The managing director of a law firm involved in testing Veyo has described how the Law Society realised too late that it had “built something nobody wanted”.

David Bridge, managing director of BPL Solicitors, said the society should “do something positive” and convert the system built for Veyo into a secure portal for conveyancers.
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“Rather than getting carried away with things we don’t need, the Law Society should be helping us with the problems we actually face, such as rogue law firms and identity theft.

Read the full Legal Futures article here

The CML has published its Market Review for 2015 and its forecast for 2016 and 2017.

Read the CML Market Review and Forecast here

The Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB) have bought a stake in online conveyancing hub Sort Refer.
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The sale of a 23% stake in Sort Refer's parent company Sort Ltd for £350,000 is being funded out of the independent mortgage broker's existing cash resources.

Read the full Today's Conveyancer article here

Private tenants are set to bear the brunt of the Government's move to encourage homebuying, according to Eddie Goldsmith, Chairman of the Conveyancing Association (CA).

Mr Goldsmith also isn't holding his breath for the market to fill the gap left behind with the failure of Veyo.
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Making his predictions for the New Year, Eddie Goldsmith said: “2016 will be very interesting for the property industry. Over the last couple of years, we have seen the introduction of a number of extremely significant changes that have pulled the market in almost every direction possible.

"2015 was always going to bring uncertainty, with the General Election and major sporting events slowing down the market at key times. Going forwards will undoubtedly be about ensuring a healthy level of activity and growth being maintained. There are, however, a number of obstacles to this which spring to mind – many of them discussed in detail at the Conveyancing Association’s Conveyancing inaugural conference in December.

Read the full Today's Conveyancer article here

A single definitive ‘official’ government house price index is to be launched by June.

During the summer the Office for National Statistics announced that the results of a consultation process - held between October and December last year - had been processed and that “good progress had been made in a number of areas.” This had prompted hopes that the new index might be launched in the New Year.

However, a more recent announcement by the ONS - at the end of a scheduled release of house price data - reveals that “there have been delays in securing access to the data required to begin test production of the new index.” The office adds: “Work is still progressing.”

In a key part of its statement, the ONS says: “The Development Working Group has also been considering the transition to the new house price index for users. Further details regarding the transition plan will be published in early 2016, and will likely include a number of user events to fully explain the changes ahead of the anticipated first publication of the new index by June 2016.”

Read the full Estate Agent Today article here

The Legal Services Board (LSB) has begun work on whether it could and should introduce a voluntary regulation scheme for currently unregulated legal services providers.

As part of a wider package of work on unregulated providers, it is also to investigate in depth their role in the will writing and estate administration, family law, and intellectual property markets.
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The lack of a level playing field between the regulated and unregulated communities is a running sore in the world of legal regulation and earlier this year the LSB committed to understanding the latter better.

Read the full Legal Futures article here

The Law Society has condemned plans by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to revolutionise the training of solicitors, warning that they could “promote nepotism” and favour “wealthier students”.

In a strongly worded reaction to the unveiling of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination last week, the society said it was particularly concerned by the “removal of approved routes to qualification”.

Read the full Legal Futures article here

There is no “current procedure” by which the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) informs law firms that non-solicitor members of staff have been banned from working for them, it has emerged.

A conveyancer who admitted signing a Land Registry transfer saying she had witnessed her clients’ signatures, when she had not, was banned last month from working for solicitors.

Elise Daley, who describes herself on her LinkedIn page as a “legal executive” and currently a “legal manager” at DWF, was working as a conveyancer at Yorkshire firm Chadwick Lawrence at the time of the incident between July 2012 and June 2013, before joining DWF in July 2013.

In a decision notice published late last month, the SRA said Ms Daley, who is not a solicitor, had breached several of the SRA Principles 2011 and failed to achieve an outcome in the Code of Conduct.
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She was issued with a banning order under section 43 of the Solicitors Act 1974, given a written rebuke and ordered to pay £600 costs.

A spokesman for the SRA said: “There is no current procedure for informing current employers about staff subject to a section 43 order.

“The obligation is on the employee to ask permission from the SRA if they wish to be employed by a solicitors’ firm.”

Read the full Legal Futures article here

A professional body has alerted the Law Society about a scam targeting their members. A small number of their members have recently received cold calls for someone purporting to be from RICS and advising the member that they are due a refund on annual subscriptions, and that this needs to be processed urgently as the caller is going on leave.
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Typically the scam caller advises of an amount to be refunded and that only expired card details are held by RICS. The caller may then quote 'card ending in XXXX'. However, since card holders do not usually keep old cards, they have no way of checking the validity of this and the call becomes a more plausible confidence trick.

Read the full Law Society article here