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Back in July 2015, the Chancellor George Osborne announced a series of planning reforms designed to get Britain building again, to help reach the Government's target of 1 million new homes by 2020.

Expanding on this in the Autumn Statement, Osborne revealed a number of policies that were music to the ears of house builders, with shares rising in Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Development.

This could have widespread implications for property transactions, with the increase in the number of developments potentially affecting many homeowners.

We take driving off of our drive and onto the road as a given, we don’t even think about it: we just do it.

But if you have a quick search on the Internet for ‘ransom strips’ I suspect you will surprised how many stories pop up. With a few notable exceptions they are reported in the local rather than national press which may explain why they go under the radar, but they are surprisingly prevalent.

In October we asked conveyancers: “When conducting a commercial property transaction how often do you order a highways property search?”

The results were as follows:

Several sinkholes have opened up across the UK in recent weeks, with some as large as 20m in diameter, causing significant inconvenience to residents and adverse effects to property prices in affected areas.

In Gosforth, "the hole has revealed old mine workings in an area which used to have a number of pits" and Newcastle and the Coal Authority are still assessing the extent of the collapse.

Every month, we ask a topical question to help gain a consensus on various issues that affect property solicitors. This month we're exploring the Highways Search.

Whilst it's standard practice to order a local search or SIM (Search of Index Map) to check the property boundary, the problem with the local search is that it will tell you which roads are adopted but it won't tell you if your client can actually access their property from the road if, for example, a ransom strip exists.

Likewise, particularly in a commercial property transaction, the SIM search plan is not detailed enough to show you the nooks and crannies where access problems can lurk - there’s your problem and that's why you need something more robust and comprehensive such as a Highways Search. This month we're asking:

On the 20th August 2015, the Law Society published a new practice note: Protecting your firm if you fall victim to a scam.

Criminals use a variety of methods to extract vital information from law firms; among which is the creation of bogus law firms that are set up to impersonate real ones in order to dupe conveyancers into transferring client money to fraudulent bank accounts.

In fact, according to the SRA, 701 bogus law firms were reported to them in 2014 which was a 28% increase on the figure from 2013. In light of this new practice note, this month we're asking you: Has the latest Law Society Practice Note led to any changes at your practice? 

POLL NOW CLOSED

Each year the Solicitors' Regulation Authority (SRA) publishes its risk review for the forthcoming 12 months, outlining what it thinks presents the greatest threats to 'the people who use legal services, the operation of the rule of law, and the proper administration of justice'.

This year, the SRA believe the riskiest areas to be: failure to provide a proper standard of service; misuse of client money; lack of a diverse and representative profession; lack of independence; failure to act integrity; information security & cybercrime; bogus law firms; and money laundering systems.

Of these threats, which do you think present the greatest risk to you and you firm? (Poll is now closed)

Thinking about your firm's training and development, are there any areas in which you think you need better support?

THIS POLL IS NOW CLOSED

The Mortgage Market Review (MMR) has now been with us for a year, having come into effect on the 26th April 2014, and last year we predicted the impact it would have on the property market.

As TM Secure Account Director Jon Horton suggested at the time: "So the increased time it may take to reach exchange brings an increased risk of a chain falling apart for numerous reasons, something that conveyancers and estate agents have always been challenged with.  There are policies that conveyancers and agents can offer to the consumer to insure against the loss of fees in the event of the transaction becoming abortive for reasons beyond their control."

So this month, we want to see whether Jon's prediction was accurate - with the tightening of mortgage approval have you seen the number of abortive or failed transactions change? Answer this quick poll for us and we'll reveal the results in next month's newsletter.

83% of conveyancers either don't have a quote tool on their firm's website, or don't know if they do, according to our October monthly poll.

In August's monthly poll, we asked conveyancers in which areas they were aiming to win new business over the next year; around a third of respondents answered that they were keen to attract new customers online and through their websites.

However, in October, when we asked conveyancers whether their firm's website had a quote tool to help capitalise on their prospective customers, it emerged that just 17% of conveyancers could state that their firm's website had such a tool.

Each month, we run a poll on opinions and trends which help serve as a barometer for the industry and publish the results in our newsletter. October's question asks 'does your firm's website have a quote tool for your customers?'

In august, when we asked in which areas conveyancers were looking to win new business over the next year, around a third of respondents answered that they wanted to attract new business online. A key part of winning new instructions online is ensuring that it is as easy as possible for potential customers to learn about your services and fees on your website.

The poll is now closed, to view the results please click here.