Legal
‘A big opportunity for switched-on firms’: New transparency rules come in for conveyancers
Firms now have to clearly display prices and service information in a move designed to encourage more shopping around;
Conveyancers report a jump in the volume & variety of fraud attempts
Over 20% of conveyancing firms have been targeted by fraudsters in the last year, reports the CLC
New construction partner for Fladgate
Olivia Bateman joins rapidly expanding West End law firm with specialisms in real estate and private wealth
HMRC fines for money laundering ‘more than double in a year’
The average fine for money laundering breaches is now £3,448 - seven times higher than it was two year ago.
Change at the top for Maurice Turnor Gardner
Top boutique private wealth law firm names Emma-Jane Weider as Managing Partner
Berkeley bosses ‘were accused of engaging in years of bribery with a partner at a major estate agent’
The Guardian reports that old court documents allege that Berkeley's chief "consistently engaged in bribing one of the partners in a major estate agency"
Government lays out plans for a new specialist ‘Housing Court’
Call for Evidence opens on proposals to give landlords and tenants "faster and more effective justice in the event of property disputes"
Over 10% of rental properties listings are ‘likely to be advertised unlawfully’
Discriminating against DSS tenants "is hardly any different" to racism, declares National Housing Federation chief
Neo Bankside residents take on Tate Modern over privacy at the High Court
The “invasion of the claimants’ privacy is relentless”, argues a lawyer for residents
Minister accuses estate agents of under-reporting suspicious activity
“It is remarkable how few Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) come from estate agents given that they are the main facilitators,” declared the Minister of State for Security, Ben Wallace, during a…
Flag It Up: Government extends ‘dirty money’ campaign to target estate agents
Tie-up with the RICS and the NAEA aims to 'help agents spot the signs of money laundering and reinforce their legal and moral obligations to report suspicious activity'
Landlord fined £80k for ‘gutting’ a listed manor house without planning permission
“It’s inconceivable that, knowing that this is a listed building, [the owner] would not have known this was a kind of work which would require planning permission or that that required proper oversight",…