The first quarter of 2016 is set to be “very busy” as buy-to-let landlords scramble to buy properties before Stamp Duty reforms come in from April according to Eddie Goldsmith.
The Chairman of the Conveyancing Association also believes regulatory changes will further open up the conveyancing market as government brings in regulatory changes.
Mr Goldsmith says he’s also looking forward to bringing in changes at Conveyancing Association with a number of projects apparently “coming to fruition.”
Eddie Goldsmith, Chairman of the Conveyancing Association, said: “2016 promises to be an eventful year to say the least. Quarter one in particular could be a very busy period for conveyancing firms as buy-to-let and second-home purchasers seek to complete before the 31st March, after which the stamp duty rises come into effect.
“From a wider viewpoint, the UK property market is still suffering from a lack of housing supply and this will continue to fuel an increase in house prices over the short- to medium-term.
“The process of purchasing property is also under great scrutiny and there’s no doubting the Government is looking to make the house-buying process more ‘consumer friendly’. Therefore, as an industry we have to expect and welcome greater competition and make sure we raise our game in order to offer better service levels to all.
“It’s a great shame the Veyo didn’t move from concept to reality and there remains a vacuum that needs to be filled with regard to establishing a national conveyancing portal which provides greater transparency to the house transfer process. The Association will certainly be supportive of any further moves to develop this.
Following on from their first annual conference held in London in December the Conveyancing Association pulled together a plan for 2016 which they say includes:
- The launch of the second edition of its Conveyancing Protocol, which is intended to streamline the conveyancing process.
- New training courses as part of its Conveyancing Academy for conveyancing paralegals, estate agents, non-conveyancers and the conveyancing industry as a whole.
- An ongoing focus on speeding up the Leasehold process and making it fairer.
- Working with the lender community to reduce the number of unnecessary enquiries, create standardisation and reduce delays in the process.
- The launch of a Cyber Security and Property Fraud Protocol – a very important piece of work as cyber fraud continues to represent a growing risk to conveyancers and their clients.
- Membership growth, both conveyancing firms and affiliate members.
- Further expansion of the CA’s charity work through the highly successful, Conveyancing Foundation.
Goldsmith continued: “2016 will be an incredibly busy year for the Association as we expand our offering and the services we offer to members. It’s also the year when many of the projects we have been working on come to fruition with a number of exciting launches and developments which will not only benefit individual firms, but the industry in general, and we hope the wider property market.
“Much of the CA’s work is on streamlining processes and simplifying (where appropriate) the current workings of the conveyancing sector and ensuring greater levels of communication with the variety of stakeholders who feed into it.
“There’s no doubting in our mind that we have the potential to develop a much more user-friendly conveyancing experience for all and we are working in a number of areas to develop this. The Prime Minister recently suggested that 2016 would be a ‘game changer’ for the UK and it is our aim at the CA to ensure the same will be said for the conveyancing industry in the months ahead.”
