House prices reach record high
Average house prices have reached £233,776 following an increase of £7,275 over the last 12 months. According to the latest House Price Index issued by LSL house prices increased 0.4% in Agust from July signally a new record high. The number of sales was over 70,000 for the second month in a row. Richard Sexton, […]
Vince Cable warns against Help to Buy
The Business Secretary this week warned that the Government’s help-to-buy scheme needed more careful consideration. He told Sky News “we don’t want a new housing bubble” and expressed concerns that in some areas of the country, for example London and the South East, that there are already “serious housing inflationary pressures”. Mr Cable said: "We […]
SRA considers new consumer engagement strategy
The Solicitors Regulation Authority Board is meeting this week to consider a two-year action plan to help ensure consumers have the information they need when they use legal services. The plan includes the launch of new consumer-facing website called Legal Choices which will provide a one-stop shop of factual advice and opportunities for consumers to […]
Barratt Developments PLC show strong yearly results
Barratt Developments PLC had today issued its final results for the year ended 30 June 2013, showing an increase in group revenue of 12.2%. This brings total group revenue to £2,606.2m up from £2,323.4m in 2012. The group saw 13,663 completions over the year, up from 12,857 in 2012. Barratt’s groups profit before tax and […]
Zoopla considering stock market float
Zoopla, the UK’s fastest-growing property website, is considering a float which according to The Sunday Times could see it valued between £1bn and £1.3bn. Zoopla has appointed Credit Suisse to “explore further strategic opportunities as we continue to grow”. If the figures are correct they would see Zoopla founder Alex Chesterman getting around £100m, thanks […]
Record Performance Fuels ETSOS Sales Expansion
Conveyancing search supermarket ETSOS has announced an expansion of its business development team on the back of a record half-year. Paul Coombes, who was business development manager for Pannone’s Connect2Law network for four years and most recently with Blackhurst Budd Solicitors, joins in the newly created role of sales and marketing director. He will oversee […]
Major Conveyancing Conference less than 3 weeks away!
The LFS Conveyancing Conference is nearly upon us. This is the only major conference of 2013 specifically designed for those who run major Conveyancing departments. Richard Mathias of LFS says — “ Its been a busy (but welcome) year for the Conveyancing industry but law firms should ensure they keep abreast of what is going […]
Scheme to give loans to owners of empty homes
A new scheme hopes to bring England’s 710,000 empty properties back to life by offering loans up to £15,000 to their owners. The National Empty Homes Fund (NEHLF); a joint initiative between the charity Empty Homes, Ecology Building Society, central government and 39 participating local authorities, hopes to help solve the national property shortage through […]
Students least likely to miss rental payments
The National Landlords Association (NLA) has revealed that students are amongst the most reliable tenants, with only 38% of student landlords having experienced arrears in last year. This is compared to 59% of landlords letting to blue collar workers and 71% letting to benefit recipients. Student tenants offer the highest rental yields at 6.7% compared […]
25,000 take up government housing schemes
The latest government figures show that over 25,000 new homeowners have been created by government-backed schemes. 3,749 people have taken up the industry-led NewBuy scheme since its launch in March 2012. During the first four months of the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme over 3,000 sales and 10,000 reservations have been made. Right to […]
Think tank warns against Help to Buy
Leading economic think tank The Adam Smith Institute has warned that Help to Buy will not end the housing crisis. The institute believes that the government’s plans to increase liquidity in the housing market will do little to solve the UK’s long-run housing supply shortage — and actually lead high housing prices. They believe […]
45% increase in first-time buyers
There were 26,100 sales to first-time buyers in July, the highest level since November 2007. According to the latest First Time Buyer Monitor from LSL Property Services, the number of first-time buyers rose 45% year-on-year in July. The improvement was put down to a sharp increase in the affordability of mortgages. The average mortgage rate […]
Financial Ombudsman releases complaints data
The Financial Ombudsman Service has released the latest six-monthly complaints data relating to individual financial businesses. The data details complaints handled by the ombudsman service between 1 January and 30 June 2013. Two types of data are included; the number of complaints received about individual financial businesses and the percentage of complaints the ombudsman upheld […]
Executive Director Samantha Barrass to leave SRA
Samantha Barrass has been appointed chief executive of the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission and will leave the SRA in February. The move makes a return to financial services for Ms Barrass, who had a successful career in the UK financial services sector prior to joining the SRA in 2009. During her time at the SRA, […]
Last opportunity to sign up to regional conveyancing road shows
With less than two weeks to go, the Society of Licensed Conveyancers (SLC) has announced that places for its late summer road shows are filling up fast and is urging those who are yet to secure their place to register now. The regional road shows, which are being run in conjunction with Legal Eye, will […]
CLC response to Ministry of Justice review
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers has submitted its response to the review of regulation of legal services being run by the Ministry of Justice. Their submission focuses on changes that could be made in order to reduce the burden on the legal sector and to support innovation and the development of new services to consumers. […]
Move with Us partner hits £2m revenue
Move with Us Partner Network member, Newton Fallowell, has earned more than £2 million of revenue from corporate property sales and conveyancing transactions. Newton Fallowell, an independently owned group of estate agents in the Midlands, first joined the partner network in 2002. As part of the network, independent estate agents are supported with a range […]
Licensed conveyancer becomes partner in law firm
A licensed conveyancer at a Kent law firm has become the first in his profession to be promoted to partnership. Alan Johnston, joint head of property at Stephens & Sons in Chatham, has worked for the firm for 28 years and was promoted to partner following recent legislative changes. The changes allow non-lawyers to make […]
Zoopla Property Group acquires Trinity Mirror Digital Property
Zoopla Property Group Ltd (ZPG) announced yesterday that it has acquired Trinity Mirror Digital Property Ltd (TMDP), from Trinity Mirror plc. Trinity Mirror Digital Property owns a portfolio of property websites including SmartNewHomes.co.uk, HomesOverseas.co.uk, Email4Property.co.uk and Zoomf.com. Zoopla will invest in developing and marketing SmartNewHomes.co.uk and HomesOverseas.co.uk as standalone portals as part of its multi-brand […]
Are you up to date?
The legal sector has seen significant changes in recent years. In 2007 the conveyancing sector took a massive hit due to the housing market crash which affected the entire market causing many law firms to close down, whilst others struggled to survive in the market they were left in. Most recently changes in legal […]
