Top 5 Conveyancing Webinars in 2017

So what were the hot conveyancing topics in 2017? Fraud, Leasehold Changes, Lender Compliance and The fourth Anti Money Laundering Directive were all front of mind at various points of the year. The Lexsure Academy hosted on 26 webinars in 2017, many of which were sponsored by Searches UK, covering a range of topics.

The popularity of certain webinars may be viewed as an interesting measure as to the issues that conveyancers are most concerned with. Here are the figures relating to the five most attended webinar subjects:

1. Leasehold is Changing - Updating Your Documents (997 Registrants)
2. The Lenders’ Handbook - How to Stay on Top of Changes (721 Registrants)
3. Pre-Completion Checklists - Do You Know What You Are Missing (690 Registrants) 
4. Building Reports on Title/How Technology is Changing the ROT (662 Registrants)
5. Lender Handbook Updates 2017 - An Overview (540 Registrants)

The head of training at Lexsure anticipates that the three most popular sessions for 2018 will be focused on Mortgage Lender File Reviews, Reports on Title and Additional Enquiries.

The three most popular subjects in 2017 for Lexsure’s ‘Free In-House Training’ and seminars for local law societies were:

1. Conveyancing Fraud - Joining up the Dots
2. Future of UK Legal Practice - A Technology Perspective
3. Auditing Conveyancing Files: Lifting up the Carpet

Details of future webinars plus the ability to order slides or recording for previous topics can be found here.

Handbook Changes - Top Lenders Start 2018 with Updates

It has been a busy start to 2018 when it comes to lenders changing their Handbook instructions.

Three weeks into to the new year eleven lenders have updated their instructions via Part 2 of the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders' Handbook for conveyancers. Twenty six sections have been changed.

Examples of top lenders who have made updated their Part 2’s in 2018 include:

• Halifax 
• Bank of Scotland 
• Lloyds Bank 
• Santander 
• The Mortgage Business 
• Atom Bank 

LENDERmonitor provides protection to conveyancers from the risk of missing updates to Part 2 of the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders' Handbook. With the LENDERmonitor alert service, solicitors and conveyancers receive an email notification any time lenders of interest make changes to their policies.

Staying abreast of policy changes is particularly important at a time when lenders are making a significant number of changes and solicitors and conveyancers are at greater risk of being sued for non-compliance with lender requirements.

Top Ten Important Changes to Reports on Title 2017

In the last twelve months the conveyancing fraternity witnessed significant changes to Part 2 of the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders' Handbook. This, combined with the press and government focusing a spotlight on leasehold, resulted in firms considering how they should upgraded their Report on Title .    

In response to lender changes and in anticipation of legislative action many new paragraphs were added as optional precedent text to the Lexsure’s Report on Title in 2017 by the  network of lawyers using the software.

Here is a list of what I consider to be the Top Ten areas where new paragraphs were indexed in 2017 for future use :

1. Ground Rent Escalation 
2. Remaining Lease Term Less than 90 Years 
3. High Ground Rent 
4. Original Lease Term Less than 125
5. Source of Funds 
6. Contributors Towards Purchase Price
7. New Build - Long Term Completion Date
8. Statutory Matters Concerning Leasehold 
9. EPC Result - F/G Rating 
10. Limitation of Enquiries based on Protocol 

Firms wishing to be alerted as to new suggested paragraphs should subscribe to the e-ROT Notification Service.

Land Registry Applications - Room for Improvement

I sometimes come across lawyers complaining about how long it takes the Land Registry to register title.

According to Andrew Robertson, Head of Customer Policy at the Land Registry responding to a comment on a blog entitled ‘Opening our conveyancer data’ commented  ‘... we aren't able to process in the region of 40% of the applications we have pending because we're waiting for something else to be provided or done before they can proceed’.

The top 5 reasons for requisition are as follows:

1. Restrictions (20%) - consents or certificates needed to satisfy the terms of restrictions on the register

2. Discharges (13%) - discharge of charge evidence needed

3. Variations and discrepancies in names (11%)

4. Signing and witnessing of deeds (6%)

5. Identity verification issues (3%)