tm blog

We’ve been advised that a number of Local Authorities will be increasing their LLC1 and CON29 prices on 1st April 2018. 

We are actively communicating with representatives from the various Local Authorities across England and Wales – and can confirm that the following Authorities will be increasing their prices on 1st April 2018:

> Anglesey County Council

> Arun District Council

> Aylesbury Vale District Council

> Barnet London Borough Council

> Bassetlaw District Council

> Bath & North East Somerset District Council

> Blaby District Council

> Bolton Borough Council

> Braintree District Council

> Brent London Borough Council

> Brighton & Hove Council

> Broadland District Council

> Bromsgrove District Council

> Broxtowe Borough Council

> Camden London Borough Council

> Charnwood Borough Council

> Chelmsford Borough Council

> Chiltern District Council

> Colchester Borough Council

> Corby Borough Council

> Cornwall Council

> Cotswold District Council

> Dartford Borough Council

> Denbighshire County Council

> Ealing London Borough Council

> East Hertfordshire Dis Council

> East Northamptonshire District Council

> Epsom & Ewell Borough Council

> Fenland District Council

> Forest Heath District Council

> Guildford Borough Council

> Hammersmith & Fulham London BC

> Harborough District Council

> Harlow District Council

> Harrow London Borough Council

> Hastings Borough Council

> Havering London Borough Council

> Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council

> Ipswich Borough Council

> Kettering Borough Council

> King's Lynn & W Norfolk Borough Council

> Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council

> Lambeth London Borough Council

> Leeds City Council

> Lincoln City Council

> Malvern Hills District Council

> Mansfield District Council

> Melton Borough Council

> Merton London Borough Council

> Mid Sussex District Council

> Milton Keynes Council

> Mole Valley District Council

> Monmouthshire County Council

> Newark & Sherwood District Council

> Newcastle-Under-Lyme Borough Council 

> North Dorset District Council

> North Warwickshire Borough Council

> Nottingham City Council

> Oadby & Wigston Borough Council

> Oxford City Council

> Portsmouth City Council

> Reading Borough Council

> Redditch Borough Council

> Ribble Valley Borough Council

> Richmond Upon Thames London Borough Council

> Richmondshire District Council

> Runnymede Borough Council

> Rutland County Council

> Sandwell Met Borough Council

> Selby District Council

> Shropshire Council

> Solihull Met Borough Council

> South Bucks District Council

> Stockton-on-Tees Council

> Stratford-Upon-Avon District Council

> Surrey Heath Borough Council

> Swindon Borough Council

> Tandridge District Council

> Test Valley Borough Council

> Three Rivers District Council

> Tower Hamlets London Borough Council

> Tunbridge Wells Borough Council

> Uttlesford District Council

> Watford Borough Council

> Waverley Borough Council

> Wellingborough Borough Council

> West Berkshire District Council

> West Dorset District Council

> West Lindsey District Council

> West Oxfordshire District Council

> West Somerset District Council

> Weymouth & Portland Borough Council

> Wigan Borough Council

> Winchester City Council

> Windsor & Maidenhead Royal Borough Council

> Woking Borough Council

> Wychavon District Council

> Wycombe District Council

> Wyre Forest District Council

These changes will be implemented automatically on the tmconvey platform, and will be reflected in any new orders placed on or after 1st April 2018. 

We are continuing to monitor the situation and will provide further information as and when it becomes available. 

Want to improve your firm? Talk to Clare Yates! She has over 25 years’ experience in the property industry and is more than happy to share what she knows to help you get the best out of your business. 

Here, she explains how sending regular reassuring emails (even if there is nothing new to report) can help to keep customers happy:

To a customer, no news IS news – and a simple email to say “there’s been no change since last week, but I will continue to chase” can help to reassure them that they haven’t been forgotten. This can help to manage general expectations, as well as avoid unnecessary phone calls to your team and local estate agent. 

Your team can also reassure customers by giving them positive glimpses into the future with informative statements such as:  “By next week, I expect to find out… I’ll be in touch with you by… to give you an update.”

Take a step back…

Why is this so important? According to Home Moving Trends research, 76% of customers value good communication skills when choosing their conveyancer, while 65% also seek out those with a proactive approach. 

Could you be doing more to deliver against your customers’ expectations?

With thanks to Clare Yates, Senior Business Development Manager at tmgroup. 

Got a question? Connect with Clare on LinkedIn.

Want to improve your firm? Talk to Clare Yates! She has over 25 years’ experience in the property industry and is more than happy to share what she knows to help you get the best out of your business. 

Here, she explains how arranging to call a customer back “in the afternoon” could lead to miscommunication and disappointment:

People can have very different definitions of what calling back in the “morning” or “afternoon” means. 

For example, one customer might consider the “afternoon” to be anything from 12 noon through to 4pm – and could have given up on your team calling them back by 4.15pm. Even if your office is open until 5pm. 

Don’t take the risk. Ask your team to always refer to specific time frames (e.g. between 2pm and 4pm) when telling a customer they’re going to call them back – then make sure they follow through. 

Take a step back…

If your team always called back when they said they were going to, would your customers have more confidence in your service and make fewer chasing calls? Could your firm even win new business based on your team’s flawless reliability?

With thanks to Clare Yates, Senior Business Development Manager at tmgroup. 

Got a question? Connect with Clare on LinkedIn.

Shaun Whittaker has been welcomed as Systems Integration Project Manager to further enhance tmconvey’s existing capability to integrate with Case Management Systems (CMS) – and save customers even more time. 

Sharing case details across CMS and tmconvey helps to reduce rekeying 

tmgroup have introduced the new Systems Integration Project Manager position in response to a growing customer need for integration between their Case Management System (CMS) and tmconvey. 

In his new role, Shaun will be creating a more seamless flow of information between Case Management Systems and tmconvey. By being able to share their case details across both platforms, customers will benefit from prepopulated fields and reduced rekeying of information. They will also be able to order searches through tmconvey and have their search results returned directly into their Case Management System (CMS) – instead of manually adding search results against their related case. 

As the new tmconvey platform continues to evolve, this focus on integration will help to create a more efficient conveyancing workflow with an enhanced customer experience and task simplification – helping customers to save even more time in their daily tasks. 

Listening to customers and CMS vendors to fully understand everyone’s needs

Shaun will act as a single point of contact for customers, offering a personal touch and ensuring that their needs can be communicated to the wider business for continuing integration success. He will also be introducing new integration standards as well as extending tmconvey’s current integrations. 

Alongside this, Shaun will be developing relationships with an increasing number of vendors to proactively integrate tmgroup’s services with their CMS solutions, as well as understand their requirements.

Shaun Whittaker, Systems Integration Project Manager at tmgroup comments: 

“Our customers have a need for simplification and automation in everything they do. I’m looking forward to working closely with a number of firms and CMS vendors over the coming months to make sure our integrations truly help to simplify our customers’ processes and save them time.”

Mark Gilbert, Chief Technology Officer at tmgroup comments:

“We’re always listening to our customers in order to align our tmconvey services with their needs. Bringing Shaun into this new dedicated role at tmgroup offers exciting new opportunities for our customers to integrate a wider range of Case Management Systems (CMS) with tmconvey. I’m looking forward to working closely with Shaun over the coming months and seeing this next phase of evolution come to life in our new platform.” 

If you would like to find out more about integrating your Case Management System (CMS) with tmconvey, please contact your Account Manager, or get in touch with our Helpdesk on 0844 249 9200 or helpdesk@tmgroup.co.uk.

Want to improve your firm? Talk to Clare Yates! She has over 25 years’ experience in the property industry and is more than happy to share what she knows to help you get the best out of your business. 

Here, she explains how avoiding negative words such as “unfortunately” can help to keep your customers happy – even if your team do need to deliver bad news: 

Starting a sentence with “Unfortunately…” or “I’m sorry to say…” instantly prepares your customers for disappointment. It can be far more reassuring for your team to avoid these words completely and simply state the issue – before quickly moving onto how to fix it. 

Your team can also try simple language changes to put a positive spin on a situation. For example, “we’re chasing the matter” sounds far more positive and proactive than “we’re waiting to hear back…” 

These tweaks can make a big difference to your customers’ experience (and stress levels), so take a few minutes out of your working day to discuss “happier” language choices with your team – both in emails and phone calls. 

Take a step back…

If your team could put a positive spin on every situation, how would your customers feel about their service experience? Would they be more likely to recommend your firm to their friends and family?

With thanks to Clare Yates, Senior Business Development Manager at tmgroup. 

Got a question? Connect with Clare on LinkedIn.

tmgroup are offering a free service to customers to find out how much VAT they might be liable for, following the Brabners case on VAT on Electronic Property Searches.

Our Finance Team are able to create a report against each firm’s spending with tmgroup over the last few years – and what rate of VAT they may now be liable to pay to HMRC. This will help firms to understand the full extent of their risk exposure and make appropriate plans in the event that HMRC should send them a bill.

Tony Bobath, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at tmgroup comments:

“By providing this insight upfront, our customers can turn all of the uncertainty surrounding the Brabners case into a manageable risk that they can financially plan for – if the worst should happen. My team has already provided this insight on request to a number of firms – and it has been gratefully received. We are more than happy to extend this service and help all of our customers gain a better understanding of their risk exposure.”

For more information and to request your firm’s VAT risk report, please contact your Account Manager. 

Tony Bobath

Tony is tmgroup’s Chief Financial Officer and manages the finance team, helping to shape and guide the business strategy.

 

Want to improve your firm? Talk to Clare Yates! She has over 25 years’ experience in the property industry and is more than happy to share what she knows to help you get the best out of your business. 

Here, she explains how training your team to make simple changes - such as avoiding jargon - can help to reduce repeat calls and improve efficiency:

Taking multiple calls from the same customer about the same thing is a waste of everyone’s time – but it can be avoided. 

Try asking your team to be more proactive with these small tweaks to their telephone manner – and make sure that every customer gets the information they need first time around: 

• Ask the customer to find a pen: If your team need to give a long answer to a question or explain a step-by-step process, they should ask the customer to find a pen first, so notes can be taken to refer to later on. 

• Avoid jargon: Every industry has technical terms that they come to understand as “the norm”. Don’t make assumptions! If your team do need to use technical language, ask them to offer an explanation too. 

• Double-check for understanding: A customer may politely agree with a member of your team as they explain something, but it doesn’t mean they are taking it all in. Before hanging up the phone, your team should always ask the customer if they have any questions about what has just been said, or if they would like anything to be repeated. 

• Offer a follow-up email: If your team are explaining something particularly complicated, they could also offer to follow up with a helpful email. You could even share templates with the team to save time. 

• …And actually send that email! In tmgroup’s mystery shop research, we discovered that 55% of firms that promised to send further information via email never followed through with their promise. 

Take a step back…

If you could guarantee that every customer query could be resolved in a single conversation, what else would your team be able to achieve in their day?

With thanks to Clare Yates, Senior Business Development Manager at tmgroup. 

Got a question? Connect with Clare on LinkedIn.

Want to improve your firm? Talk to Clare Yates! She has over 25 years’ experience in the property industry and is more than happy to share what she knows to help you get the best out of your business. 

Here, she explains how your team can create a better working environment, and improve your service experience, by treating every colleague like a customer: 

Working in conveyancing can be stressful, but less so if everyone makes a conscious effort to help each other. Answering the telephone is a great example of how a positive approach to a routine task can make a big difference to everyone’s mood – and the customer experience. 

In a busy office, answering the telephone can feel like a chore and an interruption – and it is all too easy for team members to “pass the buck”. Yet doing so can breed resentment amongst colleagues – especially those who feel frazzled from always being the one that ends up answering the calls. 

Take a step back…

If you asked your team to be more conscious of their own behaviour and think about their colleagues as customers, what do you think they’d do differently? 

Would they develop a fair rota for answering the telephone? Would your customers notice a difference in their service experience?

With thanks to Clare Yates, Senior Business Development Manager at tmgroup. 

Got a question? Connect with Clare on LinkedIn. 

PropTech company, tmgroup, are pleased to announce that they are now a network partner with the Legal Support Network.

In becoming a network partner, tmgroup joins a respected group of suppliers – including LexisNexis and Moneypenny – committed to helping those working in law firm management make informed business decisions. 

Embracing their new partnership, tmgroup will be sharing thought-leadership articles and research with thousands of legal professionals – adding insightful contributions to the LSN.co.uk website.

The tmgroup team are also looking forward to attending exclusive LSN networking events taking place in Bristol, Leeds and London over the next few weeks – and joining leaders from law firms of all different sizes to discuss the latest challenges facing the market. 

Sarah Cox, Director of Client Services at Burlington Media Group:

“We’re always delighted to welcome a new client to our network partner community and seeing tmgroup join us recently has been no exception. The combination of their knowledge, expertise and most importantly commitment to the legal market demonstrates all the values we hold in highest regard. 

Law firms demand the trust and integrity of anyone that they select to work with and in tmgroup we believe they will find a great partnership.  We certainly look forward to that relationship growing into the future.”

You can take a look at tmgroup’s new network partner profile here:

https://www.legalsupportnetwork.co.uk/network-partners/tmgroup

Joe Pepper has joined tmgroup in a new role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), marking an exciting step for tmgroup as they continue towards their vision of streamlining the property transaction for the benefit of all. 

Commenting on his new position, Joe Pepper said: 

“The potential to bring digitisation solutions to the property market is exciting. The industry is ripe for change and I believe that tmgroup is in a great position to help deliver technology-led solutions to both its current and emerging customer base.”

To compliment Joe Pepper’s new position as CEO, Paul Albone will take on a new focus in the role of Chief Operating Officer (COO). Together, they will deliver the services to support the end-to-end journey of a transaction – and save time for everyone involved in a property transaction. 

Paul Albone, Chief Operating Officer at tmgroup comments: 

“For the past 17 years, tm has been evolving its technology services to try and streamline the property transaction – it’s always been at the heart of everything we do.  We have made great strides forward in 2017 as we extend our footprint into the Estate agent and Consumer elements of a transaction through our new mio offering. I’m delighted Joe is joining us to build upon our achievements to date and drive us towards an even more successful future.”

The Land Registry’s plans to fully digitise their records by 2030 is just one example of how the future is beginning to take shape. As a digital technology business operating in a market that still heavily relies on paper-based processes, tmgroup is well-placed to be a key player in driving the industry forward. 

Joe brings with him a strong track record of delivering new, digitised processes. In his previous role, as Managing Director at EDM Mortgage Support Services, he took the lead on creating a new digital hub to support lenders in making significantly faster lending decisions.