The Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have announced the appointment of former SRA Chief Executive Antony Townsend as Complaints Commissioner. The Commissioner is responsible for the final stage of investigations into
Seven people have been sentenced after completing millions of pounds worth of mortgage fraud that involved stealing ownership of homes and remortgaging them. Four gang members were jailed, while another three were handed suspended sentences
New concerns have been raised over the future of the 400 Land Registry employees in their Swansea office. The UK Government’s plans to part-privatise the organisation, which records the details of land ownership across Wales
Beaumont Legal, one of the country’s fastest growing law firms, has been voted Best Law Firm for Conveyancing for the second consecutive year, after the Wakefield-based solicitors clinched top honours at the 2014 First Time
The Society of Licensed Conveyancers (SLC) and the Bold Legal Group (BLG) have announced that they will be jointly hosting two conveyancing CPD events to be held in Woking on 4th June and Manchester on 2nd July.
The Conveyancing Apprenticeship Trailblazer Consortium is running a rapid consultation on its emerging plans for a new apprenticeship in conveyancing. Work is progressing well against the very tight timetable as part of the programme being
Tunbridge Wells based solicitors CooperBurnett has appointed two new members to their residential property department, associate Solicitors, Adrian Whichcord and Elizabeth Philp. Adrian has joined from Batchelors in Bromley, where he worked for ten years
It has been reported recently that Elite Insurance (who provide insurance for just over 1,000 firms) may not obtain a rating in time for this year’s renewal period. Jason Smart, CEO, said “costs will rise
Toby Perkins, Shadow Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills (DBIS), recently put a question to the current Minister of State for DBIS concerning conveyancing and the Land Registry’s plans for e-Mandation and self-service. Perkins asked:
Leicestershire solicitors’ firm, Headley’s, has appointed Jackie Frampton to head up their team in Lutterworth. Specialising in residential conveyancing and with over 20 years’ experience, Ms Frampton has worked in law firms in both Coventry
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers has issued a reminder to ensure searches include railway tunnels. In inner London, conveyancers are reminded to search for Network Rail and Transport for London tunnels, while those commissioning searches
Xit2, the online property and data network, will see it’s managing director, Mark Blackwell leave in the wake of its sale to EDM group. Joe Pepper from EDM Group will take over the role from
In this post Anis Waiz, solicitor and head of commercial litigation at Curtis Law Solicitors, continues his critical review of current case law. A recent case raised an interesting issue as to whether the "Bowerman"
The Law Society has published a practice note on the use of cloud computing services in law firms. The guidance is responding to the increasing use of cloud storage as an alternative to traditional IT
Gross bridging lending has reached a value of over £2billion in the last 12 months. According to a report by West One Loans, gross bridging lending has grown 26 per cent in the 12 months
The Solicitor’s Regulation Authority has released the ninth version of their handbook. The new version came into effect on 1 April and one of the key changes is to the SRA Financial Services (Scope) Rules.
House prices from January to March this year were 2.3 per cent higher than in the final quarter of 2013. The Halifax House Price Index (HHPI) also found that prices in the three months to
The Mortgage Market Review (MMR) rules will come into force on 26 April, leaving just weeks for lenders to ensure they are ready. The reforms set out in the MMR and MMR Rules are intended
A Milton Keynes and Northampton based Solicitors have announced the appointment of four new Equity Members. Franklins Solicitors LLP, one of the few firms to be accredited by LEXCEL, ISO9001, Investors in People and be
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) has revised its complaints guidance section in the handbook. An amendment has been made to the example complaints procedure to ‘reflect the timeframes applied by the Legal Ombudsman.’ The
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has asked for views on two consultations that have been launched to reduce regulatory burden. The first consultation looks at discontinuing the Keeping of the Roll as an annual exercise,
The proportion of homes being sold at asking price is currently at its highest level since 2004. The percentage grew from 93.5 per cent of homes in England and Wales achieving their asking price in
Severe tenant rent arrears have fallen by a third in the last 12 months, according to a new report. The number of tenants behind on rent by more than two months has fallen from 105,000
On Wednesday 9 April, Julie Tomasik, head of residential conveyancing at Ansons, will be donning biker gear and helmet to embark on ‘route 999’ riding pillion on a Honda ST1100 Pan European motorbike to raise
Decision First has announced the launch in Q2 of Lender Exchange, a secure platform designed to reduce the burden of applying to lender panels and meeting ongoing due diligence requirements of lender panel membership. Lender
If you were to ask the Head of Conveyancing at almost any legal practice what is their biggest challenge following the recent boom in transactions — the recruitment of high quality staff would be top
Research by myhomemove has found that despite the resurgence of the housing market in 2013, it was a year belonging to the cautious borrower. As the UK’s largest provider of mover conveyancing services, myhomemove is
The Solicitor’s Regulation Authority has announced it could allow sole practitioners to apply for lifetime licenses. Currently, solicitors who wish to operate as sole practitioners have to apply for their status to be recognised as
Three estate agents have been fined a total of £246,665 by the OFT for failure to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations 2007. Hastings International UK Limited (Hastings) is an estate agent with two premises
The government’s proposed plan to privatise the Land Registry has received condemnation from the Law Society. They warned that the proposals could undermine the integrity of the register and said that: ‘granting and validating legal
Remortgage lending went up by 48 per cent from last year, totalling £3.99bn, a recent report reveals. While the figures show a 5 per cent monthly drop in 2014’s monthly gross remortgage lending, down from
A property expert has predicted that the buy-to-let market will get a boost from pensioners looking for alternative investments. After the recent Budget announcement revealed plans that will allow pensioners to withdraw money directly rather