Property

HM Land Registry was hit by a surge of 85% in complaints over the past year in the wake of the property boom sparked by the stamp duty holiday, its annual report has revealed.

Conveyancers have been urged to embrace the opportunities offered by new rules on the information that must be included in property listings.

There are “too many instances” of estate agents only allowing potential buyers to view a property or make an offer if they use a recommended conveyancer and other service providers.

A solicitor who let one mistake on a property sale snowball so that it affected multiple transactions in a portfolio has been fined £10,000 – even though he preferred to be struck off.

Conveyancers enjoyed their busiest year on record in 2021/22 – and hundreds of law firms came back into the market – with the average practice seeing a 60% rise in transactions.

The merger of two of the four big property search providers “substantially lessens competition” and the only remedy would be to break up the business, the CMA has provisionally found.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has struck off a solicitor whose conduct has led to 25 claims on the SRA Compensation Fund totalling £750,000 from conveyancing clients.

Firms of licensed conveyancers will have to apply for professional indemnity insurance two months ahead of the renewal deadline and in return will receive a response within four weeks.

Consumer law firm Taylor Rose MW has made a “seven-figure investment” in a proptech business which helps home movers change addresses, while PEXA is gearing up for its UK launch.

Conveyancers should be able to rely on digital IDs checked by estate agents and vice versa, the head of the Home Buying and Selling Group’s upfront information sub-group has said.