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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, Paul Albone 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 Paul Albone, COO at tmgroup

Ever wanted to know how IT teams can evidence their value? Here, in the first of 2 articles, Paul Albone, tmgroup’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), 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.

We spoke to industry experts – including Rob Hailstone (Bold Legal Group), Alan Milstein (Residential Property Surveyors Association) and Eduardo Reyes (The Law Society Gazette) – for their views on what needs to change to get Britain building, speeding up New Build transactions, and meeting the demand for more housing. 

Here’s what they said…

Eduardo Reyes, Commissioning and Features Editor at The Law Society Gazette:

We need to create greater density in outlying areas of cities and invest in our transport links

In the 20th Century, my home city of London achieved growth in homes in a way that has created challenges for future development. Many other cities and towns share this experience. In particular, the 1930s saw a boom in housebuilding, fuelled by new, widely available mortgage products. 

This great democratization of finance delivered huge swathes of housing, though a significant proportion was built in areas that were poorly-served by infrastructure, including transport. Hence, they remain part of the city’s great sprawl. 

We need greater density in outlying areas, of our cities and towns, and that means creating or improving attractive ‘town centres’, using vacant land, and improving our transport links. 

‘Section 106’ is inadequate and needs to be reformed 

‘Section 106’ – the mechanism by which developers reach agreement with councils on the provision of infrastructure and community facilities – needs to be reformed. It has proved an inadequate way to deliver the infrastructure and facilities needed to create new centres. 

One result has been further rings of development around older established centres – a sense of identity and convenience getting more diluted the further out you are, so the incentive for more rapid growth is reduced. 

Further out, we too often wind up with freestanding housing developments with low densities, which do not sit in any cultural or economic context other than a road trip to work and shops.

‘Section 106’ agreements are too often superficial, prettifying add-ons to new developments. A more powerful and reliable mechanism is needed.  

We need to tax unused land to stop people sitting on it as an investment

Tax law needs reform. Development potential increases the price of land even before homes are built on it. It has become a helpful asset for some businesses to sit on, including both supermarkets and developers themselves. We need to find a way to tax such unused land at a level that will bring it in to ‘use’.  

New laws keeping the cost of retail space down would help to create new centres with a heavier density of homes and businesses

Stricter Paris-style ‘designated use’ laws on commercial property, chiefly shops, should also be considered to keep the cost of retail space down, and its variety up – and such spaces should be designed into new centres. This strengthens the idea of a new ‘centre’, around which a heavier density of homes and businesses can grow, because people will sacrifice space to be near them. 

The high streets in my bit of South East London often have lower-cost retail units than seen elsewhere in inner London, and it has made a renaissance for independent businesses possible  – some wildly successful, others just optimistic try-outs, all of them adding to the convincing fabric of the place. 

Christopher Watkin, UK Property Market Commentator:

There should be incentives in place for building inexpensive homes

There has been a shortage of smaller townhouses and smaller apartments being built in the UK over the last 20 years. The builders do want to build, but there's a deficiency of building land in the UK, and if there's a shortage of building land, then of course new homes builders build whatever gives them the biggest profit. The properties that give them the largest profit are the biggest and most expensive properties and they certainly are not bungalows as they take up too much land. So who can blame them?

Yet would it surprise you to know that it’s not a lack of space (look at all the green you see when flying over the UK), it’s the planning system. Green belts must be observed, but only 1.2% (yes 1.2% - that isn’t a typo) is built on in this country as a whole with homes – we need the planners to release more land (and then force/encourage builders to build on it - not sit on it). Another problem is that of the smaller new homes that have been built, most of them have been snapped up for renting, not owning. 

So, what’s the answer? Build more Council houses? Yes, sounds great but the local authorities haven’t enough money to cut the grass verges, let alone spend billions on new homes. The Government did relax the planning laws a few years ago, for example for changing office space into residential use, yet they could do more as currently new homes builders have no incentive to build inexpensive homes or bungalows that the system needs to make a difference.

We must all remember that property will always be a great investment

Changing the dynamics of the national property market will only change in decades, not years. The simple fact is we are living longer, and we need 240,000 to 250,000 houses a year to stand still with demand, let alone start to eat into 30 years of under building, where the average has been just under 170,000 households a year. 

That means, today as a country, we have a pent-up demand of 2.25m additional households and we need to build a further 4.2m households on top of that figure for population growth between 2019 and 2039. So, irrespective of whether we have a short term blip in the property market in the next 12/18 months, investing in property is, and always will be, a great investment as demand will always outstrip supply.

Dominic Woodward, Director, Tri-core Developments:

We need to invest in our planning departments so workload, holidays and sickness breaks stop being a roadblock for planning applications  

The main roadblock is the planning system. Getting planning through in a timely and cost effective way is not straightforward. The planning portal says 13 weeks for a complex full planning application to be decided, but those involved in the system know this is not the reality. 

Routinely, consultation responses are not provided in time due to workloads, holidays and sickness breaks for those persons involved. This requires planning officers to request an extension of time meaning the clock stops before the stated deadline. Planning applicants have little choice but to accept these requests for extension, as refusing the request to extend means the application will be determined “as is” resulting in a guaranteed refusal – leaving developers between a rock and a hard place. 

Cut-off dates for consultation responses and more rights for applicants – even at the cost of more expensive planning applications

Providing cut off dates for consultation responses could help, and in the event responses are not provided by the cut off, that department loses the right to comment on the proposed application. It would be a “use it or lose it” right for consultees to get their comments in on time. This is the case at appeal, so should be no different for an actual planning application.

In addition, there clearly should be more rights for applicants to get applications decided on time. The ombudsman that covers planning has no teeth, the default position seems to be if you have cause for complaint, just go through the appeals process. That will add 6 months to 1 year – plus all the additional costs associated.

Although likely not popular, we would actually be happy to pay more for planning applications to have a better funded system – but only on the provision of getting a better service that delivers decisions on time. The system is woefully underfunded, there aren’t enough planning officers (bums on seats) and those that are there usually end up leaving to work privately for better money, only worsening the problem.

Alan Milstein, Chairman, Residential Property Surveyors Association (RPSA):

Industry-wide snagging standards could make all the difference 

In the rush to build more houses, it is almost inevitable that question marks are raised over quality. Often buyers are given only a 15 or 20 minute accompanied tour on the day before completion to point out any snagging issues, which may, or may not be rectified before they move in. 

Stories of new homebuyers subsequently finding hundreds of snagging issues, as well as far more serious structural failings, are disturbingly common, and the rectification process is all too often a battle against an uncooperative major corporate developer.

The Residential Property Surveyors Association (RPSA) believes that protection for consumers can only come about by the development of industry-wide snagging standards to facilitate an objective and accurate assessment of quality to be made, allowing builders to know what is expected, and an Ombudsman to have a measure against which to make adjudications.

Bringing developers and warranty providers to the table to begin the task of creating proper snagging standards has proved challenging and slow. Understandably, perhaps, builders don’t want to accept the need for snagging standards because, according to their figures, satisfaction rates against new home owners significantly exceed 90%. But the reality is that a worryingly high number of new homebuyers experience a moderate or significant number of snagging issues and find the rectification process to be difficult, lengthy and, often, highly confrontational.

Matt Smith, WPB and The Chair Consultancy:

We need a National Housing Service to protect British citizens’ wellbeing

We need a National Housing Service. Housing is as integral to the wellbeing of British citizens as health and yet it is treated with almost contempt by those in Westminster –  something which needs to be adjusted if we are to improve policies. 

This is not a new suggestion. Countless government-commissioned reviews, leading economists and industry trade bodies have lobbied for years in favour of setting up an independent housing body – akin to the Financial Conduct Authority or Bank of England, but tasked with measurable targets to deliver a set number of new homes every year. Critically, to also think long-term about the tenure make-up of the UK’s housing market. Our need has never been greater.

We need to start building for everyone – not just for capital gain

Britain needs to be strategic and even-handed in housing, focusing the attention on helping the young and balancing out the housing market. Looking beyond the five-year mark, we need to encourage the delivery of every tenure. Policy changes are required and should be our focus. As the age of home ownership continues to rise, building for everyone must become more important than just building for capital gain. 

Policy must genuinely support all tenures. With over 1 million people on social housing waiting lists, we must recognise that institutional and affordable housing are worthwhile endeavours and encourage greater investment into purpose built rental homes. We should also remove the additional 3% SDLT multiple dwellings premium, as this would increase the affordable housing contribution. 

Precision-engineered modular homes could help to build high quality homes for the future

The supply in the housing market needs to adjust and recognise the need for more, advanced labour forces, in order to keep up with the growing technological advances and more control at local level. 

Mark Farmer published a report into the UK’s construction labour model entitled ‘Modernise or Die’. He identified the need for innovation to solve the skills crisis, and claimed that “We have so big a challenge around the declining workforce in construction that we cannot recruit or retain our way out of it. We have to be prepared for a reducing workforce, which means we need to be able to build more with less”. That means new ways of building for the future.

All in all, the demand for change in this market is high. The real challenge will be democracy ‘buying into’ the change. However, innovation and planning for the next 50 years would help. Our current housebuilding industry is capacity constrained and can’t possibly meet the 300,000 annual target. Precision-engineered modular homes offer a new way of building high quality homes - in volume and faster than traditional construction. 

Joe Pepper, CEO at tmgroup:

It will require real vision and leadership to help address the problem

Why is building new homes so difficult?  After all, as a nation we have been through terrific periods of house building in the last century, so what has happened to us to make it so difficult now?  The answer is multifaceted, but in essence we have made the planning laws increasingly complicated and reduced the number of firms competing to build, whilst at the same time leaving it more to the market.

The roots of many of the current issues go back to the 1980s, when the government erroneously believed that the population was likely to decline over the coming decades. This led to a massively reduced element of social housing development, and a tightening of conservation law around where property could be built. This combined with the subsequent periods of boom and bust, caused a disproportionate displacement of smaller developers contributing to the dominance of the larger developers that we see today.  

Given the length of time that it takes to navigate the local planning laws, a developer has to invest at risk for a long period of time before they can be confident of getting a return, and that gives the bigger and more established developers a significant advantage and creates a blocker for new entrants. 

The ongoing disparity between supply and demand also fuels the house price growth, which dis-incentivises further growth.  As time goes on, the problem only builds up, and as the government also benefits from the growth in house prices, it will require real vision and leadership to help address the problem.

Removing communication barriers could help to improve the situation in the short term

At a more prosaic level, we can seek to improve the communication between all parties – developers, local authorities, conveyancers, estate and land agents and so on.

At tmgroup, we have been linking local authorities and conveyancers for almost 20-years, and have recently extended that to estate agents and consumers through our mio platform. 

We are also in active dialogue with lenders and developers about extending it further which would give all parties the real-time status of a deal without the associated chasing around which currently happens.  

It doesn’t take much imagination to extend that further into the planning process to save time for all parties both during the process and during the subsequent sales transaction.

Rob Hailstone, CEO, Bold Legal Group:

New Build property transactions can be significantly helped along by homebuilders choosing their developer’s recommended conveyancer

Back in the 90s, I was recommended many, many times by the ‘site girls’ of a large developer in the South West. 

They liked me to be instructed because: 

• I had already been through the site documents and had (with the developer’s solicitors) corrected anything that I felt wasn’t right, and was therefore quicker than a conveyancer who had to trawl through the sale pack for the first time.

• I was prepared to be proactive rather than reactive.

• I gave regular updates.

• My fees were competitive. 

• I would even walk the site at various stages with the developer’s solicitors to get a clear picture of the lay of the land, etc…

In short, I knew the development inside out.

On a number of occasions, I had to push back when something was wrong or didn’t suit a particular client. Did the developer like it, no, did I care they didn’t like it, not at all! If anything, I actually earned their respect. However, I am sure one ‘site girl’ in particular (Gloria) still spits feathers every time my name is mentioned because she missed her target on more than one occasion when I insisted something needed changing. The majority of conveyancers are professional and not easily swayed from the duties that they owe to their clients. Being recommended by a developer to act for their buyers should not, therefore, be an issue. After all, they act for buyer and lender more often than not, and cope well with any conflict there.

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