Archive

The head of one of the UK’s largest conveyancing legal practices is warning the property market could “fall off a cliff...

The interim executive chair of Propertymark has now taken up a leading role in The Conveyancing Association Nicky Heathcote is becoming the...

A survey of 5,000 agents suggests the slow house selling and buying process is one of the biggest challenges facing the...

No fewer than 79 per cent of people want the stamp duty holiday extended according to a survey conducted by an...

A radical way to end the current stamp duty holiday has been suggested by three different legal bodies. The Society of Licensed...

The property market became somewhat fractious during 2020. After receiving a much-needed boost with the promise of stamp duty relief, things...

Two of the most outspoken agents in the industry have criticised those calling for an extension to the stamp duty holiday...

‘Many are in complete denial about the time it takes and still think it’s eight to 10 weeks.’ I won’t tell you...

Conveyancers have considered whether the long-standing ‘caveat emptor’ or buyer beware principle in a property purchase should be replaced by ‘vendor...

A leading firm of conveyancers will this week tell new clients that their property purchases are likely to miss the stamp...

We can all agree that the recovery of the property market since May has been outstanding. The latest data from Zoopla...

Recent figures emanating from the mortgage and housing market suggest that – since lockdown was ended in mid-May – transaction levels...

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been told to avoid a stamp duty holiday cliff-edge next March at any price - because it...

Conveyancers are sending a blunt message to estate agents: transactions will take longer than usual and don’t chase us with queries and...

The cross-sector group looking at reforming the sales process has agreed a new pledge which it says introduces greater transparency for...

At a recent Conveyancing Association webinar focused on the provision of upfront information in the property sale process, there was a...

Buyer registrations and sales enquiries are reportedly back to pre-Covid levels. Completions, however, are lagging behind. This is probably down to...

A working party of property professionals is being set up to look at whether and how property logbooks could help speed...

Last week was Mental Health Awareness Week, and there is a great deal of positive things to be said about a...

At the moment, it somehow seems like tempting fate to think too far into the future, especially in terms of the...

New guidance has just been agreed by conveyancers on house moves during the Coronavirus crisis. The procedures - made pubic only last...

The head of a firm that has been creating digital property log books for well over a decade says the house-moving...

Rightmove and Zoopla have been working with key figures from government and the agency and conveyancing industries on how to reform...

The group charged with pioneering Reservation Agreements in the house buying process admits both the industry and the public are split...

A digital platform claims its taken “a massive step” towards speeding up property sales with what it says is the first...

There’s no doubt that we live in politically charged times and every day appears to bring something new to the ‘party’. For...

We now have a new Leader of the Conservative Party and, rather more importantly, a new Prime Minister. That individual is Boris...

It may well seem that the government is pre-occupied with one issue, and one issue alone. While preparations for Brexit take up a...

The issue of ‘intergenerational fairness’ has been raised in recent weeks, some might say somewhat ironically by a House of Lords’...

The leasehold scandal continues to generate plenty of column inches, with fresh stories emerging almost daily of people living in unsellable...

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

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

On the face of it, this year’s Budget was not what you could describe as ‘housing heavy’ in terms of the...

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

Were it not for climate change, I would be very close to predicting that the summer is close to being over,...

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

Boy it‘s hot out there, with little end in sight yet. That’s the good news. Now the even better news -...

To say this is a turbulent time for UK politics would be something of an understatement. As I write, the Brexit...

As housing market stakeholders we’ve all had a month or so to try and digest the government’s own response to its...

Given the level of resource and energy being put behind upping the number of first-time buyers in the UK, you might...

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

At any given moment it’s difficult to say which issue dominates our marketplace, but I think it’s fair to acknowledge during...

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...

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

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

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

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

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

With the Budget just over a month away, the steady stream of ‘leaks’ continues to grow as journalists and the industry...

Even so close to the event, I don’t think anyone will be deeming 2017 as the ‘summer of love’.  The summer of...

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...

Without wishing to blow our own trumpet at this time, we did say at the start of the year that 2017...

There has been general support from the industry for the government’s apparent intention to ban new homes in England being sold...

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

The political ebb and flow continues - seemingly with all the subtlety of a Boris Johnson rugby tackle on a 10-year...

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

A gathering of Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has called on the industry to unite and improve the buying and selling process...

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

In years to come, students of political history might come to look at the 2017 General Election campaign with some interest....

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...

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...

At the end of a week dominated by grim news, it is worth remembering our capacity for good far outweighs rare...

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...

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

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

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

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

It may still be too early to start compiling a Christmas wish list, but it is the right time to provide...

There is really only one topic of debate and forensic analysis at the moment and that’s the ascendency of Donald Trump...

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

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

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...

It’s been a heartening few weeks for those of us who thought that protest was dead – or, more precisely, that...

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

The Residential Property Surveyors Association is the latest of many trade bodies to come out against government proposals to privatise 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,...

One estate agency leader - you’d all recognise his name - described the victory of the Leave camp in the referendum...

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

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

The government's consultation on the proposed privatisation of the Land Registry closes today. Interested parties have had since March 24 to give...

An online petition against the privatisation of the Land Registry now has around 225,000 signatures with just over a week to...

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

Two initiatives appear to show efforts by the conveyancing industry to make its house transaction processes quicker and more appropriate to...

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

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

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

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

We know so many agents do good fund-raising during the festive season - here are just a few who made contact...

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

We have reached an interesting point in what has been a most unusual year for the property sector.  The latest figures from...

We’re all familiar with 'gazumping' – most us have been 'gazumped' or indeed been the perpetrators of this practice, for it...

We’ve had a flurry of data for all of us involved in the property sector to mull over on our sun...

This week the Chancellor, George Osborne, delivered the first Conservative Budget for almost 20 years. While Mr Osborne claimed that it marked...

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

It’s pretty hot out there but our industry still confounds critics by doing good work for good causes.  We’ll gladly publicise your...

Poldark, a period drama recently on the BBC, has inspired a new trend dubbed the 'Poldark Effect'.  Rather than an increase in...