Property
Simple errors in Land Registry applications cost conveyancers £19m
Conveyancers’ failures to get names right in applications to HM Land Registry is costing them up to £3.6m a year in fee-earner time to correct, the agency has estimated.
Many conveyancing firms “do not have clear pricing policies”
Almost half of conveyancing firms do not have pricing policies which are “clearly defined, understood, communicated and adhered to” all the time.
PEXA launches initiative to redesign conveyancing process
PEXA, the Australian conveyancing technology giant now operating in the UK, has launched an initiative in West Yorkshire to redesign the home-buying and selling process.
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.
Blog
The ‘blank sheet’ challenge – what would you do differently?
Posted by Scott Jones, deputy editor of Legal Futures In the run-up to this week’s LegalTechTalk, we are inviting lawyers to take the ‘blank sheet’ challenge – sketching out their dream law firm with the freedom to start again from scratch. What… Read More
The ‘blank sheet’ challenge – what would you do differently?
The law is all about precedent and what came before. But imagine you had a blank sheet of paper and could start from scratch. What would you do differently? What would stay the same?
Why is Andrew Malkinson still paying for a crime he didn’t commit?
Like many in my profession and beyond, I have been moved by the case of Andrew Malkinson, the man who spent 17 years in prison for an awful crime he did not commit.
