Martin is a Senior Content Writer for Today’s Conveyancer, Today’s Wills and Probate, Today’s Legal Cyber Risk and Today’s Family Lawyer
Having qualified as a teacher, Martin previously worked as a Secondary English Teacher that responsible for Head of Communications.
After recently returning to the North West from Guernsey in the Channel Islands, Martin has left teaching to start a career in writing and pursue his lifelong passion with the written word.
Over a third of all people who appealed to their local authorities about a need for housing are either still homeless or have become homeless due to a worrying lack of council housing. The housing
Almost half of all homeowners in the UK regret buying their home and over half feel as though they rushed into making such a huge life decision. 44 per cent of homeowners would not buy
Almost two thirds of small to medium-sized construction companies are calling for the governing body to exert their new independent muscles by announcing a cut in VAT on home repair and renovation works. The Federation
The increased number of products and plans available to homeowners is encouraging a lot more younger people to use equity release products. Over the last four years, the number of 55-year olds researching equity release
Activity in the housing market is continuing to increase according to the Halifax House Price Index. The Index has claimed that transactions, mortgage approvals and house prices all climbed in February, following a strong December
According to the ‘Home and Dry’ report, carried out by the Centre for Ageing Better and Care & Repair England, 4.3 million homes do not meet ‘basic standards of decency’ because of ‘serious hazards’ which
Today’s Conveyancer is hosting an industry summit where professionals can discuss their personal challenges and issues within the sector with their peers. The summit takes place on Thursday 12th March at the prestigious Montcalm Royal
Gross mortgage lending experienced the first annual fall since 2010 last year. According to UK Finance’s ‘Household Finance Review – Q4 2019’, mortgage lending to all buying demographics fell in 2019, despite the strong end
The government are launching a house building competition in order to encourage developers and builders to design elderly friendly homes for the future. Small businesses, designers and manufacturers have been given the brief of creating
31 per cent of buyers and sellers will cancel their plans of moving home whilst the coronavirus is still spreading throughout the UK. Worryingly, whilst a third of potential buyers may postpone their activity in
The government is in overwhelming agreement with the Law Commission’s report on the Electronic Execution of Deeds. The government will endorse the draft legislation regarding electronic signatures as being permissible and confidently used in commercial
The National Crime Agency (NCA) has secured a freezing order on a UK property portfolio worth more than £10.5 million amidst money laundering concerns. The Property Freezing Order (PFO) will delay or permanently prevent the
Last month, the Law Society published updated property information forms (TA6). Having reviewed the updates, a number of amendments regarding Japanese Knotweed were made to reflect the difficulty in diagnosing an issue with the invasive
The Chancellor has been urged to use the Spring Budget as a way of getting the UK moving with fears that economic and social factors could negatively impact the market in 2020. Outside influences had
The legal sector is reliant on legal suppliers to ensure a smooth and efficient service for their clients. Often, the technology and services suppliers provide will improve, secure and safeguard the home buying and selling
The number of new build sales received for registration in January 2020 fell by over a quarter compared with the year earlier. Of the 95,982 sales received for registration, 12,841 were for newly built properties,
An unscrupulous gang of five online fraudsters have been jailed for ‘payment diversion fraud’ offences worth over £10 million. The North West London Economic Crime Unit identified a total of 235 separate frauds committed between
Once viewed as the assistant to a solicitor with a main aim of aiding them in the development of a case, the role of a paralegal is now unrecognisable. Gone are the days when a
Mortgage approvals for home purchases reached pre-referendum highs in January. The 70,900 mortgage approvals for house purchases, a key indicator for future lending, represented a 4.4 per cent increase when compared with the already buoyant
Government housing officers have delayed the proposed reservation agreement trials until late Spring. The government had announced that a trial into reservation agreements was set to take place in the first quarter of 2020. However,
Help to Buy purchases made using an Equity Loan reached record highs in the year to September 2019. 52,703 Help to Buy homes were purchased using an equity loan in the year to September, a
The House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee has criticised the government’s housing targets, branding them ‘unrealistic.’ The government’s target of releasing land to build the equivalent of 160,000 homes was deemed an ‘aspirational’ target
The Competition Markets Authority (CMA) are set to ‘launch enforcement action’ against house builders and developers who mis-sold leasehold properties, trapping buyers in unfair contracts and unattractive or unsaleable properties. Based on the evidence uncovered,
A leading group of construction industry bodies has urged the government to ensure that legislation is in place to address the environmental impact of the current housing stock so that it meets sustainability goals. The
A new trade body designed to raise data quality and content standards in property searches used in the conveyancing process has officially launched. The Conveyancing Information Executive (CIE), founded by Groundsure, Landmark Legal, SearchFlow and
Spring is on the horizon and house hunters are awakening from their winter hibernation with almost a third more prospective buyers flooding the property market. The number of potential buyers registered per estate agency branch
The 7,000th remortgage deed was signed and registered digitally at the start of February. In October 2019, HM Land Registry (HMLR) announced the signing of the 1,000th digital remortgage. However, since this time conveyancers and
The Environment Agency Chief Executive has urged the government to only approve developments on high-risk flood plains when there is ‘no real alternative’. In a speech at the World Water-Tech Innovation Summit, the Environment Agency
The government’s pledge to build 1 million new homes over the next five years has been accused of lacking ambition. The Intermediary Lenders Association (IMLA) has released a set of suggested priorities the government should
The government are ploughing ahead with plans to introduce a New Homes Ombudsman. The government statement claimed the Housing Secretary is set to ‘clamp down on shoddy housebuilders’ by offering the new independent ombudsman increased
Estimates suggest that the current housing crisis gap will not be closed until 2035, based on the current speed of new build completions. The BBC has produced a briefing paper on the state of the
First-time buyer activity increased in January whilst mortgage approvals fell slightly in the opening month of 2020. Small deposit borrowers, usually made up of FTBs gaining their first rung on the ladder by acquiring lower