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Over the last few weeks two notable planning cases have come to pass. In June, the case involving Orientfield Holdings Ltd. and Bird & Bird hit the headlines whilst, even more recently, the Thorp v Abbotts case also has significant implications for conveyancers, despite having not been subject to as much intense public scrutiny.

The crux of the latter case rested upon a claim that the sellers of the property had submitted fraudulent replies in the Seller’s Property Information Form (SPIF).

Shortly after the buyers (Thorp) moved in they became aware of a large-scale development in the area but, crucially, the sellers (Abbotts) were also aware of it too and had failed to mention it in the SPIF.

Some months later, the buyers commenced legal proceedings against the sellers for damages with regard to fraudulent misrepresentation.

However, the Court ruled in favour of the defendant.

Why?

Well, aside from the widely-held principle of caveat emptor (buyer beware), the Court considered that the terms ‘affecting’ and ‘communication’ from the SPIF should be given a ‘relatively confined’ interpretation in the favour of the seller.

To then further complicate the picture, in summary of the Orientfield Holdings Limited case, Judge Pelling QC ruled that:

“It is for the client to judge the impact of the material that may be relevant, not the solicitor.”

This summary would suggest that conveyancers need to make sure their clients have access to comprehensive information to make an informed purchasing decision.

Moreover, George Osbourne’s announcement of the new housing reforms on the 10th July 2015, in addition to the unveiling of a host of new planning reform measures designed to bolster the housebuilding process, could have further repercussions for conveyancers.

The new proposals allow automatic planning permission to be granted on many brownfield sites in England, with the knock-on effect that major projects in the housing industry could be fast tracked and rules on extensions in London relaxed. All of which points to a much busier environment outside of the limits of the information in the SPIF.

A simple solution which provides the information that a purchaser needs (but the seller does not have to supply) is a planning search. Easily available, not overly expensive and returned in a matter of hours for both residential and commercial transactions.

But these reports can sometimes run to one hundred pages in urban areas with a large amount of information which may be unfamiliar to the reader.

So how can the reader of the search, whether that is the buyer or conveyancer, quickly and easily identify the key issues within each report? Help is at hand. TM Group, in addition to the familiar planning reports from Groundsure and Landmark, offer a range of fully interpreted planning reports for residential and commercial transactions covering all budgets from Plan Val and Dev Assess.

For more information on any of these planning reports or to organise an in-house planning CPD please contact us on 0844 249 9200 or email helpdesk@tmgroup.co.uk.

The Mortgage Market Review intended to "hardwire common sense into the mortgage market" but, one year on, has it made any difference to a property transaction? TM Group's Nick Dyoss investigates...

The change in lending criteria introduced by the Mortgage Market Review (MMR) on 26th April 2014 were, as stated by the FCA, designed to "hardwire common sense into the mortgage market", and prevent a return to irresponsible lending that took place in the run-up to the credit crisis. Whilst time will tell if the long-term aims of MMR have worked, recent research by TM Group reveals one unintended consequence: namely that aborted or collapsed housing transactions are on the rise.

In April, TM asked conveyancers, “Have you witnessed an increase in the number of transactions that have aborted over the past 12 months?”

86% of respondents had seen no improvement or an increase in the last year and only 14% have recorded a fall. This begs the question of 'why?' when MMR was supposed to introduce stability.

February of 2015 saw research published by MoveWithUs which indicated that 49% of collapsed transactions were due to the mortgage falling through whilst 21% were caused by buyers not being able to afford as much as they thought due to MMR. Other issues cited were adverse searches & surveys and sales falling through higher up the chain.

Collapsed transactions are not a new problem.

Pre-MMR, in April 2014, QuickMoveNow highlighted a significant increase in their Sale-Fall-Through-Index with 27% of transactions in March 2014 failing to complete. The most common causes were identified to be on the seller’s side rather than the buyer's and included gazumping and problems with their own chain.

So what can be done to address this issue? Abortive transaction insurance for residential property is available from as little as £39.00 and will reimburse clients up to £1500 for conveyancing costs, mortgage arrangement fees, lenders fees and survey fees. Cover includes the most common reasons identified above including mortgage lending, gazumping and adverse searches and is also available for sale transactions as well.

Andrew Payne, the National Business Development Manager at Northcott Beaton, commented:

“‘The very nature of today’s property market means that there is heightened uncertainty within any transaction. If buying as an owner occupier, there are also elements of emotion attached to the transaction and, as such, it is imperative that consumers have the opportunity to protect themselves against the pitfalls of abortive transactions. In essence, this could indemnify the client for any financial loss enabling them to commit faster to any future potential purchase.”

Abortive Transaction Insurance from Northcott Beaton and underwritten by DAS is available from TM Group from £39 including IPT and is available for purchase and sale transactions.

For more information please contact your Account Manager. If you're new to TM Group, call us on 0844 249 9200 or email helpdesk@tmgroup.co.uk to get started.

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?

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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. 

Recent research from TM Group suggests that for many the issue of Capital Allowances has snuck in under the radar.

From research conducted in February 2015, when asked ‘How easy are you finding it to carry out your requirements as set out in the Law Society Practice Note on Capital Allowances?’ 52% percent of respondents answered ‘What Practice Note?!’ and less than 10% were finding it easy to fulfil their obligations. Read the original poll here.

To try and explain these findings, if we cast our minds back to the release of the Contaminated Land Warning Card in June 2001 and more recently the Flood Practice Note in May 2013, both had been widely discussed and were making headlines before they came into effect. However, the Practice Note on Capital Allowances has come into effect with much less fanfare.

"So what?" you may think, "this is a complex tax area, so isn’t it dealt with via tax specialists?"

The answer is yes but actually, later in the process, conveyancers are involved and are required to be proactive from the very start, thanks to the Practice Note.

Since April 2014 - so, nearly a year ago - whether you are acting for a buyer or a seller you should be raising the issue of Capital Allowances with your client as early as possible in the transaction. Why? Well, it can take time to put all of the documentation together but, more importantly, failing to advise the client could result in delays or financial loss to them.

Also, to reinforce the point, after 1 April 2014 if you sell a property but haven’t identified the available allowances and the client then claimed them via their tax return the unclaimed allowances are lost for the seller, the buyer and any future owner of the property.

Without unnecessary scaremongering, non-compliance of the Practice Note and subsequent loss of the Capital Allowance could lead to some quite high claims from clients, potentially running into tens of thousands of pounds.

So, what can be done? The best place to start is to read the Law Society Practice Note and some information from HRMC.

You should also look to add some information into the client care letter. But how can you easily demonstrate that you have advised your client and discharged your duties in this area?

My answer would be in the same way you do with the contaminated land and flooding: with a search that can be passed onto the client to help them in this matter and get them 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.

Not only can your client start their claim early in the transaction, or cost-effectively show that there isn’t a claim but, as a solicitor, you can very easily demonstrate that you have carried out your duties as set out by the Law Society.

If you would like some more information on this new search please contact your account manager or the TM Group helpdesk on 0844 249 9200 and helpdesk@tmgroup.co.uk. 

Local Authority searches are a fundamental part of a buying or selling a property – perhaps even the fundamental part. When purchasing a property it's vital to know certain information before proceeding: Is it a listed building? Are there any developments planned? Is the property in a conservation area?

Not knowing this information could seriously hamper any future plans you might have for the property.

About Local Authority searches

The Local Authority search consists of a standard LLC1 result and a CON29 result.

The LLC1 form contains information relating to:

• • Listed buildings
• • Conservation areas
• • Tree protection orders
• • Improvement or Renovation grants
• • Smoke control zones
• • Future developments

The CON 29 document consists of two separate parts, CON 29R (Required):

• • Building control history
• • Nearby road schemes and motorways
• • Contaminated land
• • Radon gas

And CON 29O (Optional), which deals with a number of optional extra enquiries, depending on the property circumstances.

• • Road proposals by private bodies
• • Public paths or byways
• • Advertisements
• • Completion notices
• • Parks and countryside
• • Pipelines
• • Houses in multiple occupation
• • Noise abatement
• • Urban development areas
• • Inner urban improvement areas
• • Simplified planning zones
• • Land maintenance notices

There are a total of 348 local authorities in the UK with a further 24 county councils and, although some will offer additional information upon request, the majority will simply provide LLC1 and Con29 results.

How long does a Local Authority search take?
Between 48 hours and 42 days, based on 2015 performance.

Much is made of the notion of searches delaying property transactions but, in reality, the average length of a property transaction is 88 days and the slowest Local Authorities are currently operating on a 42 day turnaround, based on performance so far in 2015.

Conversely, we work with some Local Authorities who can return search results within just 48 hours. Much depends on an individual Local Authority’s method for the receipt of search requests and the return of search results – through our online portal, via email or post.

Many Local Authorities face increasing pressure to further reduce spending, therefore it is inevitable that staffing levels are reduced in many departments, one of those being Land Charges. We work with many local authorities who have a Land Charges department that consists of just 1 person.

How could they be quicker?
The obvious answer is additional staffing, however, there are ways in which TM assist in the receipt and delivery of LA searches.  The use of the TM portal as an alternative to postal or emailed requests reduces considerably a Local Authority’s turnaround time, postal costs, and administration resource.

How much do they cost?
The price varies according to each Local Authority and there is no standard pricing.

Our in-house mapping and spatial expert Russel Tinnion ruminates over the issue of what is in an 'address' and why is it an issue to be managed in the business world?

The humble address has remained a “bone of contention” in business processes for many years, whether it be in conveyancing transactions or simply what you call 'home'.

Royal Mail, the national postal service, may have a characterisation of an address which differs to how the Land Charges department at a local authority might describe it. The idiosyncrasies in the use of an address within other administrative systems can create misunderstandings between organisations.

Due to the varying organisations undertaking activities relating to the property, ambiguity and confusion can transpire, impacting business processes and therefore service delivery to the public and private sectors alike.

It is important to remain aware that Royal Mail data, often utilised in business processes, contains “addresses” to which letters and parcels are delivered. Many businesses, for example Utilities or Emergency Services, undertake operational activities that require location to be described by the use of an “address”.

AddressBase Premium: Ordnance Survey's flagship address database. Image copyright Ordnance Survey.

However, even more importantly, spatial location is required for land and property to which Royal Mail do not deliver.

Non-Royal Mail addressable objects may include:

• Property developments (new build)
• Bus shelters
• Bridges
• Telecommunications masts

Historically the requirement to locate “addressable” and “non-addressable” objects has been accomplished through implementation of technology services that access two distinct “address” characterisation datasets - these datasets being the Royal Mail Postal Address File (PAF) and the Local Authority Local Land & Property Gazetteer (LLPG).

In the past, one of the main deficiencies of using both these datasets was an inability to cross-reference or mine the equivalent address in one or the other dataset.

Each dataset has a unique set of extended address attributions but, by combining LLPG and PAF, one can access two sets of extended attributes in a single source. This brings about many advantages for businesses, allowing for services to be expedited and improving accuracy of information exchange relating to the address of the property.

AddressBase Premium, managed by GeoPlace, provides such a single source for “address” characterisation based on PAF and LLPG data.

GeoPlace® is a public sector limited liability partnership between the Local Government Association (LGA) and Ordnance Survey (OS). GeoPlace's remit is to create and maintain the National Address Gazetteer and National Street Gazetteer for England, Scotland and Wales.

Information in AddressBase Premium is consumed and collated from organisations such as:

• Royal Mail
• ~ 75,000 changes every 6 weeks
• Local Authorities in England and Wales
• ~1,382,000 changes every six weeks
• Valuation Office Agency
• ~95,000 changes every six weeks
• Improvement Services Scotland
• ~147,000 changes every six weeks

The “link” between PAF and LLPG has been achieved through the use of a Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN), an overview of the UPRN can be found here “The UPRN – your golden thread”. By utilising the UPRN in business processes, as opposed to the address description, ambiguities in the land and property being referenced or described can be avoided.

As address-related technology services extend to take advantage of the UPRN and its extended attributes, enriched and more efficient workflows will evolve for numerous business practices; refining Client-facing applications as well as “business-to-business” address information exchange.

As the UPRN “link” becomes established, I envisage other datasets such as Ordnance Survey MasterMap Topology Layer or perhaps the Land Registry Title information partaking in “link” exposure.

It's possible that the humble address will not be such a “bone of contention” in business processes anymore...

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.

Image: £2.3bn worth of investment into flood defences has been promised as part of the National Infrastructure Plan 2014.

With the recent Government announcement on infrastructure spending in the Autumn Statement, the discussion about these projects has been added to the national agenda. It would seem that one of the cornerstones of the Government's plan for economic recovery are these large projects but what of the impact that they can have on specific areas, home owners and house buyers?

Proximity to London's sprawling underground rail network can be a real and serious problem for homebuyers. Not only can it impose planning restrictions on a property, but it can also cause vibrations and noise pollution -- and even lead to subsidence.