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At a recent Women in Residential Property (WiRP) session on 7th October 2020, women from across the property industry met to talk about resilience and the steps we can all take to improve our mental health in these unprecedented times. The session was run in support of Ella’s Charity, supporting victims of trafficking, and you can make a donation here.

Hosted by WiRP Chair Emma Vigus (also MD of mio), guest speakers Alison Beech and Kelly Forrester shared their life experiences of where they’ve had to build and draw on their personal resilience to bounce back from life changing events. 

Here are just some of the tips they shared: 

1. You have to look after yourself first and foremost to effectively manage those around you

On a plane, in event of emergency, the advice is always to put your mask on first. The same applies to day to day life. We all need to look after ourselves properly to be able to effectively support those around us, whether that’s our families, friends, or colleagues. 

2. Remember, you can only be responsible for you – you can’t control how others react

It’s all too easy to get sucked into other people’s problems that are outside of our control, or to wish you could change how other people are reacting to a situation. It’s important to remember that while we can support those around us, we can’t be responsible for how they are thinking and feeling, as everyone is reacting to situations based on their own life experiences. 

Taking a step back and appreciating this can help us to manage the emotional burden of a situation and lead with a clearer head. 

3. We are only limited by the stories we tell ourselves

If you think you can or you think you can’t, you probably are right. If you want to feel more in control of a situation or positive about things, you need to change your internal narrative. Take a long hard look at the influences around you. Cut out what isn’t serving you, rethink the stories you tell yourself, and drop the victim status. If you start thinking you “can” and surround yourself with positive ideas and even a positive mantra, your mindset and strength of internal resilience will follow. 

4. We’re all trying to make sense of things that don’t make sense

Give yourself a break. We’re all trying to make sense of things that don’t make sense – and it’s emotionally draining. We were all thrown into this situation with no notice and continue to live in an unpredictable world with no real idea of when the next lockdown might be and how it might affect our families and businesses. As business women hard-wired to be looking for solutions, it can be frustrating to be grappling with this lack of information and still trying to find a solution. Take a step back and focus on what’s in your immediate control – instead of trying to make sense of the world. 

5. Be resourceful and think outside the box

It’s a cliché, but if there was ever a time to think outside the box, it’s now. Be resourceful and encourage your teams and others around you to do the same. The world is changing and we all have a part to play in reshaping the world around us.  Coronavirus has called time on needing a frank conversation about lessons we can learn around productivity and performance management. 

What inefficient processes and underperforming staff has your business been carrying? 

6. Stop using the phrase “the new normal”

“The new normal” is banded around a lot nowadays, but it doesn’t reflect the complexity of the changes around us – or how really (when you think about it) every day is different, a new opportunity to be shaped by the food and water we consume and the circumstances we find ourselves. We are adapting and evolving every day – it wasn’t just an overnight shift of “before” and “after”. 

After all, the rate and pace of change may differ, change is a constant in life, as it always has been. 

7. Think about what YOU can work on

So much is outside of our control right now, but equally so much is inside our control. As a business woman you can develop the skills you need to better manage your team - from innovation, curiosity, and how effectively you collaborate, to resourcefulness, compassion and authenticity. 

Does every business leader have these qualities right now? No. Can everyone develop them? Yes. 

8. Remember to do things that help you relax across your day 

If lockdown has taught us anything, it’s that fresh air is so important. 

You can also help yourself feel better and better manage the stresses around you by joining a meditation group, reducing your alcohol intake (if you need to), asking yourself if you are using technology mindfully, and more!

9. Know when to stop

So many people fall into the trap of trying to be strong for too long that they eventually break. It’s easy to do when you’re emotional invested in your business and everything you’ve worked so hard for, but it’s important to recognise when it is time to stop – and to remember that just because you are closing a chapter in your life, you’ll still have all of those skills and ambition to apply to your next venture when you’ve given yourself the time to look after you. 

10. Share your truths and don’t be afraid to ask for help

It’s so important to ask for help and realise that you aren’t the only person who is struggling or having a hard time. When we’ve survived a life changing situation and bounced back from it, it’s equally important that we share our truths, and help others see that it’s ok to fail. By sharing our stories, we’re helping others to feel and learn from them. 

At a recent tm:tv session, a panel of property professionals shared their views on the challenges facing the continuing survival of the new build market during the global pandemic.

Private housing sector was one of the worst affected sectors

The property market has faced many hurdles recently, Brexit created a lot of uncertainty within the market stalling new development projects. January 2020 then saw a positive uplift within the New Build market, but as projects began to get back on track COVID-19 hit.

“Private housing sector was one of the worst affected sectors due to temporary closure of sites, with lockdown restrictions being lifted reopening of sites have been slow as developers had to ensure man power was reduced to adhere to the new social distancing measures that were put in place.” Commented Allan Willan Economic Director, Glenigans.

The current state of the market should not be taken for granted but instead seen as a rebound, transactions bounced back in Q3 and mortgage approvals up on this time last year, driven by short term concern of extended lockdown and wanting green space to hand. However, longer term, we’re going to see trends in lifestyle changes post-covid. Fewer and longer commutes really going to reshape the property market and change the face of commuter towns. All of this in short term will feed into price inflation. This will also likely be affected by general weakening in the housing market forecast in 2021 due to rise in unemployment and weakened economic growth as well as the temporary withdrawal of the stamp duty relaxation.

Lack of affordable homes is a major challenge for New Developments

The Government whitepaper outlined its views on changes to the planning system, however there is currently still a push against developments due to lack of affordable homes coming forward.

This is a big problem that needs to be addressed.

“I think the fixing of this issue is going to come through mainly housing associations delivering these developments rather than the private sector.” said Dominic Woodward, Tri Core Developments.

The whitepaper is set to announce removing affordable provisions from private development for sub 40-50 dwellings. This would then fall on the Housing Associations to provide this housing. From a commercial perspective, this change would benefit smaller developments in terms of return on investment, as sometimes it is not commercially viable for smaller sites to provide this type of housing.

“The bigger picture is that we are trying to unlock the delivery of large plots of land for various developments across all of the tenures with a wider range of deliverers rather than having a few large housebuilders” commented Lord Taylor of Goss Moor.

What will make the new build market a success?

“Real success comes from balancing the number of houses with the quality of houses without the adverse environmental impact.

Success is still waiting for us in the future. We cannot say we have achieved success in the past few years. If there had been success then we wouldn’t have a comprehensive White Paper aiming to rewrite the planning system” Tim Taylor, Foot Anstey.

Click here to watch the full session

In recognition of National Customer Service Week, our CEO Joe Pepper looks back at what it really took to deliver outstanding customer service in the middle of a global pandemic, and how our Client Services team continue to adapt and thrive.

At some point over the last six months I commented to others that one day we will look back on 2020 and reminisce fondly, and it is certainly true that people who survive tend to look back at seismic events which impact on all our lives through rose-tinted glasses.  The shared experience creates a commonality to which everybody who lived through it can relate, and although I’m not for one second suggesting that this pandemic has affected us all equally given the sacrifices at home and work that so many have made, the vast majority of people have been primarily effected by a few key factors, whether it be an inability to see friends and family, having to deal with the challenges of home-schooling, or the mass migration of workers from the office to home.

That move from office to home working has been both a challenging and a rewarding experience for many, but particularly in the context of providing service.  As an example, my car insurance renewal quote came through in April, and as ever it was the traditional 10-15% rise.  As I usually do, I used the price comparison websites to understand the market rate, and then attempted to contact the insurer to see if they would match or get close to the comparable quote or cancel the policy.  It quickly became apparent that getting through to speak to somebody was going to be a major challenge, and eventually I decided that given everything else going on it was going to be far simpler to accept the renewal quote, and deal with it again next year. This is clearly a poor customer experience driven by the challenges of the moment.

Those challenges are universal, and at tmgroup we have had to rise to meet them just like everybody else.  We’ve been providing services to the legal market, predominantly property data and searches to the conveyancing market, for over 20-years from our headquarters in Swindon, Wiltshire, with a subsidiary business Property Searches Scotland and sister company Conveyancing Data Services  operating predominantly from Glasgow and Reading respectively.  Whilst there was a degree of flexibility in working offered across the business, the vast majority of our 300+ employees were firmly office-based, and nowhere was this stronger than in the area of our Customer Services teams.  So when we made the decision, on the 17th of March this year, to close our offices, none of us really knew what was to follow, and it was to the huge credit of the operational management within the business that we were able to successfully move all staff members out of the office and into home working within 3-days, so that by the time the UK Government announced the lockdown on the 23rd of March we were already out of the office and working from home.

If moving people out of the office and into working from home wasn’t complicated enough, continuing to provide the award-winning levels of service that tmgroup is renowned for was going to prove even more challenging.  The immediate challenge that we needed to address in the three days it took to move people out of the office was telephony.  It was ironic that we had the plan to move to a VOIP system on our 2020 roadmap as a Q4 deliverable, but now we had 3-days to implement something, and we had to rely on some herculean efforts from our IT and Operational teams to work with our suppliers and do just that.  A system was implemented, but it would continue to cause us some challenges over the subsequent couple of months as we fine-tuned a system in live that we would normally have done behind the scenes.

The second major challenge was the market that we operate within.  Our technology empowers the services that we provide, but that doesn’t mean that all the services are delivered purely by our technology, and manual intervention is very often critical and why our people are so important.  We handle complex search requirements on behalf of clients who operate in both the residential and the commercial sectors, and we need to order searches and access data from hundreds of suppliers including all the local authorities across England and Wales.  In normal times we could reasonably expect most searches back within 10-days of order, but there will always be some areas where searches can take substantially longer.  Each local authority chose to respond to the challenges of the lockdown differently, and therefore being able to communicate the status of each with our clients became crucial.  Again, relying heavily on the expertise and long-established relationships that our Operational Management team have with our suppliers, we were able to quickly produce and maintain an up to date blog to keep our customers aware of how each area was performing.

The market challenge didn’t stop there however, as one key dynamic we noticed quickly was the change in the user base for our product.  Many of our clients had furloughed a number of their employees, and that meant that the people using our system and contacting our Customer Service team were not necessarily the same individuals as we had before, and that meant that we were receiving far more calls than we would typically have expected to receive in relation to the volume of work we were carrying out.  That meant that we again had to react and focus our attentions on providing a strong level of telephony to those new users.

Despite all of these challenges, we never shut down our operation – even for a day – and continued to look after our customers when they needed us most

As property searches are often ordered several weeks into a property transaction, and can take several weeks to complete, the lockdown did not mean that we went from being busy on the 23rd of March to being sat around with little to do on the 24th.  Volumes dropped quickly, but we continued to receive orders throughout the lockdown period, particularly in the commercial and social housing sectors where the entire process typically takes longer than in the residential market.  As lockdown was lifted in May, we saw a steady increase in demand so that by the end of July we were back dealing with volumes we would normally experience at that time of year, and since then we’ve seen volumes go even higher, partially incentivised no doubt by the UK Government’s temporary reduction in Stamp Duty.  This change meant that we again had to act proactively to avoid become outpaced by demand.  Recruitment freezes implemented in lockdown were lifted, and system development work was focused on improving our workflow tools to enhance productivity.  We noted early on that individual productivity actually increased when certain groups worked from home but coupled with that could be a reduction in overall team productivity.  We took the decision to make the Swindon office Covid-secure and partially re-opened on 10th August for an identified small group of employees who had a strong preference for working an office environment.  That was a huge success, and by the end of September a second cohort returned to the office, this time those being identified as working more effectively within a team environment.  Having 20 people out of 300 back in the office doesn’t seem like many, but it’s made a huge impact on our overall productivity and the ability to deliver a growing demand for our services.

Today, our productivity is higher than it’s ever been, which has been crucial as we are now experiencing volumes far greater than we would usually expect to process at this time of year, and the expertise of our Customer Services team is even more critical to our clients than at any other point in the last decade due to the ongoing challenges facing our suppliers.  Despite the changes and challenges of last six months, our annual staff survey took place in August and evidenced a significant improvement in the level of employee engagement in the business and a stronger sense of teamwork.  We continue to provide an excellent level of customer service in a very difficult market, and that is something to be proud of, and also partly why I still think we may eventually reflect back on this strange year and wonder if adversity was the mother of invention all along.

tmgroup, the leading provider of property searches and data, are proud to be celebrating National Customer Service Week (5th-9th October 2020) in recognition of everything their teams have done and continue to do to support their customers during the coronavirus pandemic.  

As Joe Pepper, CEO of tmgroup comments:

“When we made the decision, on the 17th of March this year, to close our offices, none of us really knew what was to follow, and it was to the huge credit of the operational management within the business that we were able to successfully move all staff members out of the office and into home working within 3 days, so that by the time the UK Government announced the lockdown on the 23rd of March we were already out of the office and working from home. Today, our productivity is higher than it’s ever been, and despite the changes and challenges of the last six months, we continue to provide an excellent level of customer service in a very difficult market, and that is something to be proud of.”

To celebrate such an incredible achievement in the face of unprecedented market conditions, tmgroup will be engaging with The Institute of Customer Service’s 5 keys themes of:

• Monday: Insight: Knowing your customer and how to deliver to them

• Tuesday: Capability & Skills: Identifying and nurturing customer service skills in your organisation

• Wednesday: Recognition: Celebrate your customer service heroes

• Thursday: Leadership: Championing customer service in the boardroom

• Friday: Trust, Ethics & Sustainability: Building brand reputation through your actions

Jo Causon, CEO of The Institute of Customer Service adds: “National Customer Service Week is a week-long opportunity to raise awareness of customer service. It is great to see so many organisations across the UK - including tmgroup, celebrating the vital role customer service plays in successful business practice and the growth of the UK economy.”

To make the most of National Customer Service Week, tmgroup have planned an exciting line up of activities around these key themes – including paying tribute to their dedicated teams, telling their behind-the-scenes story of how they responded to lockdown, and sharing some of the sessions in their tm:tv series on how to deliver an even better customer experience:

• How to keep your clients safe: Amy Bell, from Teal Compliance Click here to watch

• How brilliant communication can help you and your clients keep in touch: Claire Smith, Moneypenny Click here to watch

• What are we going to do about Daniel? A true story of the real struggles customers face: Clare Yates, tmgroup Click here to watch

• The Customer Journey and the importance of measuring customer experience: Richard Knight, Insight6 Click here to watch 

• Surviving not thriving: Clare Fanner, Find Get Grow Click here to watch

For more on how tmgroup are celebrating National Customer Service Week, please follow tmgroup’s LinkedIn and Twitter, as well as the #NCSW20 hashtag.

Residential property professionals across the breadth of the chain are feeling the pressure of increased volumes brought on by the Stamp Duty holiday. Yet, according to the latest tm:tv panel debate ‘Is the property market faking it?’, buyers and sellers could help reduce the pressure by taking proactive steps to manage their transaction. Hosted by Emma Vigus, Managing Director of mio, this sentiment was echoed throughout the tm:tv session by estate agent, conveyancing, surveying and mortgage broker representatives. 

You can watch the full session here:

The market is moving again, but the biggest challenge is getting sales to completion

Compared to 6 months ago, when the panel first met, the market is in a far better place. The general public have adjusted to social-distancing restrictions and are more confident about allowing surveyors and estate agents into their homes (some are even starting to request face-to-face meetings), and, encouraged by the Stamp Duty holiday, people are moving again.  

The biggest challenge is in getting sales to completion. 

The industry is busier than ever. Even ‘The Big 6’ lenders are struggling under the weight of mortgage applications, with some receiving approximately 1,500 applications a day, but only being able to process 500 – resulting in a backlog and delays. 

This is exacerbated by how much more complex and time-consuming the process has become, as Greg Cunnington, Director of Lender Relationships and New Homes at Alexander Hall commented: “It’s really different! Mortgages were more straightforward before lockdown and, thanks to technology and prompt surveyor inspections, getting a mortgage offer in 5-10 days was quite normal. However, it now takes 12-18 days just for buyers to get an initial assessment with some lenders, and if there’s any hiccups along the way, it only adds to the delay. Lenders are also doing more manual assessments to counteract the increased risk of lending to people who are self-employed and currently on furlough, so that’s also adding to the delays.”

It’s not just the mortgage application process that’s taking extra time. Other key players in the market are feeling the strain too, as Joe Arnold, Owner, Arnold & Baldwin Chartered Surveyors said: “We’re experiencing capacity issues with managing this new, heavy workload. We’ve brought everyone back from furlough and it’s still not quite enough, but we’re reluctant to take on new people as we just don’t know what’s around the corner. Unfortunately, it’s created a backlog of work, as where we only used to require 2-3 days’ notice to go out and do a mortgage valuation or survey, there’s now a 3 week wait.” 

Being proactive and managing expectations is key to keeping things moving 

Unfortunately, the majority of buyers are unaware of just how much the home-moving process has changed behind the scenes, and so the onus is on property professionals themselves to help their clients better understand where they could be more proactive – for the benefit of all involved. 

• Mortgage applications need to be qualified asap: “Buyers should have a Mortgage Decision in Principle before they view any properties.” – Greg Cunnington, Director of Lender Relationships and New Homes at Alexander Hall.

• Pre-empt delays and reassure clients as much as you can: “It can really help to pre-empt what could go wrong and cause delays and have that conversation with buyers upfront, so if and when things do go a bit slower, at least it’s expected and a bonus if it actually comes in that bit quicker. Estate agents also need to step up with their communications to help reassure buyers that things are moving forward.” – Perry Power, Manging Director, Power Bespoke.

• Clients need their professional team in place from ‘Day 1’: “Homebuyers need to get their professional team alongside them as soon as possible – including their mortgage broker and surveyor.” – Joe Arnold, Owner, Arnold & Baldwin Chartered Surveyors.

• Buyers need to be completing their AML checks before even looking at properties: “Buyers should be instructing their conveyancers before they start looking at properties, as AML and title checks take time, and can cause delays later on. Unfortunately, we often find buyers are reluctant to spend the money up front, when the truth is that in the grand scheme of things, it really isn’t that much, and would relieve a lot of the pressure on conveyancers and the property transaction as a whole.” – Yanthe Richardson, Senior Associate, Foot Anstey.

It’s an understatement to say that the industry is continuing to face unprecedented challenges as we approach the end of 2020, but proactivity, communication and collaboration will be key to keeping things moving. Are you playing your part in keeping property transactions moving?

To view the session in full click here

A recent tm:tv session has highlighted that the property industry still has a long way to go before it can be considered truly diverse. Hosted by mio’s Emma Vigus, the panel representing estate agents, surveyors and conveyancers shared their experiences of how the industry is failing to offer opportunities to ethnic minorities, as well as those identifying as disabled or members of the LBGTQ+ community. 

One of the biggest cultural challenges in property is around “does your face fit?”, as Elliott Purcell explains, “When I was passed over for a promotion I wholeheartedly deserved, one of the biggest learnings for me was the prevalence of the “does your face fit?” culture. I hadn’t even thought about it before, but when I looked around I realised that black inclusion at a higher level is very minimal. I’ve worked for 3 large corporate estate agents over the years, and never once seen someone above Area Manager that has been of an ethnic background. It’s tough. As a black person, I feel I have to be exceptional to even be classed in the same category as others.”

It isn’t just about the colour of your skin, as Kate Charrington says, “As a people-facing industry, there are strong stereotypes about what you should look like to the general public. In the past, I’ve even been asked to ‘wear a bit of lippy’ by a senior manager. I don't think anyone needs to conform to this in 2020, but it really stuck with me. These stereotypes are even perpetuated by our customers, including a young women who once answered the door and said ‘oh, I was expecting a surveyor, an older guy’.” 

These barriers aren’t just about missing out on promotion opportunities either, as Sharon Singer confirms, “Over the years, I’ve been excluded from several social events. When you miss out on these, you inevitably also lose the opportunity to grow your professional network, which is equally vital in building a successful career.”

You can watch the full session here:

Lack of management training across senior property professionals only exacerbates the issue

A lack of formal management training across the industry is cited as one of the key reasons behind this feeling of exclusion, as people promoted for their technical expertise often don’t have the necessary experience to understand and support the needs of a diverse team. This can have a knock-on effect on everything from how safe an individual feels about being open about their sexuality, to whether or not an individual is fairly considered for a promotion. 

As Sharon Singer says, “We need to be training up our managers with the necessary inclusive management leadership skills, and also making sure people who are promoted to managers are considered for their people skills, as well as their technical ability. Some people are just not people managers, and this creates challenges within the teams they manage.”

When people speak out and share their experiences it helps others feel safer too

Despite the bleak picture, the outlook is considerably brighter. Minorities across the industry are already speaking out about their experiences on public platforms such as LinkedIn, which is making a positive difference in creating safer, more inclusive working environments where people feel free to be themselves. 

As Joe Ellison confirms, “Being a gay man working in surveying, I found I didn’t want to talk to my colleagues about my private life for fear of damaging my professional reputation. However, I got fed up with people assuming I was straight and recently came out on LinkedIn to help set the record straight, and it’s made things a lot better.” 

And every voice counts, as Sharon Singer supports, “A lot of people stay quiet about their sexuality out of fear of what could happen, as sadly there are examples of horrible people online and in the workplace. However, the more that people that come out and are celebrated, the more it becomes the norm. It’s a very hard thing to do to come out on LinkedIn, but it does help other people in same position.”

It’s not enough to simply add a rainbow to your company logo – you have to live and breathe it

Despite this sense of progress however, there is still some confusion about what diversity looks and feels like on a day-to-day basis, as Sharon Singer continues, “People are going to pride marches or putting a rainbow on their logo and thinking it’s ‘job done’, but it’s not enough. Supporting true diversity needs to be part of a wider strategy linked to business objectives in order to be successful. The challenge is to encourage senior leaders to be having these conversations with the board.” 

As such measures can take a while to permeate, particularly in larger organisations, it’s equally important that leaders are educated on matters of diversity and disability, so they can be more accessible to their team members in need of additional support, as Martin Whitehorn explains, “Simply taking an interest and making reasonable adjustments can make a big difference to someone’s life, as well as improve accessibility to opportunities within the profession.”

It’s very encouraging to see that steps are already being taken to highlight the needs of people with disabilities in the workplace. For example, the ‘Legally Disabled’ survey has recently been published, exploring the career experiences of disabled people working in the legal profession, and exposing how the industry norms of billable hours, targets, and presenteeism are not conducive to inclusivity. 

As Martin Whitehorn continues, “People with disabilities are routinely getting overlooked for promotion as, for a multitude of reasons, they sometimes physically aren't able to put in as many hours of chargeable time as their colleagues. There needs to be a renewed focus. As with mothers returning to the workplace, there needs to be an emphasis on the quality of the work you put in – not the time you put in.”

Overall, as the tm:tv session came to a close, it was clear that there are positive changes afoot, however property professionals must do more to address diversity issues in the workplace, as Emma Vigus concludes, “As with any kind of change, we have to live and breathe it. It has to be embedded in every way a business works. It’s a very difficult thing to do, but it’s the only way to make a real and permanent change.”

To view the session in full please click here

On 1st October, Landmark are re-launching their SiteSolutions Combined report, as well as making some price changes to their commercial reports.

Landmark have also announced new coal reports COMING SOON to tmconvey.

RE-LAUNCHED SiteSolutions Combined

The SiteSolutions Combined commercial due diligence report will be relaunched on 1st October, following feedback from the majority of the top 50 law firms in the UK. 

While continuing to be the only report in the market offering a fully manual contaminated land assessment and fully manual flood risk assessment, a number of key improvements have been made to support ease and speed of use, including: 

> Colour coded front page and report sections

> Clear flags for Permits and Environmental Hazards

> Clear navigation to key sections 

> NEW hyperlinks 

> Front page consultant contact  

Additional benefits include: 

> Assessment accuracy – Every report is written and quality assessed by an expert consultant

> Reliability – Intelligent risk assessment informed by CIE compliant data and mapping

> Advice – Bespoke recommendations tailored to your transaction

> Support – Report author contact details on front page of every report

Click here to see a sample report

Price changes

Here is a summary of the price changes – coming into effect on 1st October:

COMING SOON: Landmark Coal and Landmark CON29M

Landmark have also recently announced their new coal mining report for residential property due diligence across the UK (Landmark Coal), as well as their new, approved and accredited official CON29M report (Landmark CON29M) – COMING SOON to tmconvey.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with your tm Account Manager.

tmgroup, the leading provider of property searches and data, has today announced its new partnership with Thirdfort to offer conveyancers the latest in risk mitigation technology. Onboarding clients is one of the biggest risks for conveyancers, requiring a lengthy, time-consuming process to perform necessary due diligence – and even then risking something “falling through the cracks” of human error. 

Using Thirdfort’s simple and secure customer-facing app – now available via tmconvey and tmconnect – conveyancers can onboard clients up to 80% faster by empowering them to complete digital identity and source of funds checks remotely. With data provided by Experian, LexisNexis, ComplyAdvantage, and more, Thirdfort also offers a reliable way to carry out PEPs, sanctions and adverse media checks.

Thirdfort makes it far easier to catch out fake ID documents 

Partnering with Onfido, whose technology is trusted by Barclays and Santander, Thirdfort verifies identity documents in minutes and uses facial recognition technology (similar to that used by e-gates at border control) to cross check the identity – all to help give conveyancers confidence about who they’re doing business with. 

This is particularly pertinent given that fake ID documents – made with such attention to detail it can be difficult to spot the subtle differences – can be bought online for as little as £5, and that property continues to account for over 70% of fraud in the UK. 

Olly Thornton-Berry, MD and Co-founder of Thirdfort commented:

“We are thrilled to partner with tmgroup to stamp out fraud in property transactions. Now more than ever, solicitors and conveyancers need to be diligent about levels of fraud which have increased during the pandemic. Thirdfort is the new standard in legal security and we are excited to work with tmgroup to offer their customers automated client ID and source of funds checks – helping them to speed up client onboarding and dramatically reduce risk.”

The ‘purchase funds’ questionnaire makes it easy for clients to prove where their money is from

The app also features a questionnaire which prompts property buyers to account for the source of any purchase funds. This information can then be cross-checked with bank statements retrieved through the unique ‘bank linking’ feature which uses Government backed Open Banking technology. Supported by an FCA licence, this allows customers to login to their online banking securely via the Thirdfort app and select the financial information they wish to share. The findings of all checks are then sent to the conveyancer in a single, clear to read report – including a scan of the photo ID for their records.

Paul Albone, CTO at tmgroup commented: 

“We’re so excited to be partnering with Thirdfort and launching their innovative client app which takes the pain out of client ID verification, supporting remote working practices, and helps to minimise the areas of financial fraud in a property transaction. We had excellent collaboration between the teams when it came to designing how we could integrate their product into our own tm platforms. Not only did they have a great API which allowed us to implement a seamless client journey between the two service offerings, but they were receptive to enhancements and we have several more in the pipeline.”

For more information, you can register for a LIVE demo of Thirdfort at 1pm (GMT) on Tuesday 20th October 2020, or request more information here. You can also get in touch with your tm Account Manager or take a look at the Thirdfort website. 

About Thirdfort

o Thirdfort was founded by schoolfriends Olly Thornton-Berry and Jack Bidgood after a friend was defrauded out of £25,000 whilst buying a flat in London. With a strong desire to make home buying easier and rebuild trust between lawyers and clients, Thirdfort won a place on Mishcon de Reya’s prestigious MDR LAB programme. They worked closely with MDR’s top lawyers and advisors to understand the legal and conveyancing processes, identify the issues and build out Thirdfort’s proposition. 

o Lawyers initiate a check and monitor progress via a web app. Users carry out their onboarding checks via a mobile app. 

o ID check: the user takes a photo of their identity document, a selfie and a short video. ID scanning and facial recognition technology authenticates the ID document and matches the person in the selfie/video to that document. 

o Source of funds: for transactions involving large sums of money, lawyers must investigate where that money comes from to combat money laundering. This usually involves collecting bank statements and the client filling out a paper questionnaire. Thirdfort uses Open Banking technology to let the user securely connect to their online banking and retrieve digital bank statements. Thirdfort has also built a questionnaire into the app for the user to complete. 

o Thirdfort is the only company in the legal space to combine an ID AND source of funds product to offer complete client onboarding. 

o Alex Chesterman voted Thirdfort his startup of the year in the Times in Dec-19

Launching on the 7th September – Groundsure GeoRisk and GeoRisk +

This brand new set of reports provided by the experts at Groundsure and Mining Searches UK, cover in-depth and vast datasets across key areas of ground risk:

• Non coal-mining (with opinion provided by an in-house mining expert)
• Ground stability (natural and non-natural)
• Satellite monitoring (recorded 'real-world' ground movement)
• Coal mining (GeoRisk +)
• Brine (GeoRisk +)

With the enhanced product alerts if they advise that no risks have been identified, then you will be able to provide a GeoRisk Certificate, providing additional assurance that no risks have been identified. If the property is neither on the coal field or in a Cheshire brine affected area, you can save money with the non-coal option (GeoRisk).

As a result of this new all in one solution, Groundsure will be discontinuing their Ground Stability report from the 7th September – but all of the data and expert analysis that this report provided will now all be included in the all-in-one cost-effective GeoRisk report. 

If you would like to find out more please contact your Account Manager. 

From the 14th September Terrafirma Ground Report will now include a Coastal Hazards module. The new module is a site-specific assessment of the risk from Coastal Hazards, such as erosion (coastline retreat) and inundation (sea flooding) over time. 

How will the Coastal Hazards module help you?

• Considers the impact of climate change on coastal hazards 
• Provides a clear front page summary with colour-coded UserKey to ensure relevant parties within the transaction are informed 
• Key information is provided on Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) 
• Assessment of coastal erosion and risk of total collapse and/or loss of property 
• Provides a clear timeline for expected coastal regression at property 
• Expert opinion and professional recommendations ensure parties in the transaction do not need to interpret data or findings 
• £10 million professional indemnity applied to all property report risk assessment and professional opinion

If you would like to find out more please contact your account manager today.