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tmgroup are inviting residential property specialists to events in Reading and Liverpool in October to join expert led discussions on improving the home purchase process and delivering better quality housing. 

Speakers include; Beth Rudolf from The Conveyancing Association, Paula Higgins from the Home Owners Alliance, Alan Milstein from RSPA & Sebastian O’Kelly from Leasehold Knowledge Partnership. 

We are currently running an early bird offer of £20 per ticket. All money raised will be donated to the charity Emmaus 

The events will provide the opportunity to hear from guest speakers on a range of topics to discuss; 

•What does the consumer really want from a property transaction?

•What really caused the Ground rent scandal? What will the reforms deliver? What more needs to be done?

•How do we make regulation work across the transaction?

•How do you provide quality homes for all within the North West/ Thames Valley?

•How do we provide quality rental for all?

•Habitable HMOs is this just a pipedream? 

From these events delegates will get be able to take away suggestions and ideas on cross sector collaboration as well as the opportunity to network with local experts after the event

Event Details

• Reading: 10th October 2019 (3.45pm - 7.30pm)

Reading Town Hall, Blagrave Street, Reading, England, RG1 1QH

Click here to register for Reading  

• Liverpool: 15th October 2019 (3.45pm - 7.30pm)

Malmaison Liverpool, 7 William Jessop Way, Liverpool, Merseyside, L3 1QZ

Click here to register for Liverpool

For more information, please contact Hannah Dukes at marketing@tmgroup.co.uk 

With the Land Registry now requiring registration applications to be made within 14 days of completion, tmgroup’s post-completion service streamlines the processing of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) payments and AP1 forms to keep you in control.

Recent figures reveal the average time to complete registration across the industry is between 20 and 22 days. tmgroup analysed the average turnaround time for customers using their post-completion service and found it to be around 7 days.

Average times varied across the regions, with the South West fastest at 19.7 days, followed by East Anglia at 20.4 days. Slowest were the North East at 23.5 days, followed by the North West at 22.5 days.

Using tmgroup’s post-completion services could reduce the time taken to register property sales and transfers for many firms by around two-thirds. Benefits of using the fully integrated system include the following:

No need to enter data

The required information is automatically populated into the relevant forms from the tmgroup system. This means no time spent copying data across and working out which fields need to be completed. 

With completion of the SDLT form and AP1 being quick and simple, tmgroup users can make their applications as soon as the transfer document is received. This helps prevent any delay in the registration process and subsequent problems, for example where the buyer may wish to serve notice on a tenant or enforce a right contained in the title. 

Save time

As well as automatic completion of the relevant forms, the system only displays the fields that need to be filled in, which helps in trickier transactions, for example where part of the property is leasehold or only part is to be transferred. This means that users don’t have to browse through the entire document to find the right boxes to complete.

Completed forms and the current status of the case are visible to all team members, even across different offices, so it is easy to stay on top of cases, respond to buyer queries and manage work in the event of staff absences.

With the SDLT5 form sometimes returned to tmgroup users within seconds, there is the opportunity to cut application times to the absolute minimum. The faster a property transfer is registered, the lower the risk to the new owner from the registration gap. 

Reduced risk of error

Automatic population of data fields takes away the risk of human error in transcribing information. 

The system shows dates, times and submission status as well as any requisitions raised and records of conversations with the Land Registry. Timely prompts give notice of impending cancellation deadlines, meaning the risk of having to reapply is reduced. 

Missing information is highlighted at the time the forms are completed, minimising the number of requisitions and delays.

tmgroup is an approved software partner of both HM Revenue & Customs and HM Land Registry, meaning it is always up to date. It is secure and compliant, with data being encrypted so that anyone outside of your firm or the relevant government bodies is unable to view it.

Thoughts from one of our clients

Once our tmgroup users have tried the post-completion services, they really appreciate how easy it is to conclude a transaction. Victoria Follows, a partner in the property department of Hand Morgan & Owen explains. “We like the tmgroup platform and find it very easy to use. It is colourful and easy to find your way around. I also find it very useful to be able to see everyone’s cases, so if a colleague is off sick or on holiday, I can continue to progress their SDLT and AP1 submissions and meet our tight deadlines.

“The support from the tmgroup team is also fantastic and I can’t commend them highly enough. The Helpdesk is great and our Account Manager is superb. Everyone is just so willing to help.”

If you have any questions about how to fully utilise the post-completion service, please get in touch with your Account Manager or our friendly Helpdesk team on 0800 840 5571 or helpdesk@tmgroup.co.uk

Groundsure’s Mine Entry Report (MER) will be available to order on tmconvey from September 6th.

This is a follow-up report to the Groundsure CON29M Official Coal Mining Search:  where mine entries (shafts and adits) are identified within 20m of a property, the CON29M recommends that they are investigated further through this interpretative report.

Sample report: Click here to see a sample report 

About the report

The MER provides an assessment of the ground movement risk associated with mine entries, provided by an experienced and qualified consultant from Mining Searches UK using a variety of data sources. 

It includes:

• A clear statement of risk associated with mine entries within 20m of the property 
• Further details provided on each mine entry
• The calculated impacted area - the zone of influence - for each mine entry 
• Where appropriate, connecting underground roadways are included
• An OS MasterMap site plan displaying the zone of influence of each mine entry 
• Guidance on next steps in the event of subsidence damage  

Pricing

If you have any questions, please get in touch with your Account Manager or our friendly Helpdesk team on 0800 840 5571 or helpdesk@tmgroup.co.uk 

You’ll receive an email order summary including; an image of the maps you have used to mark up a site, Search Alerts generated against a site, as well as Additional questions for all searches ordered.

Your System Administrator can enable this for you by ticking the below options.

When you login to tmconvey, check out the Twitter feed to the right hand side of the screen. Here you’ll find tweets alerting you to any delays on searches being experienced by local authorities, helping you manage case plans and expectations.

In the second instalment of our evolving tech world article, Mark Gilbert gives his 3 top tips on how best to protect your firm from a cyber-attack and discusses the value placed on accreditations within the industry. Click here to read part 1.

Q. What are the three critical things that firms must do to protect against cyberattacks?  

1. Make all your staff aware of the threats of cyber-attacks

Cyber-attackers use malicious code and software to alter system behaviour and data, resulting in disruptive consequences that can comprise a firm’s systems and lead to cyber-crimes such as information and identity theft, or systems being compromised. 

Cyber-attacks come in many guises, so invest the time and effort in training all your staff. There are a number of good online interactive courses to test and measure staff awareness of cyber-attacks.

2. Find your network and system weak spots that could be exploited by a cyber-attacker 

Normally, this takes the form of an independent security vulnerability test by an external supplier. When choosing a supplier, always ensure they are CREST accredited. The CREST scheme assures a firm that the supplier follows strict testing processes for network and system security assessments. The test findings will help a firm prioritise and plan any security vulnerability remediation measures required.

3. Protect your firm with a solid insurance policy

Take out a stand-alone cyber insurance policy, ensuring that it provides your firm with access to a 24/7 incident response team and, as with any insurance policy, ensuring that you understand what is and is not covered.  

Q. What would you recommend as a good starting point when it comes to improving IT performance?

I would start from the business view and work inwards to IT. For example, is there a clear “line of sight” from the business goals into the IT roadmap? Without this, there is a high probability that valuable IT resources are working on low value, non-important activities.

Then, ensure the fundamentals are in place by measuring KPIs, activities and progress. Are IT operations providing the right level of activity and keeping key stakeholders within the firm informed? If not, establish regular reporting covering both high-level and detailed views. 

It’s also important to regularly inspect a system’s performance metrics at all levels in the system infrastructure. How are systems performing? Where are the hot spots? What are the most commonly occurring errors being raised in the system? 

Once you’ve determined this, ensure the IT roadmap has a continuous system improvement plan running right across it to address these issues. Proactive and regular corrective measures are always better than responding to sudden system incidents that can cause significant disruption to a firm.

Q. What is the value of accreditation (such as ISO 27001) and how do you achieve this status?

Our tmgroup journey towards ISO 27001 accreditation originally stemmed from our GDPR compliancy programme. For this, we ensured demonstrable processes were in place to protect the data held on an individual. This involved a comprehensive assessment of our data, processes, controls, risks, protection and privacy across our entire IT systems landscape. As part of this, we reviewed and updated all of our information security management policies and privacy policy. 

For ISO 27001, the key requirement was to demonstrate that our information security management is under control and in place on an ongoing basis. Our accreditation means that tm have passed the strict security requirements set by ISO 27001 in the integration, management and storage of our clients and internal data.

We also have Gold Partner status with Microsoft, which sets us apart as a high calibre business partner and assures our clients that our solutions are designed and developed to the highest standards.

With thanks to Mark Gilbert, CTO at tmgroup

Ever wanted to know how IT teams can evidence their value? Here, in the first of 2 articles, Mark Gilbert, tmgroup’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), answers pivotal questions on everything from integration to how smaller firms can make the most of their existing IT resources to keep pace with the competition. Be sure to keep an eye out for part 2!

Q. How do firms with a small in-house IT resource keep up with their larger counterparts?

Play to your strengths and be agile. 

Small in-house IT teams are able to rapidly respond to the firms ever changing needs, whilst larger IT counterparts certainly have the scale, but the proportional increase in potential challenges and communication breakdown, bureaucracy and system complexity can slow down responsiveness and agility.

Q. How can IT teams evidence the value they bring to a firm?  

IT teams should consider what they are able to do for a firm over other alternatives. Being in tune with the firm’s needs and delivering repeatedly and consistently are crucial to demonstrating value.

Furthermore, IT teams should assess what key performance indicators exist between IT and the business. Having clear expectations set between the firm and the IT team is important to ensure IT stays focused on what is important to the firm.

Q. How do firms effectively integrate new platforms with legacy systems that may have been in place for many years?

Firms must assess risk before changing any element of their legacy systems. High risk approaches involve legacy systems being changed in-situ to integrate with new platforms and invariably lead to unnecessary complexity and instability of legacy systems. 

Instead, adopt an approach whereby a “wrapper” is built around the legacy system, usually in the form of an API or web service, so that the new platform and legacy system can interact with each other without affecting the underlying functionality of the legacy system.

Q. How can firms effectively evaluate the systems that are on offer to work out which ones are right for them?

Whether it’s a new case management system, CRM or any other system, firms can fall into the trap of focusing on “what” the system can do, rather than what the firm “needs” the system to do.

When choosing a system, always work from the outset of what the firm is trying to achieve as a successful outcome. Involvement and buy-in from all representatives of the firm is paramount to ensure all needs are considered. This will help define clear goals and the success criteria the system must meet.

Also consider requirements such as system performance and availability needs, multi-firm access, support for smartphones or tablets, API availability and data integration. Then look at the systems on offer and always set up a trial with the supplier – with success measures agreed upfront.

Q. How should a Chief Information Officer (CIO) cultivate a partnership between IT and the rest of the business?

Chief Information Officers (CIOs) have traditionally been seen as an internal facing leader of IT. Instead, businesses now need their CIOs to act as consultants to the business, able to seamlessly work across the business, their clients and internal teams to translate the business goals into delivery across a firm’s products and data. They should also consider the ever-present aspects of risk, compliance and security. To make the partnership effective, CIOs must make their plans clear and understandable to all.

Q. How can IT teams communicate effectively with their colleagues in other departments to manage change effectively?

Managing change effectively requires keeping messages clear at all times – whether this is to communicate the direction taken, or update the team on progress and challenges faced. 

Visual tools such as roadmaps, project plans and progress trackers with a simple Green, Amber or Red status are highly effective for communicating with colleagues in other departments. 

Aim to keep visuals at a high-level, so that messages can be understood easily at all times. Communication tools such as Microsoft Teams or Trello are extremely effective for providing real-time information to colleagues in a collaborative environment.

CLS have advised us that they will be increasing the prices of their Legal Indemnity Insurance on 19th August. 

As pricing is policy dependent, please use the tools on our ordering platform to check the new pricing before purchasing your policy.

CLS offer Legal Indemnity Insurance products available for both commercial and residential property transactions.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with your Account Manager or our friendly Helpdesk team on 0800 840 5571 or helpdesk@tmgroup.co.uk

Following on from the publication of the 2019 NatWest Legal Benchmarking report, David Weaver, Commercial Head of Professional Services at Natwest spoke to tmgroup to share his advice on how law firms can make themselves more profitable.

1. Benchmark your own firm’s performance on a regular basis
Firms want to be the best at everything, but this is clearly unrealistic. Firms tend to talk about what they are good at and try to get even better at this –rather than focussing on areas of under-performance where improvements might more easily be achieved.

So when you benchmark your own firm, focus on the areas where your firm is currently below the upper quartile figure and think about what needs to be done to achieve better results.

Reports, such as the NatWest Legal benchmarking report, allow you to determine how your firm is performing when compared with firms across the UK, firms within your region or firms of a comparative size. 

2. Always measure profit – instead of focusing on fees and time

Profit is the most important measure, as it is the profit that is shared amongst the partners. Many firms focus too much on fees and time recorded and not enough on profit.

Historically, this has been because firms have always found it easier to measure fees billed than to calculate the profit earned for different types of work for individual matters and for different fee earners. This has resulted in some strange behaviours – with many partners being too focused on the size of their fee portfolio and with less focus on the profit being made. 

It is clearly important that growth is profitable growth – and not arising from poor quality and unprofitable work. There are too many firms who make the mistake of thinking that if they continue to grow they are bound to become more profitable.

It is important in all firms that there is constant measurement between the fees generated per fee earner with the salary cost of that fee earner. The danger is that as fees increase, the cost of the fee earners will grow at the same or an even faster rate – and there will be no improvement in profitability.

3. Stop letting fee-earners get dragged into non-fee earning

One of the issues that will influence profitability is the relationship between the number of fee-earning and non-fee earning staff. Fee earners need to do the fee earning and should not be dragged into more non-fee earning work than is necessary.

Maybe firms should be looking to increase support numbers or employ some more business development professionals to help fee earners to become more productive. Fee earners will never be fully productive if they have to spend too much time doing business development activities – even if they happen to be good at it.

4. Review your gearing and put some rules in place

Gearing is the total number of fee earners per equity partner (total fee earners – including equity partners – divided by equity partners). Clearly, if a partner can manage a larger team, then they can bill more and make more profit through that larger team, while if the partner just works alone there is a limit to the billings that can be generated, and the profits earned. 

Gearing has generally increased year on year in the legal sector and whilst it’s encouraging to see this number rise, this figure should not be increased until everyone is working at capacity – as it’s always better if additional work can be resourced with the existing fee earners before recruiting new people.

If gearing is to improve, then perhaps there needs to be a rule that when a file is opened at least two fee earners must be allocated to the file.

It is too easy for one person to do everything – and the consequences will be lower gearing and poor efficiency. Often the senior lawyer is personally incentivised to do the work on their own, as they need to achieve a certain number of recorded hours. Incentives need to be linked to the desired behaviours.

5. Invest in your recruitment and retention

It is important that everyone in the team is very good, so that everybody can trust everyone else. Partners therefore need to commit more time to recruiting the best people, to developing these people further and to ensuring that they remain at the firm for longer.

Many managing partners comment on how they can attract and train good people, but who then often move on after qualification. Developing your own people and keeping them for longer should improve both client service and profit margins.

Want to find out more about making your law firm more profitable?

Take a look at the 2019 NatWest Legal Benchmarking report

Want to find out more about the challenges facing New Build developments in the UK? Here is a collection of some of the latest research; showing the extent of the issue alongside proactive solutions for a better future. 

Addressing Our Housing Shortage: Engaging the Silent Majority

Shelter : March 2015

Although a little dated (2015) this report highlights some of the persistent challenges around the building of new homes. 

Key findings include:

• There is a sharp contrast between those who support homes being built in their local area, who are typically renters and shared owners, compared to the ‘outright owners who tend to oppose homes being built in the local area – reflecting the extent to which these groups are affected by the shortage of housing.

• Active opposition and support are more common among people living in rural areas, highlighting that housing is more hotly contested in these areas.

• The main reasons for opposing local housebuilding are pressure on local infrastructure and services, particularly roads, and the loss of green space. Loss of green space is more important to younger people, pressure on local infrastructure to older people.

• Actively opposing or supporting a local development is not particularly common – 86% of people have not done either.

Bringing home ownership back into reach: Assessing the Help to Buy Equity Loan Scheme after five years

Home Builders Federation : September 2018

This report summarises the positive impact the Help to Buy Equity Loan Scheme has had not only in helping First Time Buyers onto the property ladder, but driving a new wave of New Build housing supply.

Key findings include:

• Because Help to Buy is exclusive to new build homes, demand for new properties has increased since 2013, and builders have increased the number of homes delivered to better meet this demand. Since Help to Buy was introduced in 2013, net housing supply has increased by 74% to similar levels seen in the 1950s.

• The extra demand for new homes has seen unprecedented increases in investment by house builders in land and labour with planning permissions up by 88% over this period, clearly demonstrating a continued appetite by developers to sustain the recent increases in supply and deliver more new housing over the next three years in particular.

• Whilst transactions in the wider housing market remain subdued (down 21.4% on 2006 levels) activity in the new build market continues to rise. New builds now account for almost 15% of mortgaged housing market transactions compared to a long term average of 8.2%.

• Unlike previous attempts at such schemes, Help to Buy has been accessible to builders large and small, with over 3,000 companies, the vast majority of them small local builders, now registered.

Improving the home buying and selling process : Summary of responses to the Call for Evidence and government response

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government : April 2018

Although not a dedicated report on New Build, the summary of responses to the Call for Evidence did include discussion around New Build (page 48 onwards). 

Key findings include:

• Over 13% of all respondents said that developers should provide a fixed completion date for the build and give more information about expected timescales. 

• Over 6% of respondents argued that developers should be regulated and an ombudsman set up to enforce these regulations. 

• Where something goes wrong, house builders and warranty providers should fulfil their obligations to put this right. 

• The Government are keen to improve redress for people who experience problems with their housing and to make them feel empowered to challenge poor practices when things go wrong. 

• 15% of respondents stated that buyers should be encouraged to secure a Decision in Principle before they make an offer on a new-build property. 9% of all respondents stated that developers and lenders should have pre-approved mortgages, valuations and/or surveys for new builds.

• The Government is clear that buyers of new build homes should not be placed at a disadvantage when compared to purchasers of second hand homes - and will continue to work with lenders and mortgage brokers to discuss specialised products for the new build market, including an extended Decision in Principle.

Rebuilding Trust: Discussion Paper

Grosvenor : July 2019

This research report explores why the public doesn’t trust the planning system, developers or local authorities when it comes to large-scale developments and their impact – and what could be done to begin creating better relationships and more trust for everyone’s benefit. 

Key findings include:   

• Just 2% of people trust developers to act in an honest way in large-scale development, and only 7% of people trust their local councils. That they only care about making money and do not care about the needs of the local community were key driving factors behind this mistrust. 

• A demand for more transparency throughout the planning process was also highlighted. 

• There is often a clash between high expectations and reality. Developers might be expected to fund social housing, for example, without regard to the commercial feasibility of doing so.

Hard Choices : How much should the nation spend on building new homes?

London First : September 2018

This report reviews the current spending on building new homes and what needs to be done (in real terms) to address the funding gap. 

Key findings include:

• Looking at the current capital cost of delivering new housing in England, it is estimated that the current cost of delivering 300,000 homes a year in England is c. £67.6bn. Compared to current investment of c. £47.9bn, this is a c. £19.7bn increase, or 40%. 

• Viable options for filling this gap, ranging from the Government filling the gap, the private sector filling the gap, or exploring the possibility of a mixed economy – where the Government increases its capital spending on housing delivery, while also creating a more enabling policy framework to encourage greater levels of private sector investment.

• The historic under supply of housing has placed significant upward pressure on the cost of housing, which has contributed to the current affordability crisis.

• There is a consensus across all the major political parties about the extent of, and challenge presented, by the housing crisis. There is agreement that more homes must be built, but a divergence of views as to how this might be achieved.