Property
Woman sentenced for allowing use of account in conveyancing fraud
A woman who allowed her bank account to be used in a conveyancing fraud has been given an 18-month suspended jail sentence.
Solicitors fined £30k for letting down property clients
Two solicitors have been fined more than £30,000 between them for not considering conflicts of interest and not acting in clients’ best interests.
Solicitor fined third of annual income for breach of undertaking
A solicitor who paid out money he was holding, having given an undertaking not to do so, has been fined a third of his annual income by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Seven in 10 homeowners satisfied with their conveyancers
Seven in 10 homeowners were satisfied with their conveyancer but levels of service have deteriorated in the last five years, according to new research.
Tribunal: Barristers’ rooms are not individually rateable properties
A leading tax law chambers has failed to convince a tribunal that rooms occupied by barristers are individual properties for the purposes of business rates.
Search providers refused permission to appeal “overcharging” ruling
The High Court has refused 14 search providers permission to appeal a ruling dismissing an overcharging claim against the nine English water companies.
Former conveyancer raises £850,000 for onboarding tool
A former conveyancer has raised almost £850,000 for a new onboarding tool, including a grant of £292,000 from Innovate UK, which went live in July.
AI “could help allocate work to conveyancers”
Artificial intelligence is being developed for “triage and work allocation” in law firms and particularly for conveyancing, a director of the SRA has said.
Full-service law firm relaunched as consultant-led property specialist
FDR Law, a general practice bought by Taylor Rose in 2021, has been relaunched as a specialist property law firm for self-employed consultants.
Conveyancers will be urged to move away from client account
Licensed conveyancers will be encouraged by their regulator to move away from the risks of client account as it becomes more practical, an industry roundtable has heard.
SRA to probe competence of family law and landlord and tenant solicitors
The SRA is to examine how family law and landlord and tenant law specialists maintain their competence amid increasing reports about their practices.
Claim against law firm back on after High Court overturns strike-out
The High Court has overturned a master’s decision to strike out a claim against a London law firm because of a release clause in a previous settlement involving its clients.
TV personalities wade in over agents “forcing” conveyancers on buyers
Estate agents forcing buyers to use their preferred lawyers, or at least charge more if they do not, has come under the spotlight thanks to TV personalities Martin Lewis and Kirstie Allsopp.
Law Society “must become more responsive to members” after SGM
The Law Society “must become much more responsive to its members working at the coalface of legal services”, the head of the Property Lawyers Action Group has said.
Law Society leaders take their lumps but survive no-confidence vote
The Law Society leadership yesterday fought off a vote of no confidence in how it represents conveyancers but took plenty of criticism along the way.
Blog
Is competition in the legal sector stifling innovation?
As the legal sector’s competitive landscape continues to evolve, Nobel laureates remind us that innovation is not inevitable,and that competition may not always be an incentive to innovate.
What high-performing consumer claims firms get right
Recurring concerns about parts of the volume claims sector show that the gap between well-run firms and those struggling to manage volume effectively is widening.
The SRA’s 2025 AML report: What law firms need to know
The SRA has released its 2024-25 anti-money laundering report and the scale of supervision is striking – it carried out 935 proactive engagements in the year to 5 April 2025.
