Conveyancing Matters Podcast

In this Conveyancing Matters chat Lorraine and Stu enjoy another chat with Maurice Kilbride, owner of his own estate agency, now celebrating 21 years in business! Maurice shares his thoughts on why he left a large corporate agency and set up on his own – reasons that will sound all too familiar to many. They talk to Maurice about property stock levels in agency being the challenge for everyone in...

In this Conveyancing Matters chat Lorraine and Stu enjoy another chat with Mr Conveyancing himself, Rob Hailstone from Bold Legal. They chat to Rob about his thoughts as to how tumultuous 2021 has been for conveyancers – but none of them make any concrete predictions for 2022! They talk to Rob about fee levels, Rob’s involvement with Future Gov and the importance of up-front information for partie...

Lorraine and Stu have decided to introduce a new feature for Conveyancing Matters!  They will do a roundup every month or so of the conveyancing news items which have caught their eye. There are lots of great news resources for conveyancers these days; what Lorraine and Stu aim to do is to chat about the hot topics and give tips and hints as to how these will affect conveyancers in practice.  They...

In this Conveyancing Matters chat Lorraine and Stu enjoy another chat with Noel Hunter, OBE, Chairman of the Consumer Code for Homebuilders. Since their last chat with Noel, the New Homes Ombudsman has been appointed and the New Homes Quality Code is due to be published imminently. Noel chats to Lorraine and Stu about the interaction between the new Code and the Consumer Code for Homebuilders and...

In this Conveyancing Matters chat Lorraine and Stu talk about the security incident which has hit a large, high-profile conveyancing group, and continues to have repercussions 3 weeks after it was first reported. They chat about the cyber and security risks that all conveyancing firms face and the fact that some are suggesting a move back to paper files. The issue has also renewed discussions abou...

Lorraine and Stu could not resist the topic of the week in this Conveyancing Matters chat – the all too familiar story of the vicar who lost his house. The story of the Luton vicar who returned to his house to find that it had been sold by a fraudster has been widely reported in the national media. As Peter Dodge, who appeared in the Court of Appeal for Mishcon de Reya said:  ‘Dreamvar is back in...

In this Conveyancing Matters chat, Stu chats to Daniel Hamilton-Charlton, Managing Director of Property Searches Direct They covered a wide range of topics including the various products and reports that Daniel’s company offers to conveyancers and consumers But they really opened up when talking about the relationship between the conveyancer and the estate agent.  This is still a central relations...

In this Conveyancing Matters chat, Lorraine and Stu talk about the extent to which new ways of working in conveyancing is changing the skill set of many conveyancers. The 2008 financial crash saw many experienced conveyancers leave the market and not return. This, the pandemic and pressures of the last 18 months have contributed to a shortage of skilled conveyancers which is presenting recruitment...

Lorraine and Stu chat to Chartered Legal Exec, property lawyer and all-round lovely guy, Ewan Treadgold. Lorraine and Ewan first met when they worked together in Cambridge – they did not hit it off to start with – but a few jaeger bombs set them right! Ewan joins Lorraine and Stu to chat about the new way to qualify as a solicitor, the Solicitor’s Qualifying Examination (SQE) and why he wants to p...

Lorraine and Stu were delighted to catch up with Simon Brown and Ben Marley to talk about the ESTAS. Simon is the founder of the ESTAS, which is the customer review and awards platform designed for conveyancers and estate agents, to name but two of the property professionals who use the platform. Simon set up the ESTAS 18 years ago and Ben has joined as the sales director and the annual awards eve...

Lorraine and Stu finally caught up with the Hound of Holborn himself, the delightful Charlie Davidson, associate solicitor, Bishop and Sewell.  Lorraine was thrilled to get two of her favourite lawyers together on the same zoom!  They chatted about the (shhh) SDLT ‘holiday’ (it wasn’t a holiday for conveyancers) and we asked Charlie how he became the ‘Hound’! We chew the fat about how joyful it is...

Lorraine and Stu are delighted that their first post SDLT  ‘holiday’ guest is Beth Rudolf, Director of Delivery at The Conveyancing Association. Beth has a wealth of experience across the property sector, so she is well placed to talk about the challenges and opportunities in the coming months and years. Beth gives an update on the work of The Home Buying and Selling Group – upfront information, h...

Fat C**t W**k*r Bunch of shi*s This is language that has been levelled at conveyancers by clients in recent weeks – unacceptable, isn’t it? In this Conveyancing Matters chat, Lorraine and Stu discuss a difficult subject – the abuse that conveyancers can face from their clients. We all know that moving house is stressful and that the SDLT deadlines have made everything worse.  But clients must take...

This Conveyancing Matters chat Lorraine and Stu mull over the approach of yet another SDLT deadline amongst other points of irritation! Is 30 September SDLT deadline still a big deal for conveyancers? Has the #BeKind campaign made a difference? Has the message been put into practice? Are conveyancers feeling more loved? Conveyancers are quieter on social media than they were in June – so did we ca...

This Conveyancing Matters chat might be a bit controversial! Stu and Lorraine discuss the abundance of conveyancing search products that are now available for property purchases. There is no doubt that many of the products provide helpful information for buyers, whether on issues such as local schools or air quality. However, the issue for conveyancers is whether they should take on the responsibi...

This is the second of Stuart and Lorraine's Conveyancing Matters Birthday chats. They talked about some of the positive things to come out of the strange year that conveyancers have just had, and mulled over more of their lovely guests! Find our podcasts on Spotify and apple podcasts http://www.pcslegal.co.uk/ http://www.adaptlaw.co.uk/ Remember, this is just a chat and our opinions, not advi...

In the first of the birthday chats, Stu and Lorraine celebrate the first year of Conveyancing Matters! They talk about the tumultuous and unprecedented year that conveyancers have faced and mention some of the fantastic guests who have been kind enough to join them. Do you have a favourite guest or chat? What did they talk about that interested you? Remember, this is just a chat and our opinions,...

In this Conveyancing Matters chat, Stu and Lorraine talk about an important issue that has vexed conveyancers for years – redemption statements from mortgage lenders They talk about early redemption penalties and the problems of the lenders expecting the penalties to be paid when an undertaking has been given to pay a lower figure Should conveyancers obtain the penalty figure from their clients? O...

In this Conveyancing Matters chat, Stu and Lorraine talk about the aftermath of the end of the SDLT holiday on 30th June. They talk about the impact on staff and clients and the fact that new instructions are not tailing off. The massive workload of recent months will now be passed to more unsung heroes – those who deal with post-completion work. Will conveyancing staff be able to take their holid...

In this Conveyancing Matters chat, Stu and Lorraine talk about the topic that none of us can avoid – how was the busiest day in the history of conveyancing? They have no nuggets, no advice, no tips – they just chat about how the busiest day in the conveyancing diary went. There were issues with lenders, lots of hanging on the phone and some long hours – but the banking system didn’t crash! And the...

In this Conveyancing Matters chat, Stu and Lorraine talk about the topic that should be on everyone’s lips – the risks of fraud when we send money out on completions. The basics are easy to miss in the maelstrom as we approach the end of the SDLT holiday. Sending money out on conveyancing transactions still represents one of the biggest risks to firms so we thought that we would do a reminder for...

In this Conveyancing Matters chat, Stu and Lorraine talk about the topic that is on everyone’s lips – the pressure facing conveyancers in the face of the 30 June end of SDLT ‘holiday’. They try to remind conveyancers that this is unprecedented and unlike anything that most people will go through. They try not to be too depressing – but risks, cybercrime, Friday afternoon fraud all put in an appear...

In this Conveyancing Matters chat, Stu and Lorraine talk about something close to Lorraine’s heart – HM Land Registry’s Practice Guide 8, witnessed electronic signatures and her new book! In a shameless publicity grab, Lorraine talks to Stu about why she wrote the book in response to HM Land Registry’s blogs in 2020 confirming that it will accept deeds for registration signed using Mercury signatu...

In this Conveyancing Matters chat, Stu and Lorraine talk about something that no conveyancing firm can be without – professional indemnity insurance. Their constant refrain is: ‘conveyancers get it in the neck as they are the only ones who are properly insured’ – so in this chat, Lorraine and Stu talk about the challenges that firms will face when renewing their insurance. In this unprecedented ye...

In this Conveyancing Matters chat, Stu and Lorraine talk about an issue that crops up on every purchase and remortgage - the environmental search. They talk about the difference in attitude between firms to the environmental search and whether not doing this search is an issue that should be reported to a lender. Who pays if land is polluted?  But conveyancers must be careful – if we do a search,...