Category: CQS Policy Templates
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Is Your Firm Ready for a SRA AML Audit?
The SRA have recently warned that it will be writing to a “large number” (400) of firms in the coming weeks requiring evidence of compliance with the 2017 Money Laundering Regulations. The likelihood is that firms with a focus on conveyancing will be targeted for an AML Audit. The regulator confirmed that in the last…
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Reports on Title – How Much Time Could You be Saving?
Do you shut yourself off in a quiet room at the office for hours a week or come into work early to work on this critical and time consuming document? Is it possible that you are wasting valuable time? What a sad depressing thought. Surely there has to be a better way to generate a…
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Conveyancers Up Their Game to Cope with Market Slowdown
Conveyancers have experienced their first significant dip in workload for a decade, providing further evidence of a marked slowdown in the housing market. Firms are now having to shift gears. For the last few years the primary concern of conveyancing practices was how to cope with the volume of instructions. Particular attention was…
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Does Brexit Spell the Exit for Firms on Lender Panels?
The Bank of England’s governor has recently warned the cabinet that a chaotic no-deal Brexit could crash house prices. His worst-case scenario was that house prices could fall as much as 35% over three years. If such a prediction comes to pass it will be destructive for conveyancing firms. Lenders will not swallow their losses…
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Proving Conveyancing Quality to PI Insurers
In the lead-up to PI insurance renewals, Lexsure are offering firms the ability to commission a lender compliance audit which can be used to evidence to professional indemnity insurers the quality of their conveyancing. The independent assessment reviews files based on the UKF Handbook Requirements as of the date of the mortgage offer on file.…
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Lexsure offer conveyancers a version of the ‘Pepsi Challenge’
The Pepsi Challenge signaled a major shift in the cola landscape. In 1975, Coke dominated the cola market having held the number 1 position for decades. Pepsi was the underdog looking to prove something. They were hungry and willing to mix it up. Pepsi came up with a bold revolutionary strategy to do just that.…
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No Summer Slowdown When it Comes to Lender Handbook Changes
The three month period between June and September 2018 witnessed significant activity when it came to lenders changing their Handbook instructions. Conveyancers may have taken a well earned break during the summer but lenders did not rest when it came to altering their requirements for panel firms. Here are some of the facts and figures:…
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Lender File Requests: Do you feel lucky?
Receiving a letter from a lender requesting a number of your firm’s conveyancing files is like playing out the “Do You Feel Lucky” scene from the movie Dirty Harry. One day things feel great in the conveyancing department and the next day the pesky lender – a ‘so called’ client – is on your case.…
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Lender Audits and the Prophet of Doom
I’m a specialist in risk, so I can sometimes be accused of being a little conservative in outlook, even for a lawyer. But I suspect that this blog post will have some lawyers reaching for their thesaurus to find stronger words, like “worrier”, “pessimist” or even “doom-monger”. I’m sticking my neck out today to predict…