MDA Searchflow holds the licence to run the NLIS hub channel, owns it own channel, operates a personal search business and provides a broad range of services to the UK property sector. Prior to my

With the KPMG fraud barometer indicating that fraud is running at a 22 year high and that mortgage fraud has nearly quadrupled in value during the first six months of 2010 conveyancers may wish to

Solicitor’s Professional Indemnity Insurance Market Update I provided some information for previous issues of Today’s Conveyancer regarding the Solicitor’s Professional Indemnity Insurance market and I have been asked to provide an update.  This is currently

CLS update us on the latest case regarding village greens. It’s just not cricket! Village Greens step up for a second innings The latest village green case has been considered by the Supreme Court in

Bellway, the country’s fourth largest volume house builder, has issued a positive trading update.  The number of completed sales increased by almost 5% to 4,595 homes (2009 – 4,380), at an average sales price of

Following a long period where mortgage intermediaries have not had access to the best products and have faced a considerable contraction in the market, mortgage brokers now appear more confident.  In what can only be

Sellers and agents are clearly concerned about market weakness with Zoopla reporting that 32% of properties placed onto the market have had a price reduction.  The average reduction has been 6.1% which has overall reduced

Many solicitors are struggling to obtain quotes from professional indemnity insurance brokers and those that do appear to be facing price rises.  For one firm that Today’s Conveyancer is aware of the news of their

The following article is produced with kind persmission of Mace and Jones solicitors. http://www.maceandjones.co.uk/news/archive/interpretation-of-the-scope-of-a-right-of-way.html Interpretation of the scope of a right of way Published: 28th July 2010 Davill v Pull and another [2009] EWCA Civ

Following a letter from DEFRA to Local Authorities and a Statutory Instrument issued yesterday named “The Local Land Charges (Amendment) Rules 2010” the costs to personal search agents have fallen. Announcing the changes Housing Minister,

In contrast to the Building Society Association figures showing that mutuals increased their mortgage advances in June by 11% The Bank of England monthly statistical release for June 2010 shows that mortgage approvals for June

In a 78 page report Land Registry has indicated pride in the service that it has delivered. Marco Pierleoni, Chief Land Registrar and Chief Executive said: "Serving customers quickly, efficiently and courteously has always been

In June there were 245,869 applications to Land Registry compared with 210,814 in May and this growth in applications can be seen across all the large firms having a busy completions period in June. Please

The British Bankers Association reports each month on the mortgage approval activity of the “main high street banking groups” which represent 2/3 of mortgage lending in the UK. Conveyancers will wonder whether the market is

In a move that will disappoint many conveyancers Royal Sun Alliance has declined to quote for a number of its existing large solicitor firms.  This move will support the concerns that many have that the

The Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank have written to approximately 18,000 variable rather mortgage customers to increase their monthly payments due to an underpayment calculation error. In their press release the Banks indicate that they are

In a demonstration of how slick conveyancing panel management can be Move Legal Services have launched a new portal for brokers. The service provides an online quotation system for broker and what Move describe as

Following action taken earlier this year by Santander, and Britannia, Lloyds Banking Group has decided to review the criteria for membership of its conveyancing panels, according to the Gazette. It is reported that the plan

The ICO has issued a new code of practice for the collection of personal information online: Link to code Christopher Graham  Information Commissioner in the opening words to the code says: “The online world is

OpenConvey has been very busy this year signing up estate agents and conveyancers to its panel and introducing a will writing service. Recently OpenConvey has added Alex Neil estate agents to its client list and

The CML which represents mortgage lenders has estimated that mortgage lending in June increased by 15% compared with May 2010 to £13.1Bn.  In comparison to June 2009 the figure was 7% higher. However the press

Many parts of the press are talking about an ARP “crackdown”.  Firm words from the Solicitors Regulatory Authority have been issued and many lines of text have been written, but what does this mean for

Whilst many conveyancers continue to feel the pinch the recent flurry of merger and acquisition activity around the edge of the conveyancing market continues.  Within the last few weeks myhomemove has made two acquisitions and

On the 15th July the Law Society Gazette ran a report on identity theft where they stated: “Saydia Iqbal, a partner at Bolton firm SK Solicitors, said a group or individual has been fraudulently using

SmartNewHomes.com claims that it is the UK’s leading new homes website, representing 85% of all new homes for sale in England, Wales and Scotland. Steve Lees, Marketing Director of SmartNewHomes.com said “June saw the lowest

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) each month surveys a sample of its members to indicate their perception of the market. The figures for June have just been released and indicate that whilst a

The article below is reproduced with the kind permission of Windor Partners Limited.   The Editor of Today’s Conveyancer Chris Harris has significant experience in managing risk and compliance within conveyancing firms.  Many partners are

Landmark one of the leading providers of environmental search data for conveyancers have announced the acquisition of Calnea Analytics. Calnea provides residential property information and advanced data modelling including AVMs, web services and risk tools

Conveyancing Data Services the Wokingham based search provider have following their launch last week of a Chancel Liability Insurance have launched a couple of new search packages for conveyancers. Personal Local Search + Private Water

Virtually everyone seems to have noticed the increase of “for sale” signs lining the streets but now FindaProperty has confirmed this in a report. FindaProperty the large property portal has found that the stock of

The Council of Mortgage Lenders which represents organisations responsible for 94% of all residential mortgage lending in the UK has issued its report on the mortgage market for May 2010. Remortgage activity is reported as

On the 25th June we reported that myhomemove who claim to be the largest “independent provider of conveyancing services” acquired Easier 2 Move the panel manager.  Today by a further press release they have announced