Large Chepstow Brownfield Development Site Approved for Housing
The largest brownfield development site in Monmouthshire has been sold to Barratt Homes in a move set to boost Chepstow’s housing stock significantly. Chris Taylor, Commercial Director at Future Climate Info examines the site history, its potential contaminants and remediation approach ahead of construction. Outline permission for up to 450 new homes has been given […]
Warm Start Puts Japanese Knotweed On Track For Early Emergence
The unseasonably warm start to the year could have an impact on the growing season for Japanese knotweed, according to a national trade body. Japanese knotweed lives through winter in the soil and starts to sprout in the warmer temperatures of spring. But the current weather conditions could push the plant’s growth pattern weeks ahead […]
Today’s Conveyancer Round Table Round Up: Brexit Concerns, Source Of Funds Confusion And Price Transparency Implications
Today’s Conveyancer’s latest round table event enabled the attendees to discuss the pertinent issues affecting conveyancers in 2019. It was unsurprising that the main challenges and concern for the year ahead involved considerations around Brexit, the expectations of conveyancers when it comes to anti-money laundering regulations and the difficult market conditions caused by regulatory changes […]
Help To Buy Property Sales Approaching £50 Billion Since 2013 Launch
50,302 residential property purchases were made using the Help to Buy: Equity loan scheme in England last year. This equates to almost 1,000 property completions using this scheme per week and represents an increase of 13% on the figures from 2017. In total, 41,076 of the housing completions made using the Help to Buy: Equity […]
From 1st March 2019 SDLT Must Be Submitted And Paid Within 14 Days Of Completion
Are you ready for this change? As of 1st March 2019 the timeframe to submit a Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) return, and pay any SDLT due, will reduce from 30 days to 14 days from the effective date of the transaction. Pali’s recently launched Post Completion System enables solicitors, conveyancers and support staff across England […]
Persimmon Share Value Plummets Amidst Help To Buy Speculation
Following the news that Housing Secretary James Brokenshire is considering removing the Government’s coveted Help to Buy scheme from Persimmon PLC, shares in the company fell by almost 5% on Monday. The company’s share value fell by 4.7% on Monday and ended trading with a value of 2,352p as investors worried that the company could […]
GDPR Regulators Set To Enforce Harsher Fines For Non-Compliance
Since GDPR came into force eight months ago over, official regulators have been notified that over 59,000 GDPR data breaches have taken place across the EU. It has been six months since General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was brought into force on May 25th 2018. Under the new regulations, any firm that is breached and […]
Additional Derelict Dwellings Not Liable For SDLT Surcharge
Derelict, uninhabitable properties have never looked so appealing for property investors as a recent ruling means that additional property bought in terrible conditions could bypass the current excess stamp duty land tax surcharge (SDLT) of 3%. The 3% surcharge on additional dwellings has been lucrative for the government since its introduction in 2016, with £4.9 […]
Cyber Security During Mergers And Acquisitions (M & A)
On face value, one may question what company mergers, acquisitions, or takeovers have to do with cyber security. But for law firms charged with overseeing the safe completion of such transactions, cyber security should be a core consideration, for two key reasons. Firstly, there is a risk that during due diligence (the process during which […]
Wealth Locked In Homes Of Retired Owners Reaches Record Levels
The wealth locked within the homes of retired home owners has reached record high levels of £1.118 trillion. According to the pensioner property index by Key, equity release specialists, property wealth in homes owned by people over 65-years-old increased in value by £28 billion within the last six months alone. In the time since the […]
Building Juggernaut Persimmon Could Be Omitted From Help To Buy
Home building juggernauts, Persimmon, are being placed under the governmental microscope and could lose their right to sell Help to Buy homes when their current contract expires in 2021. Concerned by a myriad of recent decisions and activity by the company, a source close to James Brokenshire has suggested that he is becoming increasingly disillusioned […]
LEAP Chosen As Headline Sponsor For 1st Bold Legal Live! Conference
LEAP, one of the UK’s leading practice management software providers, has been announced as the headline sponsor for the first ever Bold Legal Conference to be held in London on 18th October this year. The conference called Bold Legal LIVE! is being hosted in association with the ESTAS Group who will be holding their annual […]
The Simplify Group And My Home Move Join Forces
The UK’s two leading conveyancing groups – My Home Move and The Simplify Group – today announced that they are combining to create a conveyancing powerhouse which will be the standout market leader. The combined organisation, to be known as Simplify, will benefit from the complementary strengths of the two groups to build on the […]
Are Law Firms Wising Up To Conveyancing Scams?
As law firms and clients wise up to fraud, the cyber criminals are having to find new avenues to use their old scamming tricks to intercept money transfers. Conveyancing scams, which are a type of email modification fraud, are rife due to the significant amount of money passing between a law firm and its client. […]
UK Property Transactions Fall By Over A Third
UK property transactions have been shrinking at their most alarming rate in over five years according to recent research. The study into UK residential property transactions, carried out by estate agent software platform, Reapit, has found that UK property transactions have fallen by over a third in the past three months. Property transactions between November […]
Memories Locked Within Family Home Too Precious To Leave
Whilst many people (20%) over 55-years-old fear that they are worse off than they had anticipated they would be at their particular stage in life, the majority (62%) have no interest in downsizing. According to the Sunlife Home Sentiment Report, over half (55%) of the 1,000 respondents, all of which were over 50-years-old, are so […]
Re-wilding Streams: Letting Nature Control Flooding
Government flood management investment, often reacting to events rather than in anticipation of them, has tended to focus on hard flood defences – channelling water faster elsewhere. But long term, is this just making things worse? Is there a more natural alternative to slow the flow as nature originally intended? In the 1970s and early […]
Paralysis Continues To Grip The Property Market
Search Acumen comments on HMRC’s Monthly Property Transactions Andy Sommerville, Director of Search Acumen, comments: “Paralysis continues to grip the property market, with activity remaining flat. First-time buyers are accounting for a significant chunk of the limited market activity, while those few who need to move, despite wider uncertainty, are also helping to keeping the […]
Leasehold And Ground Rent And HIPs, Oh My!
In the City of London earlier this month, tmgroup hosted the first of several audience-led ‘Back to Reality’ discussions on the challenges that will continue to impact the residential property market after 29th March. The event brought an audience of conveyancers, surveyors and lenders together, alongside a panel of residential property specialists – including representatives […]
Law Firm Announce Conveyancing Promotions After 10% Growth in 2018
One of the West Midlands leading independent law firms has made six promotions to help it build on 10% growth in 2018. Talbots Law, which employs over 200 people across its six offices in the Black Country and Worcestershire, saw annual fees rise to nearly £12m and took the decision to put in place the […]
