Property

The UK’s first-ever property deal using the new qualified electronic signature, which is being trialled by HM Land Registry, was completed this week.

HM Land Registry is to pilot the use of qualified electronic signatures that do not need to be witnessed, which it said could be a “gamechanger” for conveyancing.

Two solicitors who breached the trust of vulnerable clients in need of cash by acting in a dodgy quick home sale scheme have been suspended from practice.

Estate agents have called for the introduction of digital property logbooks, supplied by companies regulated by the government, to help speed up the conveyancing process.

HM Land Registry is to pilot a new lawyer certification scheme in the next year to “help provide trust” in the information it receives.

There were more property transactions in June than in any month on record as homebuyers rushed to beat the stamp duty land tax holiday deadline, HM Revenue & Customs revealed today.

A house in Kent is the first being sold using a blockchain network that connects conveyancers with estate agents and mortgage lenders.

A conveyancing platform which aims to provide a “central source of truth” for buyers, sellers, estate agents and lawyers is being tested by law firms in Kent.

The Law Society has urged under-pressure conveyancers stay civil as they manage the risk that transactions will not complete by the stamp duty deadline at the end of this month.

NAHL plc is set to sell its residential conveyancing business as it looks to focus on growing its personal injury law firm in the wake of a difficult Covid-affected year for the business.

A Surrey law firm has been ordered to pay more than £800,000 in damages for negligence after failing to tell its client that part of a property he thought he had bought had been retained by the seller.

The government has unveiled a £26m fund to support local authorities in migrating to the national local land charges register, with the aim of bringing all 336 on board by 2025.

A West Midlands law firm is being sued by a client who claims it failed to tell of a “ridiculous” ground rent that doubles every five years – meaning she will be paying £1m a year in 50 years.

Immigration and civil litigation were the two areas of legal practice hit hardest by the pandemic last year, with private client and family law “insulated” from the impact, new research has found.

A national panel of law firms is being created to allow estate agents and members of the public to find conveyancers prepared to provide buyers with upfront property transaction packs.