Property

A report for the Digital Property Market Steering Group has outlined a “more targeted approach” to upfront property information, focused on reducing late-stage transaction failures.

A solicitor has been suspended over a “dereliction of duty” that saw him act on both sides of the transfer of an elderly and vulnerable client’s sole residence to a neighbour for nil consideration.

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers has issued its first approval for a law firm to use a third-party managed account for its client funds.

The term ‘post-completion’ can encourage conveyancers to see applications to HM Land Registry as an afterthought, especially as they are done after collecting the fee, the CLC has warned.

The High Court has highlighted the “fishy” role of two solicitors in a housing possession case in what “looks like a stitch-up” of the occupant by her ex-husband.

HM Land Registry will now accept deeds signed with qualified electronic signatures and is encouraging lawyers and their clients to start using them.

HM Land Registry has missed the targets it set itself for reducing errors in new entries on the register and on productivity, according to its annual report.

Last week’s BBC Panorama programme on ‘conditional selling’ by estate agents has prompted the Council for Licensed Conveyancers to launch a review of referral arrangements.

The Law Commission is planning to take one burden off conveyancers’ shoulders by removing doubts about chancel repair liability and the need to take out insurance.

It may take strong enforcement action by the Competition and Markets Authority to make the property sector realise that upfront material information remains a priority.

A senior paralegal has been rebuked for wrongly requesting the release of at least £1.85m to a property developer which later went bust, leaving his law firm to repay buyers.

A solicitor who breached an undertaking and then tried to stop his opposite number reporting him to the Solicitors Regulation Authority has been struck off.

A grassroots initiative to reduce the number of unnecessary enquiries which can delay conveyancing transactions has gone live.

The Law Society has “paused” work on a material information form for conveyancers, after National Trading Standards withdrew it guidance on the issue last month.

Conveyancers must make it “very clear” to clients whether or not they are taking on liability in checking for climate change issues, a director at a leading indemnity insurer has warned.