local authority searches explained

Local Authority searches explained

Local Authority searches are one of the most important things that are used in house purchases in the UK. The job of your conveyancer is to make sure that when your purchase completes the title is sound. Searches are nearly always required if you are using a mortgage to fund the purchase. If you are buying totally for cash then they are not required but you will be advised strongly by your conveyancer that you should still buy them in all cases. If you still insist that you do not want to buy them as a cash buyer you would need to put this in writing to your conveyancer .

What’s included in a Local Authority search.

There are two parts to a local authority search – a LLC1 and A CON29.  

Firstly the LLC1- Local Land Charge register search – this goes into attendant restrictions to land or property. Typically these are the items listed below:

A building that is listed

A building or land located in conservation area

Has a tree protection order for that street or area.

Could be in need of improvement or a renovation grant.

In an area that has a smoke control

Part 2 of the search is –the CON29- SUPPLIES INFORMATION RELATING TO ROADS AND HIGHWAYS.

This covers planned new roads, railroads and any major structure that could be built in the future and affect your property.

Environmental search - looks for major waste pipes near or beneath your proposed property, civic dump sites near the property, and possible contaminated arrears .

Water authority searches - these will show public sewers within the boundaries of the property which could affect future building, extensions etc.

Chancel repairs reports; this one tells your conveyancer if your property is liable for church repair contributions.

The difference between official searches and personal searches

Official

You have two types of local authority searches - official or personal. Official ones are requested directly from the local authority. A council member of staff will conduct the search from the local land charge searches register, and then they would get the search order stamped by a council officer.

Personal search

The personal search method is conducted by an agency not within the council that is not affiliated with them; they work from the same register as the council though.

These searches are usually cheaper and quicker, they often are covered by insurance that covers information accuracy etc. It is not clear on what is best as the information is usually the same, but some mortgage lenders will express a preference to which ones should be ordered by the conveyancer.

Some lenders and conveyancer believe that official search places greater emphasis on being comprehensive. They are local liability and regulatory search code compliant, rather than the speed of the personal searches.

Most conveyancer have found  that the standard of the personal search has raised a great deal in the last decade, and if the search was ordered from a commercially aware search agency, it will provide a greater level of control. The price of them and speed they can be obtained (if accepted by the mortgage lender) put them in favour with most conveyancers , especially when the market pushes for speedy transaction's to be carried out.

It is usually down to the lender, it will be requested within the solicitor legal pack when the mortgage offer is issued, or the conveyancer can check the Council of Lenders handbook to see which search the mortgage lender being used will accept.

To be continued, how much do searches usually cost and what can be found on the searches that could halt your purchase.

How to complain about your conveyancer

Hopefully this is something you will never have to deal with when using a conveyancer, if you follow the previous posts instructions it should help avoid having to complain about your chosen conveyancer.

Step one - write to your case handler or email them the issue you are unhappy about.

I would recommend that you first have a conversation with the person in the firm who is dealing with your case first. Email them as it is best to have a written record of your discrepancy to fall back on if first contact about the complaint is not successful.

If you are not getting anywhere with the case handler

If the case handler isn’t dealing with your discrepancy as you would like it to be dealt with then ask to speak the manager or owner or if the firm is large enough the complaints manager. Refer the emails you have sent to your case handler and ask him to intervene. Go through the complaint with the manager/owner or complaints manager.

Usually at this stage the complaint will be resolved.

The last resort if you are still not getting anywhere.

Solicitors/conveyancers are regulated by either the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority) or the CLC (The Council for Licensed Conveyancers). Once you have established which one, then you can go to their website. You should only contact these regulators if all else has failed with the discussions you’ve had with the firm itself .

Solicitors are made to take out a professional indemnity insurance to cover any financial loss due to negligence. If the fault could not be resolved and you’ve contacted the regulator, the case could be then referred to the Legal Ombudsman who will look at the case and make a decision if there is negligence on the solicitor’s part.

If it is found that the firm was to blame for any financial loss, a claim will be made on the firm’s professional indemnity insurance so that any financial loss you suffered is paid back to you.

This final stage isn’t a fast process as files and evidence will need to be reviewed before any decisions are made.
In some circumstances the solicitor/conveyancer will decide to rectify the issue themselves after you've told them you will contact the regulator, as the regulators could impose further penalties. Also the firm will be contacted by the regulator and asked to supply files, case records, etc. This is very time consuming so the regulator will give them another opportunity to come to terms with you before taking the case on themselves.

Our next post will be about searches, what they are and what implications they could have on your purchase or even sale .

Simple guide to how conveyancing works

What is conveyancing? The process involves the legal transfer of home ownership, from the Vendor (Seller) to the Buyer of the property. The conveyancing process starts when you have offered on a property and the offer has been accepted. Initially you would need to find a conveyancer that you want to work with, and instruct them to work on your behalf so that the legal ownership can be moved from the vendor to yourself the buyer.

Some questions you might want to ask the conveyancer you are considering using to complete your purchase. 

 1. Ask them for a quote?

Conveyancing prices vary considerably; usually they are more expensive the closer to London the conveyancer is based, so initially you do need to ask them to supply a comprehensive quotation before proceeding to instruct them.

2. Check firm is on your mortgage lenders panel? 

If you are buying the property using a mortgage, you will need to ask the conveyancer if they are on the panel for the lender being used. This is a very important question as you could start the process with them and find out they cannot act for you with the lender you are using.

2. Check if you need to physically visit the solicitor/conveyancer?

A vast majority of mortgage lenders will not insist that you visit the conveyancer in person, and will allow for the process from start to finish to be carried out by post or even online .If you are using a lender that is ok for you to complete the transaction through the conveyancer by post or online then you will not be restricted by location.
Location can have an affect on pricing, the further north you go the cheaper the conveyancing becomes in most instances. Some conveyancers are even offering totally paper free, electronic transactions, so if you are good with working on the computer this is a hassle-free way of dealing with the conveyancer.

3. Check who will be dealing with your case within the firm? 

Some firms consist of 2 or 3 people who work within the firm on conveyancing. Also, some firms do not specialise in conveyancing but offer all the other normal solicitor services, Immigration, criminal law and litigation etc. Then you have firms that are set up as pure conveyancing firms who only offer conveyancing and do not get involved with any other area of law. I have found that conveyancing only firms tend to offer speedier service as they are not distracted with other areas of law. You will need to ask who your point of contact will be and who will be working on your case. If your property is leasehold, enquire if the person dealing with your case had good experience in this area of conveyancing as this is more complex than a freehold purchase.

4. How you will get updates 

Another thing you need to ask is how you will receive updates. Will it be by post, email or online tracking if offered. Some of the more modern firms offer a log-in to a tracking system were you can see the real-time progress of your case. This has the added advantage of not having to try to get through to your conveyancer, and gives you peace of mind.

5. How much it will cost you if the sale does not go ahead?

There are various components  to the pricing of your conveyancing. The main admin legal fee pays the conveyancer for the time taken to deal with and complete your case; miscellaneous fees are searches, CHAPS payment fee, Land Registry, and so forth. Some firms will charge you the admin legal fee even if your case does not complete due to various reasons, plus any other fees paid out for on your behalf like searches etc. If possible, try to find a firm that offers a no completion, no fee service - if the property purchase fails you only pay for what the solicitor/conveyancer has spent out on your behalf (e.g searches) but no admin fee will be charged. This will alleviate some of the out of pocket expenses if the purchase fails e.g. the vendor pulls out.
Some firms will offer an indemnity policy that will cover all the costs off the transaction if it fails for any other reason than you pulling out of the purchase. These policies can cost from £10 to £50 and are well worth it if available.

6. In today modern society usually there is a way to check feedback of the solicitor/conveyancer you are going to use. Ask where you can review this.

There is no better way to check a firm's performance than by reading reviews . If your chosen firm is proud of its track record it will have no problem directing you to where you can find feedback from  past clients .

9. When do I need to pay for conveyancing fees?

It's important  to check when you'll be expected to pay the conveyancing bill - usually search fees are payable once the contract are received from the sellers solicitor, and these fees are non refundable unless an insurance has been taken out. In the majority of cases, deposits are collected either near exchange or on the day of the exchange of contracts. Disbursements need to be paid usually as and when they are ordered by your conveyancer. The final bill is usually paid on completion, and you will be sent a completion statement in advance of the completion date.

Please see my next post - it will be how to settle disputes, and who to contact if the firm does not listen to your issues.

Law Firms Overwhelmed By Daily Spoofing, Phishing And Financial Loss

Experts have warned that 0.8% of the world’s GDP or around $600 billion is lost to cyber crime each year, yet reports suggest the legal sector is ill prepared for dealing with and preventing cyber attacks.
If it is not already, protecting your firm from the risk of cyber attack should be high on your agenda. According to HM Government there are around 1,400 criminal organisations who are actively targeting the legal sector at this very moment, preying on out of date or inadequate methods of defence against cyber attacks.
In 2018 alone, £354.3 million was stolen via authorised push payment fraud which uses social engineering and cyber fraud to convince people to part with their money. This represented a 92% increase on the money stolen via these means in 2017.
Additionally, the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2019, released by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) found that at least 80% of businesses had experienced sustained and frequent phishing attempts last year. This threat is only increasing and we want to know how prepared your firm is for any potential attack.
Despite the rise in cyber crime, only 1% of UK cyber criminality resulted in a prosecution.  According to London based law firm, RPC, the UK successfully prosecuted 65 cases for computer hacking last year. Whilst this represented a 38% increase on the 47 prosecutions in 2017, the fact that over 17,900 cases of computer hacking were reported in 2018 shows the UK’s ineptitude in catching these criminals following a successful attack.
If the legal sector is unable to catch online criminals, it becomes vital that law firms are doing everything they can to prevent attacks in the first place. Unfortunately, it seems that the vast majority of businesses are still struggling to plan for data breaches and attacks.The DCMS report claims that only 56% of respondents had a valid cyber certification in place whilst only 16% have implemented any formal procedures or cyber security incident management processes and a mere third of business using a clear cyber policy. Staff training was also perceived to be poor with only 37% of businesses actively training staff to spot the signs of a cyber threat.
Here at Today’s Conveyancer, we want to know how accurate these figures are. The legal sector needs to understand how prepared it is for a significant cyber attack. We are therefore asking for your help! If you can spare the time, we would appreciate it if you could complete our anonymous survey.
Why is this relevant to you?

• Fraud is on the rise. 60% of law firms reported a security incident in 2018.
• The SRA reported 217 Scam Alerts in 2018.
• West Midlands Police Cyber Crime Unit have reported £11m of client money was compromised in 2018.

Help your profession gain a fresh perspective on this ever increasing threat! Complete the anonymous survey by clicking

Industry Experts To Reveal The Future Of Conveyancing

Geodesys – part of Anglian Water and a leading provider of conveyancing searches for residential and commercial properties throughout England and Wales – has teamed up with a series of industry experts for its new Continuing Professional Development (CPD) seminar. The event will explore what the conveyancing industry will look like in 2025 and how that will impact the way in which conveyancers manage their transactions whilst remaining compliant.
The complimentary seminar will take place on 19th June, from 9am to 1pm at The Old Bridge Hotel in Huntingdon and includes lunch, which will be provided at the end of the session. Jonny Davey, Geodesys Product Manager commented: “Our industry is undergoing a lot of change at an increasingly fast pace, so it is key for all conveyancing professionals to look to the future and be aware of what’s coming. We’ve put together a fantastic line-up of incredibly knowledgeable experts for our latest CPD seminar so we can all brush up on the latest developments.”
The first part of the event will focus on Digital Street, HM Land Registry’s research and development project looking at how data and technology can transform the land and property market. Lauren Tombs, Senior Product Manager for the Land Registry will offer a demonstration of the digital transfer proof of concept, which was developed based on smart contracts and blockchain technology.
Following on from the publication of her whitepaper “Modernising the Home Moving Process”, leading industry speaker and Director of Delivery for the Conveyancing Association Beth Rudolf will outline the government’s plans to tackle uncertainty and speed up the home-buying process. Seminar participants will hear the latest updates regarding reservation agreements, property logbooks and the best ways to involve buyers in the homebuying process of the future.
The seminar will also feature the latest information on HM Land Registry’s initiative to transform Local Land Charges (LLC) searches by creating a centralised digital service to include local authority registers. The update will be provided by Jamie Winch, Policy & Stakeholder Manager on the HM Land Registry (HMLR) Local Land Charges (LLC) programme.
Closing the session, Geodesys’ Jonny Davey will lead a discussion about the different ways in which data quality and transparency can support more informed decision-making in the conveyancing process.
To attend the event or find out more about Geodesys click here or contact Lauren Lieser on 07885 135 314.

This article was submitted to be published by Geodesys as part of their advertising agreement with Today’s Conveyancer. The views expressed in this article are those of the submitter and not those of Today’s Conveyancer.

Are law firms wise to scams

As law firms and clients wise up to fraud, the cyber criminals are having to find new avenues to use their old scamming tricks to intercept money transfers.
Conveyancing scams, which are a type of email modification fraud, are rife due to the significant amount of money passing between a law firm and its client. Criminals intervene and falsify emails between clients and law firms, resulting in bank details being changed and money being transferred to hackers instead.
These types are scams are also known as “Friday afternoon Fraud” or even “Monday morning Fraud” where conmen will target first thing Monday morning due to staff just starting their working week and perhaps not fully concentrating – or just before the weekend to avoid detection and businesses are closed for the weekend and won’t be noticed until a few days later.
Conveyancing has become the highest risk area of law, according to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) approximately £10m a year is lost to email modification fraud – even though the number of reported cases has been rising since 2016, there were fewer cases reported last year.  SRA believes that conveyancers are becoming savvy and more aware of the imminent threat on the business and therefore fraudsters are having to find new ways.
A recent case involving two brothers, Keith Pibworth, 59 and Alan, 54 lost a staggering £60,000 to an email scam. Their law firm, Powell & Co, who was handling their late father’s estate received an email, who purported to be from Mr Pibworth, but was from a fraudster, with new bank account instructions, asking for it to be paid into a different account.
The fraudster, in this instance, had gained access to its victim’s online system and so is able to monitor correspondence and intercept emails between them and their solicitor.
It was many days after the interception that Mr Pibworth realised the money was not in his account. He said:
“I found the whole thing quite baffling. You expect a certain level of service when you use a professional, but they [later told me they] hadn’t even opened my original email.”
He stated that the firm did not report the scam to their indemnity insurers or the SRA straight away and they did not replace the money to him until he threatened to use another law firm.
Mr Pibworth added: “Without a shadow of a doubt they were trying to wriggle out of paying.”
The same firm was involved in another scam case back in 2016 where they lost £100,000 of a young family’s money, which was to be used to purchase a home.
The SRA rules are transparent in these types of cases as they expect law firms to be held accountable for losing client money and give back to their clients what they have lost. In certain situations, the SRA has taken action against those firms who have failed to return the money after losing it through fraud.
Rob Hailstone, founder of the Bold Legal Group believes it is difficult for law firms to pick up on fraud due to the sophistication of fraudsters. He added that conveyancing firms/departments are more aware of these types of scams than in other working areas such as the probate sector. He thinks firms should not rely on email and should be checking financial details by way of telephone or in person.
He further adds: “I warn firms day in and day out about frauds of this kind and have a red flag list of 27 things firms should be looking out for. If you get an email with sensitive account information and then a contradictory email with different information, that should raise a pretty big red flag.
“The takeaway is that the whole legal industry needs to be aware of this, especially as the scammers are looking at different targets than just conveyancing,” he said.
Firms are slowly becoming more aware of these types of scams, especially in conveyancing – but to avoid money being stolen it is vital that firms implement cyber security measures so that they are not exposed to cyber criminals. However, the SRA will continue to reiterate warnings as the attacks are showing no signs of slowing down.
As a conveyancer, do you feel the sector is becoming more aware of these scams? What measures do you have in place to avoid them?

A third of all buyers or sellers turn to the estate agent involved for advice on which solicitor to use, says When You Move.

A third of home movers or approximately 300,000 people every year turn solely to estate agents to recommend a conveyancing solicitor, it has been revealed.
Conveyancing brokerage When You Move says its research shows that 32% of home buyers complete little or no research into which conveyancer to use when buying or selling a home, relying entirely on agents for advice.
The research, which was conducted among some 2,000 respondents, also highlights how a ‘local’ conveyancer is important to people, but that the internet is making inroads into the market.
A fifth of those canvassed had gone online to find a solicitor, basing their decisions on how high up the online search rankings each company is listed. Also, 28% said they had only realised how high their conveyancing fees were going to be once it was too late.
“We are living in an era where we are able to track our food deliveries and our parcels on our smart phones and rely heavily on reviews when choosing a restaurant or hotel,” says When You Move chief executive Simon Bath (left).
“Why aren’t we doing the same for the most important transaction of our lives?”
When the Watford-based company was launched two years ago it claimed to revolutionise the conveyancing process by giving agents, solicitors and home movers full visibility of the conveyancing process.
It also claimed that many agents believe some conveyancers are too slow and fail to keep those involves in a house sale up to date with the latest information.