Property

The proportion of home-buyers saying they experienced “unexpected costs” in their transactions has gone up by more than 50% this year, new research has found.

The Legal Ombudsman has reported a 41% increase in the number of complaints about conveyancing, driven by delays, poor communication and post-completion problems.

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers has issued a sharp rebuke to the Legal Services Consumer Panel for its “inaccurate representation” of the regulator last week.

A 50-person law firm that specialises in property management work has taken investment from LDC, part of Lloyds Banking Group.

Confidence among home movers about sharing information digitally – and indeed in the home-buying process improving – is growing strongly, research has found.

A former partner in a London law firm transferred almost £700,000 of his own money to a client company to avoid a negligence claim.

A group of conveyancers have joined forces to create a new initiative aimed at solving practical issues that “clog” the conveyancing process.

A South London law firm that failed to perform an undertaking given during a property transaction for nearly two and a half years has been rebuked by the SRA.

The government has promised to “simplify” conveyancing as part of its home-buying reforms, recognising that the role of conveyancers has “expanded significantly”.

The government is pressing ahead with reforms to the home-buying process, which it says will cut transaction times by around four weeks.