Peer-to-peer lender seeks firms for legal panel
Cornwall-based Peer-to-peer lender, Folk2Folk, are seeking a hundred firms to put together a national legal panel to help expand their reach across the UK. Folk2Folk is a peer-to-peer lender that encourages people to invest their savings in their local area whilst benefitting from what they say is a “great interest rate”. So far Folk2Folk say […]
Number of High Court negligence cases against law firms halves
The number of High Court cases against solicitors has dropped by 47%, according to law firm RPC. The number of cases brought against firms in 2013-14 was 418, with 218 cases brought in 2014-15 although RPC say much of the pain from the previous year is yet to be felt with many cases still frozen. […]
Suh & Anor v Mace (UK) Ltd [2016] EWCA Civ 4 (15 January 2016)
We welcome again Mr Anis Waiz, solicitor and Head of Commercial Litigation at Curtis Law Solicitors as he continues his critical review of current case law. This case raised the often misunderstood applicability of the “without prejudice” privilege rule in respect of discussions between one tenant and the landlord’s solicitor. It serves as a very […]
Shortage of stock driving commercial property rents ever higher, say RICS
A shortage of available commercial rental property is driving rents ever higher according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). 81% of central London respondents to RICS quarterly commercial property market survey for the last quarter of 2015 now believe the market is overpriced. The survey revealed that with businesses across the UK doing […]
VAT on Council Property Searches delayed
HMRC have informed councils that VAT will not be charged on council searches from 1st February, Today’s Conveyancer understands. Implementation has been delayed for an unspecified length of time. In correspondence to members of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) committee, HMRC said: “Implementation will be delayed for a short period. “We […]
Trotters Independent Traders
Who has visited a bustling market on the weekend? Navigating your way through a colourful maze of stalls, holding a coffee in a polystyrene cup while traders take it in turns to shout they have the best goods at the cheapest prices! It’s a minefield, you don’t know who to trust, who has the quality […]
How to risk manage conveyancing more effectively
ETSOS have teamed up with leading legal service providers Landmark and Compli to bring a series of events aimed at helping firms to take control and effectively minimise risks to their conveyancing departments. Compli What Lies Beneath Top tips for scrutinising your conveyancing files Why you should audit your conveyancing files What to look out […]
How RiskView Residential makes time for conveyancers
Vanessa Moscardo-Parker, Account Director at Landmark Information Group, sat down with leading property data and service provider tmgroup to talk through RiskView Residential – a brand new all-in-one report for conveyancers now available through tmgroup. RiskView Residential – what is it and who is it for? V M-P: “RiskView Residential (RVR) is an all-in-one environmental […]
One in four estate agents seeing rise in BTL enquiries as landlords race to beat stamp duty hike
One in four estate agents has seen a rise in prospective landlords looking to buy before the 3% stamp duty comes in on second homes in April, according to the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA). The survey of 263 ARLA members also says that the new private rental tax regime will have negative effects […]
Housing Associations take first steps to right-to-buy purchase
Right-to-Buy schemes have today launched for tenants of five housing associations across England. The five pilot schemes have launched in co-operation with associations in Merseyside, London, Norfolk, Thames Valley and Oxfordshire. The Government are hailing the scheme as “historic” with 1.3 million tenants set to become able to buy the homes they currently rent at […]
Federation of Master Builders issue warning over workloads for small builders
Workload for small builders dipped in the final quarter of 2015, according to new data published by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB). According to the FMB, the dip means the UK is already on the back foot when it comes to meeting George Osborne’s ambitious targets for housing. It follows research by the Royal […]
Local Land Charges to move to Land Registry
In February 2015 the legislation that will allow the Land Registry to provide a digital Local Land Charges Service received Royal Assent. The Land Registry’s aim is to consolidate all separate Local Authority LLC registers to create a single, digital LLC service, making over 20 million records available online. It is also in support of […]
LFS Conveyancing Awards 2016 now open for entries!
The Law Firm Services (LFS) Conveyancing Conference and Awards are now accepting entries into this year’s awards, which promises to be the biggest and most prestigious event to date. Now in their 5th year, the LFS Conveyancing Awards are firmly established as the premier event in the conveyancing calendar and all conveyancing firms should be […]
Have your residential chancel insurance on us
Order your searches through Searchpoint and let us pay for the Chancel Insurance Policy. How the scheme works Select which searches you require and add them to your basket Add the Chancel Policy to your basket Searchpoint will automatically include the case in the Chancel Policy Scheme. Searchpoint will pay the premium on your client’s […]
SRA hails performance after drop in complaints
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has welcomed a report announcing a further drop in complaints against its work. The report to the SRA’s board by the Independent Complaints Resolution Service says the number of complaints in 2015 dropped to 1,087. This follows a drop in 2014 to 1,209 from 1,315. The SRA puts this down […]
VAT to be charged on Council (Official) Local Authority Searches
As an established search provider Searches UK have always charged VAT on their Regulated (Personal) Local Authority Searches despite this often creating a commercial advantage for regional councils offering Council (Official) Local Authority Searches without VAT. After a recent announcement from the CIPFA VAT committee who advised that Local Authorities should begin charging VAT on […]
Council searches "most likely cause of transaction delays"
Council searches are the biggest cause of transaction delays for search users, according to research by SearchFlow. SearchFlow’s conveyancing sentiment survey on council versus regulated searches states 33% of conveyancers that only buy council searches blame a delay in transaction on local searches, with delays due to lenders second at 28%. Correspondingly, respondents only using […]
Rents rise accelerates to fastest rate since 2011
Rents across England and Wales are rising faster than at any point in the last five years, according to the latest Buy-to-Let index from Reeds Rains and Your Move. The average rent for England and Wales is now £794 per month, 3.4% higher than at the beginning of 2015. According to the index yields on […]
Land Registry completes 199,972 searches in December
Land Registry completed 199,972 searches in December, down from 206,321 in November according to statistics released today. In total 359,964 were applications in respect of registered land (dealings), a drop of less than 4,000 from November. There were 521,022 applications for copies of official registers or title plans, significantly fewer than the 677,160 in the previous […]
Worst of the worst (Conveyancer Slater – Tweet of the Week)
#Conveyancing process now ranks for me as more stressful than wedding, baby, new job… ANYTHING! — Chris Blackwood (@Blackwood_C) January 19, 2016
