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Terrafirma’s updated Ground Report – Coming 1st October

Terrafirma’s updated Ground Report will be available to order on tmconvey from October 1st. Pricing remains unchanged.

This will be the first domestic search product to give an accurate prediction of properties which are likely to suffer clay-related shrink-swell movements or be affected by nearby tree roots – including an insight into the possible long-term effects of a changing climate on subsidence risk.

Sample report: Click here to see a sample report

About the report

The updated Ground Report includes a simple-to-understand guide to the potential amount of ground movement and the zone of influence of large trees, providing clear guidance on the scope of building surveys and subsidence insurance for affected properties.  

It includes:

·An additional clay subsidence summary on the front page, highlighting recommended actions for the purchaser.

·Terrafirma’s unique sinkhole alert now forms part of the front-page location map, highlighting recorded collapses near to the purchasers’ property.

·A revised Natural Ground Perils module which identifies the likely risks from slope movement as well as any mapped landslide areas.

· A new comprehensive Clay Subsidence module.

Pricing: Unchanged at £50+ VAT

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

We’ll start with something that is not so much on the horizon, more in our near field view but it’s such a useful development that it’s worth highlighting here. 

The ability to integrate tmconvey with the mainstream case management systems (CMS) has existed for some time - it’s highly desirable as everything can happen directly within the CMS e.g. searches ordered, results received back, all logged in the respective case plan, with no need to rekey. It saves time, improves accuracy, builds an audit trail and is generally more convenient and efficient all around. 

However, firms’ attempts to complete the required integration project often stumble because of a lack of support or time, or even basic IT resource. So tmconvey is now in a position to help drive those projects through, with dedicated resource and assistance available, either helping in-house IT teams or providing an end-to-end solution for firms who don’t have in-house IT to call on. Integration has huge benefit and we want our customers to be in a position to take advantage of it - if that means giving you a hand to get you there, we’d be happy to oblige.

We’ve always got new features up our sleeve and this month we’ve got something for all those users tired of doing screengrabs of search alerts! We’re adding a button that will allow you to simply download a PDF of all the screen contents - the property details and the risks associated with it - which can then be shared via email to relevant parties.

Sometimes, our good works are not always obvious. In the background, there is always an on-going effort to enhance the user journey and experience in small, incremental ways - little changes that add up to big positives. That’s why we’re currently experimenting with button positions and navigation, things that you may or may not pick up on - but are definitely being done for the right reasons.

 We all know it pays to get the mapping part of the search equation right and that sometimes you need to manually map your own areas of interest before merging them into a single extent. 

Previously there was no way of going back after merging but now with our ‘Undo Merge’ function you can have another go if the result wasn’t quite what you were looking for. 

‘Undo Merge’ becomes available immediately after a user has either clicked ‘Merge Selected’ or ‘Merge Visible’. It will rollback to the previous ‘unmerged’ state.  

We’ve also added an allied piece of functionality to the ‘Edit Outline’ panel , ‘Reset’, allowing users to reset any modifications to an outline and return them to the point at which they started editing.

1. User selects 'Edit Outline' 

2. User edits outline 

3. User select 'Reset' to rollback changes in current 'Edit' session 

Click 'mapsearch' on the Home Screen and then 'VIEW MAP'

Once you have located the property you are presented with the option of doing a Companies House search on the right-hand side.  

You will see a summary page first and click on the Company Registration number to take you to Companies House 

If you don’t want to set up a case but still want an accurate quote for your Con29, remember that you can request any relevant optional enquiries by just ticking the appropriate boxes in the Quick Quote tool.

tmgroup is delighted to announce the appointment of Martin Manning as Head of Account Management. 

The newly created role is pivotal to ensuring that tmgroup continuously meets the needs of the legal sector in terms of both client service and product development.  

Commenting on Martin’s new position, Emma Vigus, Chief Commercial Officer at tmgroup said: 

“Martin is a very experienced operator.  He has over 20 years of sales and account management experience within property and legal and a recent involvement in evaluating how machine learning and blockchain can be leveraged across the property lifecycle.  Adding his expertise to our business complements an already strong Senior Leadership team with experience across all facets of commercial and residential property.  It is a testament to the strength of the tmgroup and our proposition that we can continually attract great talent to help us meet our aim of improving the property transaction for the benefit of all.”

Commenting on his new role, Martin Manning said:

“This is such an exciting time to join tmgroup and to assist in driving their progressive agenda. The UK property market is being faced with renewed calls for innovation whist law firms are continuously having to balance busy, complex caseloads with evolving client demands and increasing risk and regulation. We’ll be tapping into some of the very latest technologies to ease that burden and to support our clients’ efforts to deliver improvements.”

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.