News

Conveyancing Month!

CONTENTS

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The UK’s first monthly on-line journal dedicated to conveyancers!

News...

Explanatory note

Explanatory note

Anti - Hips Onslaught Hots Up

Text Box: The Government’s plans to introduce compulsory HIPs on the 1st of June next year are now the subject of a concerted campaign of opposition led by the Conservative party. The first salvos came in the form of a report published last month by Oxford Economic Forecasting (OFE) on behalf GMAC RFC, the UK’s 10th largest residential mortgage lender. According to OFE, Hips would distort the market, as Britons often put their homes on the market because they wanted to trade up to a bigger property or to gauge how much they could get from buyers. The cost of the HIP (up to £1,000 by some estimates) would stall people from doing this, resulting in a loss of sales.

Cautious support for HIPs from CML

Text Box: In a wide ranging review published this month, The Council of Mortgage Lenders has given the Government cautious support for it’s HIPs plans, but continues to express reservations, particularly in relation to the need carry out physical inspections of properties, rather than just relying on the Home Condition Report (HCR) to be contained in the HIP.

House Price Inflation Easing

Text Box: In a sudden reversal of a somewhat buoyant housing market, house prices dropped 1.2% in June according to figures released by the Halifax . House prices increased by 4.5% in the first half of 2006 with a 2.6% rise during the 2006 second Quarter . The level of activity appears to have moderated in recent months, said the bank. The number of mortgage approvals to fund house purchase during March-May 2006 was down 4% compared with the preceding three months after adjusting for seasonal factors. Property transactions in England and Wales fell for the second consecutive month in May on a seasonally adjusted basi

Law Society Announces Start of Dry Run

Text Box: The Law Society has announced that it’s Home Information Pack (HIP) dry run will begin later this month, on a phased geographical basis. Fifty-seven per cent of respondents to a recent ICM poll said they would be most likely to trust a solicitor to prepare a HIP, and 70 per cent said they would rely on their solicitor to interpret the information contained in the HIP. Kevin Martin, Law Society president, commented: “We have said from the outset that there must be a meaningful dry run to test all aspects of the new regime before the law changes. Feedback from firms involved in this trial will be used as we continue to stress to government the practical problems which may be caused by its new regime.

Land Registry Announces EFT Tender

Text Box: Land Registry has announced its intention to procure an electronic funds transfer (EFT) system which will underpin its e-conveyancing service due to be released in stages from 2007. EFT will allow money to be transferred from buyer to seller while simultaneously paying fees such as stamp duty land tax. Land Registry will then automatically update its database with the new owner’s details. The new system will remove the delays which currently prolong the registration process. EFT will need to be faster than the traditional methods of payment such as CHAPS and the provider must demonstrate that their solution is secure and provides certainty, immediacy and irrevocability in the movement of funds.

HIPs Ignorance Increasing!