5 things to check before the summer holidays
- Everyone wants to go away at the same time
The Conveyancing Association (CA) has begun a course of action that is designed to foster positive relations with the lender community in order to try and provide a smoother conveyancing process for both buyers and sellers.
The CA move comes in the wake of 2013’s Conveyancing Association Protocol, an initiative designed to provide impetus and guidance to try to ensure that conveyancers, regardless of whether they were representing buyers or sellers, were “singing from the same hymn sheet”. This document was followed by 2014’s Conveyancing Association Best Practice Guide for Conveyancers and Estate Agents.
International law firm Bird & Bird has been told it must pay £1.8m in property solicitor professional negligence compensation as a result of its failure to inform a client of the development of property adjacent to the one it planned to purchase; a development which would have had a negative impact on the value of the purchased property.
The claimant, Orientfield Holdings Ltd, began the professional negligence claim in relation to its attempted purchase of a property in St John’s Wood, North London, for £25m.
The Society of Licensed Conveyancers (SLC) has called on residential conveyancing solicitors to boycott the conveyancing seminar being held in London by Metro Bank on 2 July.
Although it might at first seem harsh, the call has been issued because Metro Bank does not include licensed conveyancers on its panel, a strategy which has resulted in strong criticism from SLC and prompted the body to suggest it might refer Metro to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) – it is understood that any decision hinges on the SLC’s receipt of legal advice regarding Metro Bank’s panel.
The balance of power is changing. For the first time in over 100 years, businesses will be able to purchase insurance, free from so-called “draconian” disclosure and warranty rules, which have historically given insurance companies considerable scope to avoid paying claims. Continue reading →
It is continually surprising how many otherwise well managed companies of all shapes, sizes and industries have brilliant business plans and spend a fortune on developing and marketing their products and services, but neglect to take steps to adequately protect their intellectual property. Continue reading →
Sony Pictures Entertainment has failed in an attempt to have a professional negligence claim against it thrown out.
The claim, which is being brought by nine ex-employees, relates to the high-profile cyber attack that hit the studio in the wake of its release of The Interview, a film about an assassination attempt on North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un.
The judge in the US court said that the claimants were free to pursue their allegations that Sony Corporation had been professionally negligent in failing to ensure adequate security from cyber “hack” attacks.
A boom in the number of buy-to-let conveyancing customers is a significant factor in the current major property shortage in the UK. Estate agents averaged just 52 properties per branch during May, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ most recent reports.
The figures mean that there are now fewer properties on the market than at any time in the past 37 years.
Unfortunately, for first-time buyers and those hoping to position themselves to gain a foothold in the UK property market, it is buy-to-let conveyancing customers who are creating the squeeze; the Council for Mortgage Lenders recently found that one in seven of all mortgages currently outstanding in the UK are for buy-to-let properties. Five years ago this figure was just one in nine.
There are concerns that the pension reforms which came into effect in April 2015 could lead to an increase in pensions advice professional negligence claims, with this prospect causing considerable anxiety among the financial advice community.
Unfortunately, despite the fact that reforms were designed to give people more freedom and flexibility with their pensions, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that pension providers are failing to allow this to happen.
The Court of Appeal has dismissed the solicitor negligence claim of an international businessman in a case that has its origins in instructions given to a London-based legal firm in 2007.
It is reported that the claimant hoped to make significant profits by investing in solar electricity initiatives in the Greek Islands but instead made losses of nearly £10 million, for which he blamed the advice of his solicitors.