Major funding boosts for two UK-founded legal and proptech firms
Two UK-founded legal and fintech companies are celebrating major funding gains. Prop and fintech platform OneDome has raised $25 million, taking total funding raised to date to $40 million. Lawhive, which describes itself as the ‘world’s first AI-native consumer law firm’, has raised $60 million to accelerate its expansion across the US. OneDome, which was […]
Nationwide accepts first QES on mortgage deed in HMLR, Veyco and Your Conveyancer collaboration
Nationwide has become the first lender to allow a mortgage deed to be signed electronically using a Qualified Electronic Signature (QES). Any Nationwide customer purchasing a property or remortgaging will now be able to sign their mortgage deed electronically if their conveyancer or solicitor uses QES. The development is the result of a collaboration between […]
Finance Bill Committee confirms conveyancers are tax advisers, as SLC raises ‘serious concerns’
Conveyancers have been explicitly named as falling within the scope of HMRC’s mandatory tax adviser registration regime during proceedings of the Finance Bill Committee. During committee scrutiny of the bill, Dan Tomlinson, the exchequer secretary to the Treasury, set out the government’s position and specified conveyancers will be required to register with HMRC when interacting […]
Client account proposals ‘an unfair tax on clients and cannot proceed’, Law Society says
The Ministry of Justice’s proposed scheme for Interest on Lawyers’ Client Accounts (ILCA) is fundamentally flawed, lacks adequate evidence and is a crude sector-specific tax on clients of legal services, the Law Society of England and Wales has warned. Commenting on the release of its response to the government consultation on ILCA, The Law Society said […]
Government announces review of the Legal Services Board
The government has launched a review of the Legal Services Board (LSB) to ensure current regulatory arrangements are effective and do not duplicate initiatives of frontline regulators. The review was announced by Sarah Sackman, minister of state for justice (pictured), in a written statement on Tuesday. “It is best practice for departments to regularly review […]
If government wants commonhold to succeed at scale it must invest in training
Commonhold will only succeed at scale if government and the property sector invest in practical training across the market, ALEP’s Mark Wilson argues. Commonhold is not just a policy choice, he says, but a different operating model with new documents, governance and management behaviours – and there is limited hands-on experience in England and Wales. […]
New home registrations up 11% according to NHBC figures
New figures from the National House Building Council (NHBC) reveal that 115,350 new homes were registered to be built in 2025, up 11% from 2024. The UK’s largest provider of new home warranties and insurance said that private sector registrations were up 12% to 75,227, compared to 67,265 in 2024. The rental and affordable sector saw […]
One in three first time buyers has at least 25% deposit
While higher loan-to-value (LTV) mortgages dominate first time buyer demand, a significant minority are seeking higher deposit deals, new data from Moneyfacts reveals. Of the first time buyers looking for fixed-term deals on the Moneyfacts comparison site, almost one in three (30%) are opting for 90% LTV mortgages, with a further 12% looking at 95% […]
Homes listed in February ‘most likely to find a buyer’
An analysis of a decade of market data reveals homes listed in February are marginally more likely to find a buyer than those listed in other months. The analysis by Rightmove found that seven in 10 (68.9%) homes listed in February went on to secure a sale, compared to 68.8% of homes listed in January […]
By failing to embrace data, the Warm Homes plan causes problems for conveyancers
The Residential Log Book Association (RLBA) believes the government has overlooked a crucial aspect of retrofitting in its Warm Homes plan. RLBA chair Nigel Walley explains why the use of log books in homes with low carbon technologies would ease the pressure on conveyancers and consumers. The Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) […]
Ken Weetch, MP who paved the way for the licensed conveyancing profession, dies at 92
Ken Weetch, the former Labour MP for Ipswich who campaigned for the establishment of a conveyancing service to be performed by non-solicitors, has died aged 92. A decade before the Administration of Justice Act 1985 established the legal framework for non-solicitors to provide conveyancing services, Weetch introduced a bill to amend the Solicitors Act 1974 […]
Battle for work sees conveyancing fees fall in 2025
Conveyancers lowered fees in the battle for work during the subdued autumn and winter of last year, when home movers paused or delayed plans to move amid Bank of England interest rate decisions, rising inflation and potential changes to stamp duty in the November budget, according to a report from reallymoving.com. An analysis of average […]
MoJ client account interest consultation premise ‘fundamentally flawed’, says conveyancing membership body
The underlying premise to the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) consultation on using client account interest to fund access to justice is “fundamentally flawed”, says the Conveyancing Association; a membership body representing the top 200 solicitors and licensed conveyancers by volume in England and Wales. Proposals to introduce an Interest on Lawyers’ Client Accounts (ILCA) scheme […]
New year bounce yet to materialise for conveyancers – CLC
A widely reported New Year bounce is yet to materialise for conveyancers, according to the latest quarterly confidence tracker from the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC). There had been hopes of a positive response to the stable but subdued market in the autumn, when activity fell to its lowest level in two years amid uncertainty […]
Temporary recruitment page launched for those affected by PM Law closure
Today’s Conveyancer has launched a temporary recruitment page to list conveyancing roles for those affected by the closure of PM Law and its subsidiaries. The Sheffield-based firm closed on Monday leaving its 650 staff seeking new employment. Speaking to Today’s Conveyancer, employees explained they were told not to come into the office on Monday, or […]
Client account consultation deadline extended
The deadline to have your say on the Ministry of Justice’s plans to use lawyer’s client account interest to fund access to justice has been extended by four weeks to 9th March, from 9th February. The MoJ has signalled it could target interest on client accounts in its recent client money consultations, describing the potential […]
Conveyancers encouraged by OPDA to help shape smart property data market
The Open Property Data Association (OPDA) is calling on conveyancers to get involved with shaping the transition to a smart property data market. The call comes as work gets underway on the Smart Property Data Trust Framework sandbox, a government-backed project designed to test the technical, governance and security foundations needed for a “modern, data-centric […]
Confidence continues as Nationwide report reveals improvement in affordability
The latest house price index from Nationwide indicates the positive start to the year continues into February, with improved affordability underpinning demand across the UK. House price growth edged higher in the first month of 2026, up 1% annually and 0.3% month on month. Although market activity decreased slightly at the end of 2025, the […]
Research reveals property transactions now averaging 123 days
A new report reveals that property transactions took longer in 2025 than the previous year, with instruction-to-completion times averaging over 17 weeks (123 days). The report, An industry aligned: Moving towards certainty, underlines that this equates to an 18% increase since 2019 and a 64% increase since 2007. Consumers say that their ideal time from […]
With overlapping regulations, here’s how you can avoid compliance friction
In December, the Conveyancing Task Force, a group of conveyancers formed to respond to the government’s home buying and selling reforms, published a series of principles and recommendations. Among its various suggestions, the group has identified overlapping regulations as a serious area of friction and cost. Reforms, they say, should reduce transaction time, lower fall-through […]