According to January’s Land Registry House Price Index the average property value in England and Wales is now at £162,441 after a 1% rise from December to January. As usual, London saw the largest property

According to the latest Bank of England figures the number of loan approvals for house purchase was up from the previous six month average of 51,344 to 54,719 in January. Remortgaging loans told the opposite

The Coal Authority has confirmed they will be closed from the 10th March through to the 18th March. Their offices are closing whilst essential maintenance takes place.  They confirmed that no mining reports will be

At the beginning of December the Land Registry launched new electronic Document Registration Service (e-DRS), allowing conveyancers to send and receive the majority of their applications to change the register electronically. Since the launch over

Stuart Webster has been appointed commercial director at xit2, the mortgage and property risk and data exchange specialists. Webster comes to xit2 from parent Decision Insight Information Group. He will be involved in overseeing operational

BCL Legal – the legal recruitment consultancy which operates from its network of offices in London, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham, Bristol and Reading – recently conducted a salary survey within the conveyancing sector and is

Love or loathe Countrywide Conveyancing they are a market leader in terms of financial success and sheer volume. Last week they announced their results and set some pretty stiff benchmarks to measure other conveyancers financial

The Department for Communities and Local Government released figures today that show official statistics of dwellings sold under Right to Buy schemes across England. Figures show that throughout 2012/2013 sales of dwellings by Local Authorities

Rob Hailstone writes “Have you ever found your firm taken off of a lender’s panel through no fault of your own? If you have, fear not, the situation can sometimes be resolved very quickly.” Rob

Despite a rising market with nearly 5% more applications to Land Registry than in 2012 the pace of consolidation in the market is becoming very clear.  689980 applications were made to Land Registry for transfers

Whilst slow mortgage processing times cause conveyancing chain issues there may be a silver lining for conveyancers. In bad news for conveyancers, yesterday’s Sunday Times highlighted a number of issues in mortgage processing times. According

Monthly gross remortgage lending has increased 6.2%, meaning it now represents 28% of the market. The latest LMS Remortgage Report shows that remortgaging increased by £168m to £2.9bn in January. Even with the increases, gross

Mr Poor and Miss Unfortunate, are looking to buy their dream home in Yate (other towns villages and cities are available) First time buyers, Mr. Poor and Miss Unfortunate had been enticed by the Punter

As yet another Banking crisis appears over the horizon and trust in the sector is damaged once more I ask myself “should the Law Society create a Bank”? What do you think? Of course there

25% of homeowners who remortgaged in January did so in order to free up capital to pay off other debts, according to research from LMS. They found that 66% of those increasing their mortgage did

The Land Registry has announced which local authorities will take place in a prototype to see if local charge registers can be consolidated into a digitised central register. The local authorities are: Sefton, Liverpool, Denbighshire,

The latest data from the Department for Communities and Local Government has shown that new home starts were some way off the target level during 2012. Annual housing starts totalled 98,280 in 2012, down by

The UK’s largest estate agents and property services group Countrywide has announced its intention to float on the stock exchange. The public will have the opportunity to buy ordinary shares in a newly-established English-incorporated company,

The majority of us in the property profession will be aware of the importance of commissioning a survey when purchasing a property, along with the potential pitfalls associated with failing to uncover something, which could

Mincoffs are pleased to announce two new appointments to their Residential Conveyancing department. Danielle Hutchinson joins the team as a conveyancer and has over six years’ experience. She is currently completing the Council for Licensed

Hot on the heels of Cobbetts collapse in Manchester the Law Society Gazette last week announced that Atteys is to go into administration and we are being informed that conveyancing staff are contacting other local

The Law Commission has announced a consultation into the right of landowners to receive light through defined apertures in buildings. If land owners are affected by the right then they need the consent of the

The Society of Licensed Conveyancers (SLC) has announced a new partnership with compliance experts, Legal Eye. The partnership will allow SLC members to secure a significant discount when purchasing compliance packages. SLC members can now

Repossessions in the final quarter of 2012 fell to the lowest rate since the final quarter of 2007, according to data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders. The number of properties taken into possession by

The Court of Appeal has confirmed that solicitors are in breach of trust in a remortgage transaction unless they get a valid redemption statement from the existing lender. Mark Redler & Co Solicitors (MRC) admitted

The government announced on Monday that the costs of personal care for the elderly in England will be capped from April 2017 at £75,000. Health Minister Jeremy Hunt told the House of Commons that the

Gross buy-to-let lending was up 19% from 2011 to £16.4 billion, the highest level for four years. Buy-to-let lending accounted for 11.5% of total gross mortgage lending in 2012, up from 9.8% in 2011, according

The following warning has been issued by The Solicitors Regulation Authority:  "The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has issued a warning involving con artists claiming to be from Global Solicitors. The SRA has received information that

Law Firm Services have announced that the final entry date to enter the conveyancing awards will now be 31st March 2013. This is to allow sufficient time for the judging process to take place.  Richard

According to Searchflow, the property search provider, UK homeowners could be at risk of over £291m in subsidence damage if there is a dry summer this year. Long range forecasters are predicting a hot and

The Legal Services Board recommended to the Lord Chancellor yesterday that estate administration not be regulated. The LSB had initially proposed that estate administration activities should be included in the list of reserved activities. However,

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has issued a warning of con artists claiming to be from legitimate solicitor Lynne Rowlinson at Rowlinsons Solicitors Limited. The SRA has been informed that a number of individuals across