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According to a BBC news report, seven homes have been evacuated after a large sinkhole opened up behind a row of houses in Ripon, North Yorkshire.

Affected residents are facing the unpleasant reality that their homes are structurally unsafe and inhabitable, and that they might even be officially homeless over the Christmas period.

Ripon lies in one of the most susceptible areas for sinkholes

While one of the affected residents has described their situation as “quite traumatic”, The British Geological Survey reported that Ripon lies in one of the most susceptible areas of the UK for sinkholes because of its "Permian gypsum deposits".

This disparity suggests that this sinkhole was not a surprise to those “in the know”, and that solicitors working in the local area are likely advising home buyers of the need to carry out land stability assessments ahead of their purchase – advice which is quite possibly being ignored.

Many home buyers see property searches as “just another cost”

Unfortunately, many home buyers still see property searches as “just another cost”, and in some cases are neither reading nor requesting necessary information from their solicitor.

Yet as the Ripon case highlights, there are very real risks attached to the land beneath a property, which home buyers should have a firm grasp of before gambling with their life savings.

Ground stability and mining information is readily available to home buyers

Although it is too late for the affected residents of Ripon, there is a range of information available which can help to protect future buyers from a similar fate; which can be accessed by any solicitor whose client expresses concern about their intended purchase.

These resources extend from thorough reports, such as the Groundsure Ground Stability report, which reveal the types of mining the property is at risk from, through to mining searches that can identify other risk areas.

There are also basic environmental reports from Groundsure and Landmark, which include a ground stability risk assessment.

Horror stories such as these show that the information presented in property searches can have very real implications for the people who go on to buy an affected home.

Fortunately, solicitors have good knowledge of their local area and will be able to advise their clients as to whether mining and land stability searches are necessary. The onus is then on the consumer to request the relevant information and protect themselves from a poor investment.

Hopefully cases like this bring a very real issue to the forefront of people’s minds, particularly in areas where there are known issues. 

Megan Jones, Marketing Communications Executive at tmgroup

Photo credit: Nicolas Henderson

Property Searches Scotland (PSS) have continued to grow their market share and have established new records for activity levels and customers numbers throughout the summer.

The company’s reputation for providing exceptional customer service has been at the heart of this impressive growth

The company has developed an enviable reputation for exceptional customer service, and this is fundamental to its ability to attract and retain new customers. In addition, the company provides a package of unique, innovative solutions including a “No Sale No Fee” commitment, multiple free updates on core products, competitive pricing and attractive loyalty bonus schemes.

As part of the tmgroup family, Property Searches Scotland can also call upon their parent company’s significant technological capabilities to maintain the best search turnaround times in the Scottish market. Coal mining reports are typically returned within one hour of being ordered, while more than 95% of orders for other products are returned within 24 hours of the order being placed.

New developments promise even stronger results in the near future

This announcement follows a series of exciting developments in 2016.

Earlier this year, Property Searches Scotland (PSS) announced that they had achieved 20% market share of the Scottish residential conveyancing search market within just 4 years of being established.

They also achieved a ‘world-class’ Net Promoter Score of 79; making them comparable with just a few elite companies across the globe.

There are no signs of the company slowing down either, with exciting plans in the pipeline to launch a new website and ordering platform in 2017.

Commercial Director, Michael Tolland said of the news:

“I’m delighted that the business has continued to progress at such a rapid pace, and that we have been able to continue to welcome new customers to our core of highly-valued, established customers. 2016 has been an exceptional year for the business with a YOY increase in order volumes approaching 50% alongside a massive increase in regular customer numbers. We look forward to introducing further innovation as the year progresses and to continuing to grow the business. None of this would have been possible without the support of customers old and new, and the hard work, dedication and professionalism of all members of the PSS team, and I would like to thank them all for their part in securing this success.”

About Property Searches Scotland (PSS)

Property Searches Scotland (PSS) provide a full suite of property searches required by conveyancing professionals in Scotland, England & Wales, PSS also offer a range of anti-money laundering products.

For more information about Property Searches Scotland (PSS), visit http://www.propertysearchesscotland.co.uk/

Property Searches Scotland (PSS) has announced that it has achieved 20% market share of the Scottish residential conveyancing search market within just 4 years of being established.

Part of the tmgroup family, Property Searches Scotland was launched in 2012 after commercial director Michael Tolland (pictured right) identified the burgeoning opportunity to provide fast, accurate and cost-effective property searches to the Scottish conveyancing market.

The company is now the fastest growing search company in Scotland with more than a fifth of residential conveyancers ordering searches from them and more than 25% using their services for remortgage work.

Providing the full suite of property searches required by conveyancing professionals in Scotland, England & Wales, PSS also offer a range of anti-money laundering products.

As part of tmgroup, PSS can call upon their parent company’s significant technological capabilities to maintain the best search turnaround times in the Scottish market. Not only that but PSS recently achieved a ‘world-class’ Net Promoter Score of 79, making it comparable with just a few elite companies across the globe.

Net Promoter Score is a universal customer satisfaction metric which measures how likely it is that a customer would recommend a company to a friend or colleague on a scale from -100 to +100. Surveymonkey’s NPS benchmark (an average of 76,147 organisations across 2015 and 2016) was 33, meaning that Property Searches Scotland sits among the top 25% of companies in the world for customer service.

Michael Tolland said of the news:
“I’m really pleased that we have reached this milestone but certainly even happier for the team that their hard work is being rewarded with excellent customer feedback. Everything we do is with our customer firmly in mind and we look forward to introducing even more useful and innovative services soon.”

To learn more about how you can save time and money on your property searches, visit our website or get in touch:
Michael Tolland, Commercial Director | Michael.tolland@propertysearchesscotland.co.uk | 07415 613964
Debi Haren, Business Development Manager | debi.haren@propertysearchesscotland.co.uk | 07943 066314
Alastair Graham, Business Development Manager | alastair.graham@propertysearchesscotland.co.uk | 07943 066315
Mark Welsh, Business Development Manager | mark.welsh@propertysearchesscotland.co.uk | 07484 008686

In a property transaction, information concerning a property's relationship with local Highways has not always been readily available for conveyancers to pass on to their clients but serious problems can arise if they aren't identified early on in the transaction.

Recent research conducted by tmgroup revealed that 1 in 10 conveyancers never order a Highways Search, so we sat down with Rebecca Hickey Head of Legal Product at Landmark Information Group to learn more about why it's necessary to obtain this information.

Highways, why can they be tricky?
For residential and commercial conveyancing transactions, it is critical to investigate the precise extent of the adoption status of highways in and around the perimeter of the site. For example, you may believe that the footpath in front of the building is indeed publically owned and adopted but in reality it might not be.

What if the path hasn’t been adopted?
There could be potential issues with access to the property and it could have implications for the property owner regarding responsibility for its future upkeep; it could even affect the potential for redevelopment.

And if this wasn’t identified during the transaction?
Failure to identify developments where adoption procedures have not been dealt with adequately can cause delays to transactions as well as pose a risk to the purchaser’s future plans for the site.

So conveyancers should investigate?
Absolutely. If you were to imagine a typical scenario where a purchaser is looking to buy a property and the surrounding land which abuts a neighbouring property and there is a shared access onto the land.  As part of the due diligence the purchaser’s solicitor would need to identify the exact status of the access and the ownership of the area. 

Is it publicly adopted by the local authority, therefore they are responsible for maintenance and granting access or is it privately owned?  In order for the transaction to proceed the status of the access way would need to be confirmed.

What implications could it have for the purchaser?
Well, the purchaser may need to purchase additional pieces of land, negotiate shared access or at least negotiate a regular payment towards repairs.  This will undoubtedly add time and complexity to the transaction, which is not what either party want.

Vital information then – so, what sort of barriers would one normally face when attempting to source Highways data from Local Authorities?

With each Local Authority, the turnaround times for gathering this Highways data can vary widely. The same goes for the cost of the information and the level of detail provided.

How can you have the peace of mind that you have considered all the necessary aspects regarding the highways around the site?
A Highways report is the best way to obtain peace of mind for yourself and your client on this matter. For example, the Argyll SiteSolutions Highways report provides answers on the adoption status of highways surrounding the site; details of any road improvement schemes as well as rights of way. The report is manually assembled by a team dedicated to the production of this report with years of experience in the collation and analysis of Local Authority data and all data is sourced from the relevant Local Authority, Highways Agency or the Ordnance Survey. The report is backed by £10 million professional indemnity cover and has a fixed price of £120 +VAT.

About Rebecca
Rebecca Hickey joined Landmark Information Group in 2006 and fulfilled a number of different roles, including Project Manager and Senior Product Manager before taking the role of Head of Product (Legal Division) in 2015.

Following on from our recent research the Law Society, in conjunction with Catax Solutions, have released their findings on capital allowances and the results are almost identical, writes Nick Dyoss of TM Group (pictured right).

When the Law Society asked about the adoption of the new capital allowances legislation 37% of respondents said that they felt it was not the solicitor's responsibility to establish a position on capital allowances for a given property.

A further 18% did not yet realise that it is the solicitor’s responsibility to do this and have made limited progress in complying with the new legislation.

So, in total, 55% of the poll had an issue with complying with the April 2014 capital allowance practice note.

All of this is very similar to the TM Group research which found that 52% of respondents answered "What Practice Note?" and less than 10% were 'finding it easy to fulfil their obligations'.

Picking out some of the other points from the Law Society report:

• •    Only 20% of solicitors said they know everything they need to know about the Capital Allowance 2014 changes.

• •    70% admitted they would like to know more.

The other consistent theme from the Law Society's report was that clients are also unaware of capital allowances and the tax relief they can claim, which is backed up with 40% of law firms saying that their client never raises the issue during a transaction.

Is this because clients view capital allowances as a complication that delays matters rather than a benefit, albeit in the longer term?

But it doesn’t have to be like this with the client uninterested and the solicitor failing to comply with legislation; potentially exposing themselves to a negligence claim.

Practical ways of helping your clients with Capital Allowances

Add some wording into the client care letter, maybe the firm could offer some form of assistance to complete Section 32 of the CPSE.1? Certainly it's a good idea to raise the issue as early as possible in the transaction.

An easy way to help and be able to demonstrate your compliance is to obtain a search.

In the same way you do with the Contaminated Land and Flooding Practice Note, you can order a Capital Allowance Check which can be passed onto the client to help them get underway with some information which they can pass onto their tax advisors.

TM have launched a commercial search at £50 and a residential one at £15 which, with some additional information from the client, can be returned in hours. Simply login to the system to order or contact us to set you up with a account.

The issues associated with capital allowances are not going to go away and nor is the duty that solicitors have to their clients since the April 2014 changes.

The process for determining allowances can be improved quite quickly, with very little upheaval to you or your firm's existing processes. A few simple steps like the ones above could certainly help both solicitors and clients alike.

As much as we’d like to think so here at TM Group, the term 'property searches' doesn't just refer to those done by a conveyancer once a property is being transacted. It's actually much more commonly used to refer to the consumer's activity to find that dream home in the first place.

Consumers searching for their next home typically go online to one of the property portal websites - a space that has been dominated for the last few years by the big two: Rightmove and Zoopla.

Rightmove, celebrating its 15th birthday this year, is the most visited property portal in the UK by some stretch although Zoopla has made significant ground in recent years to consolidate its position at #2.

In January of this year, the status quo was disrupted by the launch of an estate agency-owned portal with low fees called OnTheMarket.com (OTM) which is now gaining market share by allowing its estate agents to advertise on just one other portal.

What impact has this had?

Advertisers

Property portals rely on the 19,000 estate agents in the UK to be signed up and listing property and so the OTM ‘one other portal’ rule is designed to eat into Rightmove and Zoopla's market share.

According to OTM’s Chief executive, Ian Springett, they had signed up more than 4,000 estate agency branches ahead of their launch. Rightmove announced that their advertiser numbers rose by 5% in 2014 and were unchanged at the end of February, following the launch of OTM.

In contrast, Zoopla recently admitted that its 16,500 agency advertiser numbers fell by 11% over the year to January but, even so, OTM still only has around a quarter of the advertisers that Zoopla does.

Stock
A property portal wouldn’t be a property portal without property, so a key measure of their success is the volume of stock on each portal. A recent report by investment bank Morgan Stanley says that Rightmove has one million listed properties, Zoopla has 650,000 and OTM 350,000.

Visitors
There have been no discernible changes to visitor traffic at Rightmove or Zoopla in the two months since the launch of OTM and this is where the challenger meets its biggest obstacle. Since the conclusion of their 6 week launch marketing campaign, OTM has actually seen its initial traffic volumes fall, according to Experian Hitwise figures, and their traffic remains 21 times smaller than Zoopla's.

OTM’s major challenge without a doubt will be building a recognisable brand that can pull in the right level of sustained traffic to compete with the big boys. Rightmove and Zoopla have invested heavily in this area over a number of years and so there is considerable catching up to be done if OTM are to warrant their place at the top table.

Shares
Rightmove shares actually climbed 10% in January and February but, in the same period, shares in Zoopla Property Group have fallen by 8% in the wake of their announcement about falling agency members.

So, in summary, OTM have publicly stated that they are confident in becoming the #2 portal by January 2016 - which is looking like a pretty bold statement as things stand, certainly in the eyes of the public.

Between the top two, it's Zoopla that has been the clear loser in the property portal wars so far this year but there is still a huge gap between themselves and OTM and it is apparent that OTM will need to play the long game to increase their visitors as this audience cannot be built overnight.

It’s hard to argue against OTM being successful at some point down the line but much will depend on the patience of their agency owners - and they will need advertisers to be prepared to play the long game too. If OTM do make significant progress this year the twist in the tail could turn out to be that Zoopla are forced into turning their hand at estate agency and using their brand power to go straight to the general public.

Whatever happens it will be an interesting year or two in the property portal wars. 

If we cast our minds back to last winter, which was the wettest in 250 years, the scale of the flooding that was suffered and the resultant damage can still be seen. According to the Environment Agency (EA) 7,000 households, along with a similar number of commercial and industrial premises, were flooded and over 150 severe flood warnings were issued. The Thames Barrier was raised nearly 50 times during the winter and, according to the National Farmers Union, 49,000 hectares of agricultural land was flooded which is very similar to the losses experienced in 2012.

The number of bogus law firms reported to the SRA over the past few years has increased exponentially.

So much so, in fact, that the SRA saw fit to reserve special mention for the problem in their recent update to the risk outlook 2014 - and yet, many law firms remain blind to it.

The topic of infrastructure continues to keep our politicians busy with discussions around the budget for HS2, where and when a new runway should be added in the south and if there should be more projects to improve the economy, but what about homebuyers?

Clearly many of these projects are both high profile and long term, and it would be naïve to suggest that anyone buying a house near an airport or railway line is going to be ignorant of its presence and the fact that it will impact upon the property in some way, for better or for worse. What is challenging is that these issues are usually subjective and the reaction to them will vary from individual to individual but, as a conveyancer, how can you tell unless you can inform them?