Taylor Rose TTKW Acquires McMillan Williams Creating Top 75 Consumer Law Firm
Taylor Rose TTKW Limited (Taylor Rose) is pleased to announce it has acquired McMillan Williams Solicitors Limited together with related staff and offices to create a top 75[i] law firm. The combined firm will represent revenues of over £40 million and have 32 offices nationwide covering Cumbria to Sussex with headquarters in Peterborough and London. […]
Brexit And Election Denting Consumer Confidence In Property
Brexit and the General Election are considered as the greatest risks to the UK housing market. According to The Building Societies Association’s (BSA) ‘Property Tracker Index’ for the final quarter of 2019, 43% of recipients deemed Brexit the greatest threat to the sector. Almost a third of those polled also perceived the result of the […]
Conveyancers Tasked With Improving Services For Disabled Consumers
Over a third of disabled people with a named legal issue over the past four years refused to utilise professional help. New research suggests that solicitors and law firms need to do more to ensure disabled consumers access legal services. A Solicitors Regulation Survey found over half of more than 3,500 disabled consumers believe accessing […]
83% Of Consumers Demand More Online Communication From Law Firms
The legal service consumer views online communication as a vital tool in creating a more efficient, cheaper service. According to a recent survey, carried out by mmadigital, 83% of respondents would opt to communicate online as opposed to face to face. Anxious of the perceived increased costs involved with meeting in person, the majority would […]
Digitisation Of The Mortgage Process Increasingly Appealing To Consumers
The mortgage and remortgaging sector solidified their transition into digitisation this week with the announcement that Moneysupermarket are launching a comprehensive remortgaging price comparison tool and HM Land Registry’s (HMLR) update on their free digital mortgage platform, Sign Your Mortgage Deed. HMLR announced that a number of high street lenders are adopting the digital service […]
Brexit Storm Clouds Continue To Dent Consumer Confidence
With the door locked on a no-deal Brexit, at least for the time being, and an EU extension until May very likely, it is unsurprising that Brexit is viewed as the biggest challenge facing the housing market in 2019. According to February’s Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Residential Market Survey, 77% of respondents cite […]
Firms Must Adapt To Changing Consumer Behaviour
There was a time when a consumer’s purchasing opportunities were restricted: Sunday meant that the shops were closed and by the time the sun had set on another day, so had the ability to shop. Business and shopping hours were finite and limited. With technological advancements, our shopping experience is now 24/7. Consumer expectations have […]
Price Transparency, Consumerist Behaviour And Declining Quality
The price transparency rules, that came into effect in December last year, have been contentious since they were first suggested by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in 2016. A new Bellwether Report 2019 discussion paper, The Changing Face of Law, by LexisNexis, has highlighted the growing chasm of differing opinions concerning the impact price […]
Estate Agents Must Operate Transparently To Consumers Regarding Referral Fees
Heather Wheeler, Minister for Housing and Homelessness, outlined the government’s position on referral fees and new housing reforms at the Council for Licensed Conveyancers annual conference. Whilst delivering a talk at the CLC conference, Mrs Wheeler told delegates that she is “concerned with the lack of transparency” around referral fees. Following the National Trading Standards Estate […]
Price Transparency And The Consumer Perspective
This time next week, the UK would have lived through twenty-four hours of price transparency in the legal sector. The numerous commentators on this issue have speculated that firms will be divided between those that consider price as the defining factor for acquiring new business and ‘race to the bottom’, whereas other firms will consider […]
Unreasonable Variable Equity Release Exit Fees Sting Consumers
Equity release loans have been an increasingly popular funding method for those in later life. Lucky home owners that have lived in their property for a significant amount of time have enjoyed huge increases in its value. Those that are property rich but cash poor have taken advantage of the fact that loans do not […]
Consumers Pushing For Technology In Conveyancing To Bring Transparency
Consumers are pressing the conveyancing sector for new technology that will give them better access to information, but according to a survey of conveyancers, only a small fraction of conveyancing firms are dedicated to innovation. Meanwhile, a leading property services business claimed conveyancers were “very close” to implementing technology which would bring transparency to the […]
Legal Services Consumer Panel Castigate ICAEW’s Voluntary Compliance Decision
Following The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) announcement that they will not enforce price transparency rules onto its firms that provide probate services, The Legal Services Consumer Panel have released a statement castigating the decision. Instead, the ICAEW have said that price transparency will remain voluntary to its 280 regulated probate […]
Consumer Confidence in Housing extremely low
The Building Societies Association’s (BSA) Property Tracker Index has found that consumer confidence in the housing market remains low. The figure for September sits at the negative figure of -4% which is a 3% decrease on June’s figure of -1%. In fact, the last time the public posted any positive feelings around the right time […]
Intense consumer dissatisfaction with leasehold property
Customers sign the final paperwork, receive the keys and drive up to their shiny, untouched new build with a naive optimism and pride that they own their own forever home, only to discover that they are trapped in a mis-sold leasehold nightmare. This is the unfortunate truth that has been overwhelmingly revealed in NAEA Propertymark […]
Approved CLC price and service transparency reforms proposal to empower consumers
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) has had its reform proposal approved by the Legal Services Board (LSB) Similarly, to the reforms made by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA), the CLC aimed to empower consumers by requiring firms to clearly state their prices and the services a firm will offer for the prices they charge. […]
CLC propose new reforms to help improve consumer choice
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) has applied to the Legal Services Board (LSB) to improve their rules and regulations in the hope that it will create transparent information offered to legal services users and ultimately enhance their consumer choice. The proposed changes move beyond fee transparency introduced by the SRA and will encourage CLC […]
Construction industry licensing receives consumer support
New research has revealed the significant majority of home owners and builders would support the introduction of a scheme to stamp out rogue traders.
Consumers call for differentiation as conveyancers ‘all seem the same’
Recent research has revealed that just under half of UK consumers find it difficult to tell the difference between conveyancing firms as ‘they all seem the same’.
TPO reveals rise in financial awards for consumers
The Property Ombudsman has revealed that last year saw a rise in financial awards to consumers.