Extent of former industrial land use potentially twice as much as official figures suggest
UK could be facing a much bigger problem in dealing with unacknowledged contaminated land Former industrial land across England and Wales could be twice as much as official figures suggest, research from Groundsure reveals. Groundsure used historical mapping to determine the land in England and Wales that was formerly covered by a wide range of […]
SearchFlow urges solicitors to use free Vendor Law Firm Search during Scam Awareness Month
Leading conveyancing search provider SearchFlow is advising all solicitors to start using Decision First’s new Vendor Law Firm Search – a free service for all Lender Exchange users. This month is also Scam Awareness Month, which was created by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, to highlight the need to take steps to avoid fraud. In […]
Sleepy hollow
Since 2012 over 160 people in the Kazakhstan village of Kalachi have suffered from hallucinations, headaches, memory loss and have even fallen unconscious for days. The reason why has been a mystery for years with doctors flummoxed by the strange behaviour omitted from the men, women and children with this illness. But there has been […]
Conveyancing Data Services become Platinum Sponsors for the Matterhorn Challenge
Conveyancing Data Services (CDS) put its full support behind the conveyancing industry Matterhorn Challenge this week, by joining as Platinum Sponsors. Conveyancing Data Services are one of the leading providers of conveyancing searches in the UK conveyancing industry. The CDS sponsorship pushes the fundraising total to over £17,000.00, with a target of £50,000.00. Operations Directions […]
Search Acumen appoints Caroline Robinson as Business Development Manager to steer move into commercial real estate
Appointment will kick-start consultations with commercial property law firms Search Acumen, the search provider, has appointed Caroline Robinson as its new Commercial Real Estate Business Development Manager as it lays the foundations to expand into the commercial property market. Having spent ten years working closely with the UK’s leading commercial property law firms, Caroline’s in-depth […]
A question of trust
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has launched a campaign asking for views on the professional standards expected of solicitors. The campaign “A question of trust” will involve the legal profession and the public in a wide-ranging discussion about what meeting professional standards means. The SRA has been cutting regulatory red tape for the last two […]
Client Case Study – Key Conveyancing
Introduction Key Conveyancing is a fast-growing firm with offices in Northampton and Baldock. It styles itself as a ‘no nonsense solicitors that helps you buy and sell property with a minimum of fuss at a cost-effective rate.’ It puts a great deal of emphasis on its conveyancing specialism – ‘we do nothing other than help […]
Tread carefully with Giant Hogweed urges trade body
National trade body The Property Care Association (PCA) is urging local authorities, statutory bodies, landowners and property professionals to treat Giant Hogweed with caution. In recent weeks the invasive weed has been in the media spotlight, with incidents of injuries being reported, including to children. The numbers of injuries could be set to increase as children […]
SRA says: historic first plc is a way forward
The creation of the first legal plc in England shows a new way forward in opening up the market through flexible regulatory practice, says the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Gateley Plc raised £30 million this month when it was admitted to trading its shares on AIM, London Stock Exchange’s international market for smaller growing companies. […]
How will minimum standard EPC changes affect conveyancing?
One upcoming law which will have significant changes to the property market and landlord and tenant regulations will be the Government’s introduction of minimum energy standards. From April 2018, all rented properties must meet a prescribed minimum energy performance standard. An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) will contain an indicator of the amount of energy estimated […]
More lenders opt to use Lender Exchange
Decision First has confirmed that another 6 lenders have decided to join Lloyds Banking Group and Santander in their use of the Lender Exchange. Launched last August to the panels of both LBG and Santander, Lender Exchange is being rolled out to TSB, Coventry Building Society, Aldermore, Paragon, new specialist lender Fleet Mortgages and Precise […]
Prices push on up, as property drought continues
The latest Home.co.uk Asking Price Index (HAPI) for July 2015 has been released. The report demonstrates a number of factors from within the UK residential property market, including asking price, stock and supply trends, as well as time on market. This month’s report has revealed that: Prices move up 0.4% overall in England and Wales during […]
Poole Alcock selects Lexis® Visualfiles™ for automation of case management processes in its conveyancing business
LexisNexis® Enterprise Solutions, a provider of technology solutions to professional services firms, has announced that North West law firm, Poole Alcock LLP is deploying Lexis®Visualfiles™, the leading case management system in the UK. Visualfiles will automate the conveyancing-related case management processes, delivering significant time savings and business efficiency to the firm. This in turn will allow […]
Common sense IT security
Craig Matthews of the Legal Software Suppliers Association gives some practical tips on IT security and how to educate your staff to minimise security risks to your practice. The most frequently used passwords are 123456 and password. Others often used include QWERTY and abc123. For passwords that require eight characters the most common one is […]
South Coast law firm implement Lawyer Checker to combat the criminal conveyancer
Bournemouth based Property Lawyers Matthew & Matthew Solicitors have given protecting client money within a conveyancing transaction top priority. The residential team have kicked off the first half of 2015 with consistent and increased use of Lawyer Checker and it’s AES (Account and Entity Screen). Registering last year and soon after the release of the […]
House prices continue to increase steadily across the board, according to the latest ONS HPI data
The Office on National Statistics (ONS) has released their latest House Price Index for May 2015. Notable points from analysis of the report include: UK house prices increased by 5.7% in the year to May 2015, up from 5.5% in the year to April 2015. The average UK mix-adjusted house price in May 2015 was […]
Quarterly instruction activity up by a third, says Broker Conveyancing
Broker Conveyancing, the broker-focused conveyancing distributor, has this week revealed that quarterly instruction levels for both purchases and remortgages were up by a third in Q2 this year, compared to the first three months of the year. Compared to Q1, the total number of purchase instructions in Q2 were up 35%, while remortgage instructions improved […]
CLS raise over £30,000 for Great Ormond Street Hospital
On Sunday, the intrepid team of 25 CLS employees came together to run The Vitality British 10K London Run in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital. The weather did not rain on the CLS parade and despite a few aches, pains and knee complaints all 25 elated runners crossed the finish line. Not only did […]
Useful tools to offer your clients throughout their property transactions
Searches UK are renowned for our vast range or added value client benefits, and we are proud to say that among these are two extremely useful products; Apportionment Calculator and the Searches UK Buyers Guide. The Apportionment Calculator is a helpful tool used to calculate the maintenance and ground rent due on completion for your […]
RPSA recognises INNS Code
The Residential Property Surveyors Association (RPSA) have announced that it has formally recognised the Invasive Non Native Species (INNS) Code of Conduct for companies engaged in the remediation of invasive species such as Japanese Knotweed. The INNS Code was launched in March 2015 and was developed by the Invasive Non Native Specialists Association (INNSA), the […]
