The RICS Housing Market Survey for February 2011 has highlighted four key points: – Headline net price balance whilst improved remains negative – New enquiries stabilised following a fall during the second half of 2010

A report recently carried out by TPO shows that, despite a reduced number of housing transactions, the number of cases relating to sales and lettings being referred to TPO were 40% more than was forecast

CIFAS, the UK’s Fraud Prevention Service, aims to address such things as identity fraud, application fraud, and insurance fraud.  Their latest Fraudscape report has now been released indicating that mortgage fraud in 2010 was up

If you are wondering what you should do if an organisation asks for confidential information then you need to take a look at the SRA’s Question of Ethics pages here. Today’s Conveyancer, bringing you the

Cinnamon Property Lawyers, Rowlinsons and Your Conveyancer are just some of the latest firms to join the Conveyancing Association in a bid to show their commitment to improving industry standards. The Conveyancing Association was established

The latest release of the LSL Acadametrics House Price Index has shown that February’s monthly house prices have increased by 0.3 per cent but the gains of early 2010 dropping out of the figures means

Peter Quigg of PDQ Property Sales has been convicted under Section 17 of the Data Protection Act for failing to notify the ICO that his business processes personal data.  The Data Protection Act 1998 requires

The Orange Rag (http://www.theorangerag.com) reports: This year’s Legal IT Show in Islington was unhampered by snow and significantly busier than last year, with plenty of activity on the stands and well-attended presentations. Joanna Goodman highlights

Arc Property Solicitors have received some fantastic news this week: “We’ve been awarded the Best Customer Focus award by BestBusinessAwards! following our development of innovative new ways to ease the stress of moving house”. Managing

Katy Wilkins at 192business had this to say about Anti-Money Laundering legislation: We saw yet again another rise in mortgage and property fraud in 2010. According to the KPMG’s fraud barometer, mortgage fraud quadrupled during

The Law Society has issued a warning, to all practices applying for membership of the Conveyancing Quality Scheme, not to incur unnecessary costs from unauthorised risk and compliance consultants who are charging practices to carry

The New Homes Group recently announced their launch of a 95% LTV mortgage for part exchange re-sales saying "it is the first nationally available deal of its type in over two years".  The new product

The Legal Futures conference, to be held in London on 11th April, will take the temperature of the legal market as it hurtles towards its biggest ever shake-up. Almost exactly six months before the introduction

How many of us have been confused at some point or other over VAT on disbursements?  The Law Society have issued a practice note  aimed at removing difficulties encountered whilst attempting to identify those items

Following an update to the Law Society’s practice note on deposit protection for client accounts, in December, each client can now recover £85,000.00 (previously £50,000.00) from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.  This does, however, only

The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s latest update — Issue 17 — has seen the SRA announce that their webinars and video library are available on the popular website, YouTube.  You can see the latest webinars and

Offering title theft protection insurance is becoming increasingly popular and has prompted the Law Society to issue a warning to home owners not to “waste money on fraud protection policies” that are being aggressively marketed

Results from a recently published consumer research project carried out by GfK NOP Social Research, aimed at gauging how aware consumers are about the profession is regulated, are said to be assisting the SRA in

One of the UK’s largest conveyancing firms, Goldsmith Williams, is warning the sector that a “perfect storm” is brewing which could lead to a mass exodus of conveyancers from the industry.  They also say that

Property fraud has been an ongoing issue for many years but, according to figures reported by Express.co.uk, the Land Registry have paid out £4.9 million in respect of 53 claims arising from property fraud in

Estate Agent Today report that Connells have "stolen a march" on competitors by offering a 95% LTV mortgage exclusively to first time buyers.  The deal is only available through their branches but comes shortly after

The Bank of England have released their figures for January lending to individuals, which show that total lending has risen to £1.5 billion, compared to the previous six month average of £0.8 billion. The growth

Following an investigation carried out by Which? Money, in which it was found that consumers are being given substandard advice on sale and rent back schemes, they have have reported two firms to the Financial

The Conveyancing Association was established to provide conveyancers with a voice, ensuring that they remain at the centre of the home buying process.  They say:  “We are the only trade body to specifically represent the

HMRC have announced a change to SDLT returns with new forms available from April 2011, these will become compulsory from 4th July 2011. The first purchaser will need a unique identifier, for an individual this

Conveyancing Data Services Ltd’s board of directors are very pleased to announce the return of an icon to the property search industry, Mr Mike Richards.  Mike has been appointed Group Chairman to take effect from

Conveyancing Alliance Ltd, a conveyancing specialist providing an online portal for estate agents and mortgage advisers, have recently carried out a survey based on the quality of service given by the 11 panel solicitors.  Both

CML’s latest publication states that the existing PII arrangements for solicitors need to be reviewed.  As a result of the frequency in which claims are occurring, together with their size, some firms have encountered obstacles

The Know Your Flood Risk campaign says that more must be done to protect home owners at risk of flood and that: – A number of Britain’s banks are reneging on a Government agreement to

For those people lucky enough to have a village green community spirit is often very important.  People in the local community tend to use village greens for sports or pastimes such as cricket matches, dog

When purchasing a house you could be forgiven for thinking that you don’t need a survey carried out because “the mortgage lender has carried out a valuation”.  Unfortunately many buyers assume that the mortgage lender