Law Society call for post six-year run-off extension is partially heard
Calls by the Law Society for the SRA to extend the scheme that provides solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance post six-year run-off cover have been heard. The SRA Board approved the proposals made by the Law Society to introduce rules to extend the scheme, but didn’t follow the suggestion of putting a cap of £10 […]
The inevitable development of IT hosting within the Legal Sector
The latest smartlegal whitepaper explores the cloud computing revolution within legal services. It is available here. The paper is written by Bill Kirby, director of Professional Choice Consultancy, and looks at the issues surrounding cloud computing and what it means for law firms. Important things to consider when looking at cloud computing include: […]
Head of fraud and security at Lloyds charged with £2.5 million fraud
A former head of fraud and security for digital banking at Lloyds Banking Group has been charged in connection with a £2.5 million fraud. Andrew Penhale, from the Crown Prosecution Services’ central fraud group, commented: “The charge relates to an allegation that between 1 September 2008 and 21 December 2011, Jessica Harper dishonestly and […]
London market pushes house prices up by 0.2%
The Hometrack monthly national house price survey has been released today, and shows a national price rise of 0.2% over the last month. This increase has been pushed up by the performance of London. London saw house prices rise by 0.6% over the last month. In the South East and East Anglia there were increases […]
Legal Ombudsman discusses complaint volumes
The Chief Ombudsman Adam Sampson has used his blog to look at the volume of complaints seen by the Legal Ombudsman. He looked in particular at two statistics which he says are on the face of things contradictory. The first statistic is the Ombudsman is waiving more case fees than anticipated. The Ombudsman will waive […]
UK annual flooding losses set to reach £1 billion
Research by property search firm Searchflow shows that the annual cost of flooding in England and Wales has reached £1 billion as a result of underinvestment in defences and climate change. The cost of individual major flooding events is rising. The Environment Agency states that a major coastal flooding event in the Humber estuary could […]
Lenders will sue brokers claims Mortgage Business Expo
Brokers were warned yesterday at the Manchester Mortgage Business Expo that there is a risk that lenders will sue for losses caused by fraud, reports Mortgage Introducer. John Malone, executive chairman of PMS said: “They’re suing solicitors and surveyors already for mortgage fraud so I don’t see why they [lenders] wouldn’t sue the broker […]
Bridging Loans are a fraud hotspot claim brokers
Brokers were warned at the Mortgage Business Expo at Manchester of bridging loan fraud, which was described as a fraud hotpsot by John Malone, executive chairman of PMS. Mortgage Introducer reports that brokers are accused of pushing surveyors to overvalue properties to get a bigger bridging loan. John Malone comments: “More potentially fraudulent activity […]
Solicitor struck off for referring clients to a tied adviser
A solicitor has been struck off for failing to refer clients to an independent financial advisor, reports Money Marketing. The case against Andrew Field was brought by the SRA to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. The case had three alleged breaches of the Solicitors Code of Conduct 2007. Andrew Field worked at Field & Co, based […]
Trade Body launches new group to tackle Knotweed problem
UK trade body the Property Care Association (PCA) has launched a new group dedicated to the removal and control of Japanese Knotweed. The PCA has been working with RICS, the CML and the Building Societies Association, together with Japanese Knotweed control companies that currently operate in the UK to develop the Invasive Weed Control Group. […]
HS2 – New voluntary purchase scheme may evolve to help property owners
A new Voluntary Purchase Scheme is being proposed for properties will on the route of the high speed rail line between Birmingham and London. If the scheme is adopted it will mean that properties can be sold directly to HS2 Ltd. Knight Frank has suggested that the proposal is one of the reasons why there […]
Estate Agents flock to vote for the favourite Conveyancing Firm
Voting remains open for this award until the end of June so there is plenty of time left. Smaller law firms that offer a high level of service have as much chance as some of the larger conveyancing outfits with a weighting being applied to level the playing field. The early front runners include (in […]
Estate Agents flock to vote for the favourite Conveyancing Firm
Voting remains open for this award until the end of June so there is plenty of time left. Smaller law firms that offer a high level of service have as much chance as some of the larger conveyancing outfits with a weighting being applied to level the playing field. The early front runners include (in […]
SRA issue warning over website
The SRA has today issued a warning about the website www.preston-hubbard.co.uk. The website purports to relate to a law firm in London, but the SRA records show that no such firm is regulated by the SRA. The warning is set out below: ‘The SRA has received information in relation to the website www.preston-hubbard.co.uk. The […]
The Co-operative announces plans for 3000 jobs in Legal Services
The Co-operative today announced plans for the creation of 3,000 jobs in its legal services business, as it continues to expand. The announcement will make the Co-operative, which already has interests in professional services, the largest consumer law business in the UK. In March the Co-operative became the first major consumer brand to be granted […]
Nationwide reports gross mortgage lending rise of 44%
Nationwide has announced that it has increased its gross mortgage lending by 44% in the year to 4th April 2012. Gross mortgage lending over the year was £18.4 billion, a rise from £12.8 billion in the previous year. This compares with a market increase of 5%. Over 24,000 first time buyers were approved for […]
Renting cheaper than NewBuy scheme
Research by Hometrack examining the trends in new private housing supply suggests that the Government is not meeting its priority of increasing the volume of new housing. The study can be found here. The number of private new build properties starts has increased by 75% since 2009. However, this is still less than half the […]
Santander UK credit rating downgraded by Moody’s
Last week the ratings agency Moody’s downgraded the credit rating of 16 Spanish banks. This included Santander. The UK arm of Santander was downgraded to A2. This is one level higher than the Spanish parent bank. The reasons given by Moody’s for the cut include adverse operating conditions, and the Spanish government’s reduced ability […]
Nationwide cut mortgage rates
From 18th May, Nationwide has reduced its two and five year fixed rates by 0.10%. This includes the NewBuy five year fixed rate loan which is now at 5.99%. Tracie Pearce, Head of Group Mortgages, Product & Pricing at Nationwide commented: "At a time when many lenders are increasing their rates, we’re pleased to […]
House prices show no change in May
The Rightmove House Price Index for May was released this week and shows a stabilisation of prices, with no monthly change. This is the first time that there has not been a price rise since the Index was started. The Index reflects an annual price increase of 2.0% with the average property asking price at […]
