The latest Building Society Association’s (BSA) Property Tracker survey has indicated that consumers are slightly more confident about the future of the housing market, with homebuyers indicating that falling house prices are less of a

According to the RICS May 2011 UK Housing Market Survey, economy fears and a distinct lack of mortgage finance have kept housing market activity levels at low levels. There was hope that spring would see

With the government fully committed to unlocking more land for future development STL have launched a new report, DevAssess.  The new report gives a professional opinion on potential future development opportunities within a 75m radius

Warner Goodman LLP, a law firm with over 150 years under its belt and 120 staff over 3 offices, are working alongside Peppermint Technology towards a live release of Peppermint’s Portal. The Portal, together with

Harry Hill, one of the keynote speakers at this year’s ‘Moving With the Times’ National Conveyancing Conference, has shaken up the conveyancing market with his latest venture.  Hill, the founder of Rightmove and former Chief

According to e.surv, Chartered Surveyors, first time buyers have been hit by a further tightening in lending criteria, this has left fewer first time buyers achieving that first rung of the property ladder in May.

According to the latest LSL House Price Index eight of the ten regions within in England and Wales have falling house prices, based on the average annual change over the last three months.  Despite the

This month’s Land Registry data shows that some 190,000 Land Registry applications were made by account holders during April 2011, 16 per cent lower than the figures for this time last year. Today’s Conveyancer obtains

Boyd Hackett, NHBC’s Commercial Projects Manager, recently spoke exclusively to Today’s Conveyancer about eAcceptance, the new online Buildmark acceptance process. NHBC are currently developing eAcceptance, the new system designed to allow conveyancers to take complete

LawCare helps lawyers deal with health issues that can be common in challenging business times.  Given everything that is going on in the conveyancing market we thought it would be appropriate to give LawCare some

Conveycentric, in partnership with St Giles Legal and Professional Risks, have announced the launch of COMPLETIONmonitor, an online software tool that will grow and develop based on an individual lender’s specification within a property transaction.

Many conveyancing firms are worried how they will fit into the changing legal sector with alternative business structures enabling external capital to finance significant marketing activity in what is already a very competitive market.  The

OneSearch Direct have recently announced that they are to offer a No Sale, No Fee deal on selected Personal Local Authority Search and Personal Water and Drainage Search bundles. Michael Tolland, Finance & Commercial Director,

LSL Property Services Plc’s latest landlord sentiment survey shows an increase in optimism within the buy to let market with 49 per cent of landlords stating that now is a good time to invest, while

The Land Registry have reportedly paid out a record amount of money because landlords are not registering alternative correspondence addresses. Head of Legal and Policy at the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), Liz Richards,

Liverpool based Goldsmith Williams are the latest firm to be awarded the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) practice standard. The firm, who have also recently announced an upcoming event, The Legal Services Act —

The Law Society has warned conveyancing solicitors that should they choose to ignore the Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS), they do so at their own risk. The number of accredited firms has now tipped the

Thames Water Property Insight have announced dates for a further four Continuing Professional Development (CPD) events for residential property lawyers between now and November 2011. The next listed event is set to take place at

OneSearch Direct, since their launch in January 2002, have successfully processed more than one million Personal Local Authority Searches, the one million barrier being smashed in December 2009, around 390 Personal Local Authority Searches per

It is believed that first time buyers are the biggest casualties of the house price boom and bust culture with the trend continuing to this day.  The UK housing market has taken a severe beating

The Legal Services Board final report into the review of referral fees has been concluded.  The “Decision Document” which runs to 43 pages sets out the outcomes that it wishes to secure for consumers. These

A report commissioned by Halifax and produced by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) has identified that 64 per cent of non-homeowners believe that they have no prospect of buying a home, indicating an

From today Halifax say that all applicants applying for an interest only mortgage will be also be required to provide evidence of a suitable repayment plan, as initially reported on Mortgage Introducer last week. Halifax

During difficult times many medium sized firms have put on hold discretionary expenditure.  JS Law have bucked this trend following a successful social media campaign by their Marketing Manager Mandy Cumbers.   Focusing primarily on

Latest reports from the National Association of Estate Agents show a jump of 25% in the number of properties for sale compared to 12 months ago. Sellers have become more realistic with price expectations when

It isn’t steep house prices that are keeping first time buyers away from the housing market it is the on-going issue of strict lending criteria and completely unachievable deposits, which only bank of mum and

Whilst recent figures showing a return to growth in Q1 2011 helped to allay fears of a double dip recession consumer confidence is still hovering dangerously close to the record low that we saw in

A new report from Savills has indicated that the private rented sector will account for one in five homes by 2016.  Rents also look likely to continue their upward trend with average prime London rent

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), a charity that funds UK wide research and development, have called for ‘urgent and fundamental reform’ of the housing market following what they call a ‘failure of policy-makers to learn

Conveyancers from the conveyancing firm, myhomemove, managed to conquer Ben Nevis, an ascent of 4,409ft, to raise money for the Peristera Children’s Home in Sri Lanka, a safe refuge for 41 abandoned children. The 15

In-Deed, an online residential conveyancing service, has been founded by Harry Hill, the former CEO of Countrywide and founder of Rightmove. For 20 years Harry stood at the helm of Countrywide and saw first hand

A survey carried out by law firm Goldsmith Williams has revealed that 76 per cent of brokers, sampled from Goldsmith Williams’ database, were completely unaware as to what an Alternative Business Structure (ABS) is, leaving