Archive

Over the last few years, there have a number of changes to the stamp duty land tax (SDLT) regime, which have...

When it comes to major issues confronting housing, and in particular the direction that the government would like to take the...

Thinking about the state of communication across residential property chains is enough to induce a severe migraine. We work in a world...

Two 'challenger portals' have revealed major new services this morning as they fight to take on Rightmove and Zoopla. OneDome, the new...

Half of first time buyers say they made expensive mistakes during their process of purchasing their home, with mortgage brokers, removal...

The proliferation of big data is paving the way to improving our economy on almost every front as entrepreneurial digital companies...

The ESTAS has released details of those agents and suppliers to the industry who have been shortlisted for the most prestigious...

The head of residential property at a law firm is warning that referral fees can backfire on estate agents who may...

The director of strategy at the Council for Licensed Conveyancers says “the onus is very much on estate agents” to respond...

A new sales portal has launched with a radically different business model, aiming to pay agents to list on it. It’s the brainchild of...

A member of a prominent legal network is warning buyers and their conveyancers to be ”wary” of the Modern Method of...

More details are emerging of the first-ever ESTAS conference for conveyancers - the Bold Legal Conference - taking place on the...

A review of the housing market at present, particularly when it comes to purchase transactions, might not necessarily feel overly positive.  The...

Politicians and officials are studying a ‘model’ two page reservation agreement drawn up by a law firm as a possible way...

It’s been revealed that the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team is to deliver new guidelines to agents for referral fees...

The head of a property management company says conveyancers must do more to ensure buyers of leasehold properties fully understand the...

The number of active conveyancing firms handling property transactions in England and Wales has fallen to an eight year low.  A market...

It’s been revealed that 37 regulated conveyancing firms have repelled attempted frauds in the past year. But 11 conveyancing firms have actually...

How will things be done in the future? There’s no knowing, of course, given the many variables at play, but it’s...

Conveyancers’ use of data and technology to speed through sales is on the cusp of a ‘big bang’ moment according to...

A digital conveyancing platform says a lack of transparency in the house moving process - particularly regarding legal costs - is...

Agents may sometimes have a tense relationship with conveyancers but admit it - when our legal colleagues are good, they are...

Just under one in five buyers in the past two years have suffered moving day delays, either because funds have been...

A government minister has told the estate agency industry that it must be more transparent over the issue of referral fees. In...

A call has gone out for conveyancers to have all monies - including mortgage funds - in place the day before...

You will perhaps have seen recently that the Government has decided to boost funding to the regulator, the National Trading Standards...

Some conveyancers must publish some price and service information on their websites and in other media from December 6, according to...

HM Land Registry says the full roll-out of its Local Land Charges digital register could take up to seven years, with...

Fresh data from a PropTech firm suggests that 'conveyancer absenteeism' is causing severe delays to property transactions. When You Move reports that...

New rules set out by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC), which aim to support consumer choice, have been approved by...

Out and about recently, I got to thinking: how often do I actually have the call for cash anymore? Or, for...

After gaining my MBA qualification from Edinburgh Business School in 2005, I took careful consideration over my career moves and prospective...

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers says it wants legal practice websites to list cost information, including whether they have referral arrangements. The...

A leading legal firm has given broad approval to proposals from the Law Commission aimed at improving the conveyancing process and...

The Law Commission has unveiled proposals that it claims could stop property fraudsters in theirb tracks and improve conveyancing at the...

We are currently engaged in consultations with our members to help to find a practical solution to the concern of the...

You will notice that there is a new author for this regular column for Estate Agent Today. Last month I was...

A ‘disruptor’ tech company claims that large numbers of people are dissastisfied with the conveyancing element of house moves, with many...

As the process of making buying and selling more transparent continues to gather pace, the body that regulates conveyancers says it...

Despite numerous reports of a 'stagnant market' and predictions of a 'housing bust', conveyancers have 'bounced back after a disappointing end...

The Court of Appeal has overturned controversial fraud decisions which have a bearing on agents’ and conveyancers’ responsibilities for checking buyers’...

The prospect of technology transforming the selling and buying process, including more power for portals and especially online agents, dominated parts...

Estate Agent Today understands several major national agencies and some smaller operators are involved in a project to understand why transaction...

As the world becomes ever more digital and people increasingly look to technology to provide convenient solutions to sometimes complex problems,...

An umbrella body representing search organisations says searches “are very rarely the cause of delays” in transactions. The Council of Property Search...

The Conveyancing Association has backed the government’s calls for extensive reform of the buying and selling process, announced at the weekend. The...

The conveyancing industry regulator has thrown its weight behind the government’s proposals to improve the buying and selling process.  Stephen Ward, director of strategy...

  More details have emerged of the government’s proposals to enhance estate agency regulation, regulate referral fees, offer guides for buyers and...

The government has announced further measures which will, in its words, “professionalise” house buying and the estate agency business. In yet another Sunday...

Industry suppliers Landmark Information and The ValPal Network have entered what they call “a strategic relationship” to provide the firms’ respective...

Three weeks has flown by (I missed an early deadline last week - apologies) and I find myself writing the next...

The comparison site Reallymoving, which allows users to get online quotes for conveyancers, surveyors and removal firms, has acquired the property...

A critic of the conveyancing process has accused a law firm’s charge of £95 for “exchange and completion within five working...

Welcome once again to Property Jobs Today, the notice-board for agents, suppliers and other property professionals moving within, out or in...

Crimestoppers is working with estate agencies and financial advisers as well as conveyancers in a bid to eliminate house buyers’ deposits...

HM Land Registry has taken another step towards its aim to “make conveyancing simpler, faster and cheaper” for the general public. The...

In a show of changing consumer behaviour in the property market, new research has revealed that digital-savvy movers are favouring specialist...

Representatives from estate and lettings agencies as well as professional organisations have formed The Home Buying And Selling Group with a...

In the great swathe of housing market data which is delivered each month, conveyancers’ case volumes often get overlooked, however the...

Home movers are opting to use specialist conveyancers over local solicitors, according to new research. Conveyancing software firm InfoTrack says 43% of...

We seem to be getting more and more contact from agents and others in the industry who are doing great work...

The government has given its support to Land Registry proposals to increase the digitalisation of its services, with changes coming into...

If you were under any misconceptions about how pivotal a role HM Land Registry is going to play in the future...

The ESTAS Group has announced record entries for its 2018 estate and letting agents awards.  The national award scheme - which recognises...

Japanese knotweed, the invasive plant brought over to Britain in the Victorian era, threatens millions of pounds worth of property transactions...

The body that regulates conveyancers says controversial referral fees should be disclosed earlier in the house buying process - but they...

The Society of Licensed Conveyancers says it is worried that HM Land Registry’s decision to publish details of apparent errors in...

HM Land Registry says it’s consulting with the legal industry on a proposal to publish a league table of conveyancers who...

A conveyancers’ trade body has told the government that it wants the house buying process to be modernised by having estate...

A company supplying the conveyancing industry claims that new research reveals 55 per cent of home-movers are frustrated by a lack...

The HM Land Registry has revealed more details of long-term plans to improve and speed up conveyancing processes in a five...

The first residential transaction has taken place under the so-called Conveyancer’s Code for Completion - a new procedure in which the...

The housing industry has set out a list of demands in advance of the government’s hotly anticipated Autumn Budget on Wednesday.  Despite...

A large part of the DCLG’s Call for Evidence on the home buying and selling process focuses on the role of...

A conveyancing body says it wants the government to allocate “a small fund” in next week’s Budget to promote research into...

An influential consumer group has responded to the government’s commitment to reform the house buying process by advocating legally-binding reservation agreements...

Three hundred of the UK’s top conveyancers have celebrated the success of the industry at the first ever ESTAS Conveyancer Awards. The...

The Conveyancing Association says some of its members are piloting HIPs-style Digital Home Reports in a bid to reduce fall-throughs and...

Conveyancers and the speed of local council searches have come in for criticism as details have emerged of the government’s consultation...

The founder of a new online sales assistance service says agents are often unfairly blamed by the public for failings in...

The Guild of Property Professionals has launched a partnership with the ESTAS Group, which runs the customer feedback platform and customer...

The ESTAS Group has today revealed the shortlist for its inaugural Conveyancer Awards.  Over 5,000 customers have completed a survey about the...

Whenever any research is released, part of me can’t help thinking of that old adage, ‘lies, damn lies and statistics’ especially...

  You’ll see a lot of 10th anniversary stories in the property industry and consumer media in the coming days: early August...

A Conservative commitment to allow more fracking is the trigger for conveyancers to gather yet more environmental information during the search...

The Competition and Markets Authority has released a set of recommendations on how conveyancing, and other legal services, could be made...

Entries for the new ESTAS Conveyancing Awards are now open and you have just over a month to get nominations in...

A new PropTech venture aims to do what the ill-fated Veyo system failed to achieve -  creating an online platform bringing...

A cluster of conveyancing and legal experts, known as the Legal Sector Group, has published a raft of proposals on leasehold...

The banning of letting fees levied on tenants has dominated the industry headlines in recent months but this election campaign suggests...

Conveyancers have backed a call by the Conservatives for reform of the house buying process - and says more up-front information...

A conveyancing expert is calling for sellers to complete and return their property information questionnaire to their conveyancer before there have...

The Conservative Party says it wants greater competition and more digitisation to cut the costs and reduce the amount of time...

The Conservatives now say they are not resuscitating Home Information Packs, despite a suggestion by a prominent former minister that they "had...

Four Proptech experts have listed the top 10 start up companies they believe are the ones to watch for agents and...

There are only a few days to go before The ESTAS - the biggest event in the awards calendar for agents,...

The average cost of moving home in the UK was £9,472 in 2016 according to a survey by the Centre for...

Not only did Theresa May stun everyone with her decision to call a ‘snap election’ but with the campaign now underway...

The first ever electronic e-signature exchange of contracts for a residential property transaction in the UK has been completed this month,...

Legal Eye has been announced as the latest organisation to support the new customer service awards for the conveyancing sector launch...

The publication of our Strategic Plan, ‘Building the framework for the future’, met with an anticipated degree of positive and not-so-positive...

The Conveyancing Association wants the creation of a ‘log book’ and ‘Home Reports’ for each home on sale - reminiscent in...

The Conveyancing Association (CA) has this week published a consumer guide on leasehold property.  The document, released yesterday, has a specific focus...

One thing that can be guaranteed in the property world each year is a range of conferences and awards dinners. Very...

The ESTAS Group has revealed the shortlist for its 2017 awards - and has announced that this year has seen a...

A sales progression tool claims to have reduced the average transaction time for a property from around 94 days to around...

The housing market has not been short of a White Paper over the last few months, and while you might just...

Online agency HouseSimple has been told that by the Advertising Standards Authority that its TV advertisement including the claim ‘sell your...

The rapid growth in popularity of buy-to-let in recent years, fuelled in part by the failings of the pensions industry, has...

Reapit, the provider of CRM software to much of the estate agency industry, has become one of the partners for the...

A conveyancing portal has announced the release of new functionality which allows estate agents to create chains in its system. The 'Estate...

They say you can prove anything with statistics, and 115% of the time I suspect they’re right – that was an...

Conveyancers are to be told to publish the charges for their house-moving services in a bid to help consumers and to...

The Conveyancing Association has revised its wish-list of reforms to, in its words, “ensure fewer delays, a less costly process, and...

A firm is warning of “a wave of litigation from home owners who were given inadequate advice from their solicitors or...

Leaseholds Solution - the company behind the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners - says it wants recent proposals to modernise the...

The Conveyancers' Association has called for sweeping changes to the house buying and moving system to create a "more certain and...

Working relationships between estate agents and conveyancers can be mutually beneficial with the referral of work between parties. However, they are missing...

A new automated sales progression tool being launched today promises to require fewer resources from agents in return for ensuring faster...

We are now less than a month away from Philip Hammond’s first Autumn Statement to the nation, depending of course on...

The ESTAS Group, which already runs the largest award scheme for the estate agency industry, has launched new awards for the...

The Conveyancing Association says new Chancellor Phillip Hammond should use next month’s Autumn Statement as the opportunity to reverse controversial buy...

With the number of new homes being built across the UK still significantly below the level needed to meet demand, housebuilders...

I write this during the week that David Cameron resigned as an MP – it is quite startling how quickly politics...

Conveyancers will debate how various stakeholders – including estate agents – can deliver a more collaborative home moving experience at an...

The Conveyancing Association says it is continuing to campaign to reform the leasehold transaction process, despite the government saying there is...

With ever increasing obligations, estate agents know that compliance matters now more than ever.  However, being able to obtain access to the...

The Society of Licensed Conveyancers has become the latest body to call for the scrapping of stamp duty to give the...

The Conveyancing Association has set out recommendations to end what it claims are significant delays and overcharging taking place within the...

What a month it has been. By the time you read this, we'll have a new Prime Minister, a new Cabinet,...

Nearly three quarters of people who have sold or bought a property deem it more stressful than having a child or...

The Zoopla Property Group have been confirmed as headline partner once again for The ESTAS next year.     The ESTAS is a...

The Conveyancing Association is setting up a working group to consider how to increase transparency, cut unnecessary delays and costs, and...

A product that describes itself as a ‘concierge service for estate agents’ has launched under the title Property Butler, with links...

  Who are you? Carole Marsden   What does it say on your business card? UK Sales Director What attracted you to join SearchFlow?  SearchFlow has...

Fraudsters attacking the conveyancing sector, successfully stealing large sums of money from homebuyers, are making national headlines at a depressing rate....

In this business you get used to dealing with regular customer and third-party feedback, input, and (occasionally) complaints.  Much like the agency market...

Here are the top letting agents in Britain who go above and beyond to help their customers, as voted for by...

I have spent the last 20 years working within the conveyancing business, alongside estate agents and I can’t help feeling a...

On Tuesday we managed hail, snow, rain, sun and a chilly wind all in one day. Whatever you want to say...

SearchFlow, property intelligence specialists, has partnered with Decision First to offer an unrivalled service to protect conveyancers and homebuyers from the...

Winners’ reactions and views from a fantastic day of celebration! The Kings Group scooped the gold award for Best Estate Agent in...

The complete list of this year’s ESTAS award winners has now been released after a hugely successful ceremony in London hosted...

It’s almost impossible to write about the conveyancing market and not reflect on the activity levels of the past month or...

Having urged agents to think about the full marketing mix and not just price, we must look at our business relationships...

This website recently published a piece ahead of the nationwide launch of our new property platform, Be Street Smart.  It explained how...

Just a third of conveyancers are carrying out the most thorough electronic anti-money laundering checks for all transactions, it is being...

The government’s official consultation exercise on the stamp duty surcharge - launched in controversial circumstances over the Christmas holidays - attracted...

Last month the news of the Conveyancing Association’s (CA) newly-launched progression training course for agents and mortgage brokers, reached the news pages...

A record 30,000 surveys have been submitted to the organisers of The ESTAS awards on the performance of estate and letting...

An estate agent has spoken out about the threat of ‘abandoned sales’ if a completion bottleneck prevents purchases of properties going...

The Conveyancing Association is launching a training course for estate agents, as the debate swirls over whether a shortage of conveyancers...

Haart says a shortage of conveyancers and lawyers is leading to delays in transactions, made worse by the high volume of...

With the scale of devastation from flooding witnessed recently, anxiety about purchasing a property in a flood risk area is heightened....

A body that regulates property searches has criticised some councils for providing “very poor service” which delays transactions. The Property Codes Compliance...

New partners have been announced for The ESTAS Group's annual awards event taking place in London in April.  The headline sponsor remains...

A poll of conveyancers suggests that the vast majority believe environmental searches to identify the risk of flooding will become standard...

The Society of Licensed Conveyancers is calling on the government to reconsider the three per cent stamp duty surcharge being introduced...

Predicting ho­­w the housing market might play out over the next few months is incredibly difficult. There are a significant number...

To those working within the conveyancing sector, the recent statistics from the Legal Ombudsman regarding complaints are perhaps not surprising.  In our...

SearchFlow’s rebrand and positioning as the specialist in ‘property intelligence’ is a response to new technological advancements and the changing market...

This week, SearchFlow launches it new brand. Group Marketing and Communications Director, Maud Rousseau discusses the ethos behind the new brand...

A riposte to Rob Hailstone's article: 'C'mon CHAPS, Don't be faized'. Good Day, and a late Merry Christmas. Sorry for the delay in...

The British Association of Removers has entered the dispute over changes to the CHAPS arrangements for the transfer of monies on...

There has been a fierce attack on failed conveyancing portal Veyo, in the form of an open letter from one of the...

This week’s final batch of photos come from agents and other property professionals who have taken a personal approach to the...

Earlier this week removal man Matt Faizey had an article published by Estate Agent Today in which he commented about the...

This week, Storm Desmond has left devastation in its wake. Once again, the nation’s attention is drawn to the threat flooding...

The little-publicised extension of the CHAPS settlement day - taking the closure up to 6pm from next summer - has received...

The possibility of the Land Registry being amongst £4.6 billion of public assets earmarked for privatisation has provoked protests across the...

When it comes to the regulation of the conveyancing industry, this question is a topic of open and ongoing debate. Licensed conveyancers...

It was perhaps inevitable that as Christmas looms closer so agents’ fund-raising efforts would grow even stronger - and we’re always...

Who are you? Colin Breavington What does it say on your business card? Operations Director We hear SearchFlow is expanding next year, can you give...

An insurance company claims that around 60 per cent of estate agents do not check with their vendor clients about disputes...

A new online service claims to protect agents and others working in the industry from the threat of cybercrime.  The service, called...

There was a recent article in Estate Agent Today titled: Agents 'missing out on income by not charging for referrals'. A study...

Wind back the clock a few years and the working relationships I had with most estate agents was productive, beneficial and...

PropSpace, an international cloud-based property software firm that has recently launched in the UK, is one of the new sponsors of...

The ESTAS, the longest and largest awards ceremony in the residential agency industry, has outgrown its old venue and is moving...

CHAPS has confirmed that its operational hours will be extended from summer 2016, enabling high-value payments to be made until 6pm. The...

A number of my member firms (Bold Legal Group) have reported that, compared to three years ago, the time to get...

In my recent article, ‘Is Gazeal for Real?’ I reported on the imminent launch of this new product that claimed it...

The Conveyancing Association (CA) has embarked on a mission to engage with the lender community with a view to initiating a...

A house is pretty much the largest investment a person will make in their lifetime, and it’s natural to want the...

The ESTAS are more than the biggest and most prestigious awards in the industry. They are a management information service, marketing...

So spring has sprung and the Hare is on the loose. After a very long gestation period, the Veyo leveret has...

The conveyancing portal Veyo officially commences its roll-out across England and Wales today, after originally pledging to open in April. Veyo is...

The issue of some estate agents insisting that buyers and/or sellers use a particular solicitor or conveyancer has reared its ugly...

The Society of Licensed Conveyancers and Bold Legal Group have announced details of this year’s spring road shows. The events in Leeds,...