12 months,
At the recent Conveyancing Association Annual Conference, I was reminded of the words to this “Broadway banger” during a number of sessions that took place during the day. Whether it was talking about improving the
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
A ‘new broom’ sweeps clean so they say. When it comes to our sector having a new Secretary of State for the Department for Levelling up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC), let’s hope not. When looking
Understanding and utilising data has always been important but in the technological era it has become all-encompassing. In every facet of our lives, the data we provide, the data we hold, and the data we
Can you remember what you were doing on the 9th December last year? Me neither. But I can tell you it was a momentous day for all of us, because on that day, the very
As I write this we are just a week away from the Budget and, unless we’re all deeply mistaken, an announcement on a potential extension/taper/smoothing of the stamp duty holiday. If the rumour mill is
In all likelihood the words, ‘COVID-19 has been a game-changer’, will figure a lot in both the here and now, and in the future. That will certainly be the case for the conveyancing sector, where
For those of us from a certain generation the words ‘Nudge, nudge…’ will undoubtedly be followed by ‘…wink, wink, say no more…’ as we conjure up images of Eric Idle and a bemused Terry Jones
It’s understandable if you, as a conveyancing practitioner, have felt slightly caught on the hop by the announcements and measures announced over the past week or so. To quote Monty Python, “Nobody expects the Spanish
There’s no point trying to sugar-coat the current situation for conveyancing firms. We all know these are incredibly difficult times and trying to carry out your work, do right by your clients, while at the
The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) investigation into the sale of new-build leasehold properties was never likely to make easy reading for the many developers under review, and so it has come to pass with
Our recent Conference was titled, ‘Conveyancing 2025 & Beyond’, and one of the principal reasons for this is our belief that the next five or 10 years are going to bring a large amount of
Earlier this month – on the 9th January – the Law Commission published its first report on the series of consultations it is holding into leasehold reform. As you will no doubt know, leasehold reform
If there’s one thing I’ve learnt not to underestimate in the housing market, it’s the ability for the innocuous to be abused in the wrong hands. No longer can we rely on gentlemanly (or gentlewomanly)
You may not be a big movie fan, but I’m guessing you’ve probably seen Jurassic Park at some point – you know the one, scientist ‘resurrects’ dinosaurs, creates theme park, dinosaurs run amok, and repeat.
There are some problems that if you take them back to their core state can essentially be solved with a catch-all solution. That’s essentially how I think we need to look at many of the
When you’ve campaigned for something for over six years, there’s always going to be a huge sense of joy when your work, that of your colleagues, and indeed, the entire industry finally pays out. That
Working in this part of the market, there’s a very large part of me that believes if others can develop ‘smart water’, then we should certainly be able to produce ‘smart contracts’ in conveyancing. Indeed,