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The new and comprehensive residential environmental risk report – Groundsure Homebuyers Plus – is now available to order on tmconvey. 

Homebuyers Plus offers an enhanced version of the existing Homebuyers report and reviews flood, contaminated land and ground stability – alongside screening other environmental risks such as energy, transportation and planning. 

Key features of Homebuyers Plus:

• Each report has fewer pages (up to 70% less) and only includes relevant data, so there are no blank maps or excessive data – and conveyancers benefit from reduced printing and postage costs. 

• Flood risk assessment now includes new JBA 5 metre groundwater data, in addition to all other flooding sources.  

• It uses Land Registry polygons, and so provides a higher level of accuracy. 

Homebuyers Plus also comes with improved layout and design, as well as clearer navigation, to help improve overall workflow. While clear and practical recommendations offer a “jargon free” explanation and make it easier – and up to 10 minutes quicker – for conveyancers to communicate the results of each report to their clients.

The Groundsure Homebuyers Plus report is now available to order on tmconvey. You can view a sample ‘pass’ report here.

About Groundsure

Groundsure is a market leading specialist transforming environmental data into location intelligence for the land and property markets. Utilising the latest digital technologies available to enhance the property buying experience for the end user whilst helping lenders to make informed lending decisions.

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. 

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.

 

Any updates about known County Council delays can now be found on a live Twitter feed on our tmconvey login page:

https://www.tmgroup.co.uk/TMHome/Account/Login

We will continue to monitor the situation and provide further updates.

Human activity has had a disastrous impact on ground stability, inflicting misery on unsuspecting victims across the UK and beyond, as sinkholes continue to open up in the voids where our ancestors once mined the mineral-rich earth. 

The problem is likely to continue, as Tom Backhouse from Terrafirma explained in the Channel 5 Documentary series “Sinkholes”: “There are 170,000 coal mineshafts in the UK and over 400,000 non-coal mineshafts – and less than 5% are capped properly in a way that wouldn’t collapse.” 

This is not a new problem, but the sheer scale of it and the costs involved of it are increasingly making the headlines – and took centre-stage in the second episode of the documentary series that aired this week : “Sucked Under”. 

A sinkhole that opened up in Newcastle upon Tyne was just one example of how the costs and complications can quickly spiral out of control. In Gosforth, residents awoke to a 30ft deep sinkhole at the end of a driveway, which turned out to be an entrance to a disused coal mine that had been capped and forgotten over 100 years ago. 

Unfortunately, a large, unstable sinkhole can’t just be filled in overnight. From digging it out and backfilling with rock, to topping it off with 65 cubic metres of reinforced concrete, it took 7 months to make the Gosforth sinkhole safe again – at an eye-watering cost of £300,000, as well as ongoing inconvenience and worry for residents.

…And this isn’t just a residential issue. Following the discovery of an abandoned chalk mine beneath Pinner Wood School in 2015, the school has been closed for almost 2 years, whilst extensive work took place to fill the voids and make the school safe to use again. 

However, it is not always possible to fix the problem and, as seen in the case of Jacqueline Close over 50 years ago, entire streets can end up being demolished following the discovery of unstable, abandoned mines beneath the properties. 

The UK isn’t alone in its battle against sinkholes 

The problem isn’t isolated to the UK either, as revealed in the case of Bayou Corne, Louisiana. Following extensive salt mining activity over 40 years ago, 58 caverns were left behind once the brine had been successfully extracted. 

When one of them failed in 2012, 1,000 tons of earth and trees were sucked underground in a void the size of 2 football pitches. The nearby town was quickly abandoned and only 15 of the 159 residents now remain in the once-idyllic ghost town. The mining company has denied responsibility, and only time will tell if another of the 57 remaining caverns will also fail.

Interactive mapping tools are making it easier to see the full extent of the risks

Terrafirma are working across the UK to understand the ground and provide detailed information to conveyancers and their clients. 

The following TerraSearch^® products are now available on tmconvey to order against residential and commercial properties, both including professional opinion that helps to make it quicker and easier for conveyancers to convey important information to their clients:

• TerraSearch^® Coal Extra is a regulated ‘Con29M-Compliant’ coal mining search offering an equivalent to the Coal Authority report, including a professional opinion of all coal mining risks and CON29M questions and additionally alerting to 55 further mining hazards.

• TerraSearch^® Assess is a single search that comprehensively assesses the risk to a site (property and land) from all 60 mining hazards, including past, present and planned extraction.

Terrafirma have also released new interactive mapping tools to make it easier for the general public and their conveyancers to see the full extent of the risks beneath their door steps – simply by adding in their postcode. 

For more information, you can watch the "Sinkholes" documentary series here : http://www.channel5.com/show/sinkholes/

CLS have made improvement changes to the ChancelCheck^® and ChancelCheck^® Premium wording to provide greater clarity on each of the Chancel Repair Liability searches. 

The new changes are outlined below, which took effect from Monday 11th December 2017.

• ChancelCheck^® 

ChancelCheck^® search is now applicable for all residential and commercial properties where the property radius is less than 25 metres.

Previously, ChancelCheck^® only searched against a single property, while ChancelCheck^® Premium searched against a wider radius. 

• ChancelCheck^® Premium 

ChancelCheck^® Premium search is now applicable for all residential and commercial properties where the property radius is over 25 metres. 

Previously, ChancelCheck^® Premium searched against a wider radius, as ChancelCheck^® only searched against a single property.

These changes will be reflected in any ChancelCheck^® and ChancelCheck^® Premium searches ordered on tmconvey on or after Monday 11th December 2017.  

If you have any questions, please contact your Account Manager, or our friendly Helpdesk team on 0844 249 9200 or helpdesk@tmgroup.co.uk.

Imagine being told that you only have 15 minutes to pack a bag and leave your family home. That’s the reality residents of Ripon, North Yorkshire, faced back in 2016 when a sinkhole opened up and swallowed their garages, outhouses and even their garden plants. All in all, 10 houses were evacuated and it took 46 months to rebuild their gardens – and their lives. 

That was just one of the many cases explored in the new 3-part TV documentary series “Sinkholes”, which aired this week on Channel 5, revealing the true extent of sinkhole devastation. Additional cases included yet another sinkhole (35ft deep!) in Ripon that had split a house in two, as well as a housing estate in Hemel Hempstead that had been evacuated when a sinkhole not only damaged houses and roads, but damaged pipes and threated a gas leak explosion! 

While these incidents are barely comprehendible, they are superseded by the devastation routinely experienced in Florida, where sinkholes have been known to swallow entire houses in less than 30 minutes – and even cost lives. 

The ground is simply dissolving beneath these homes 

So what is causing all of these problems? Although thousands of miles apart, Florida and Ripon have one thing in common : The ground beneath their homes is made of a substance that dissolves in acid rain. For Florida, this is Limestone. For Ripon, Gypsum. 

Over time, water trickles underground, dissolving the rock and creating caverns. When the weight above them gets too much, the ground collapses into the void creating holes on the surface that take anything and everything down with them. 

The fear of the unknown is what’s really keeping people awake at night

While these cases certainly make for scary reading, the fear of the unknown is even harder to live with – especially for residents of Ripon and Florida who know it is a question of ‘where’ and not ‘if’ another sinkhole will open up in their neighbourhood. 

Fortunately, The British Geological Survey are working extensively in areas such as Ripon to map a true picture of the land beneath the ground. Similar bodies in America are making good use of technology and data too, to help ensure that new houses won’t be built in areas of high risk.  

Terrafirma have also released new interactive mapping tools to make it easier for the general public and their conveyancers to see the full extent of the risks beneath their door steps – simply by adding in their postcode. 

You can try it here: 

Find out more about sinkholes 

To try Terrafirma’s full range of interactive tools and find out what’s going on beneath your doorstep, please visit : https://www.terrafirmasearch.co.uk/understand-the-ground/ 

You can also tune into the rest of the Channel 5 “Sinkholes” series on Mondays at 8pm : http://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/fzn9yf/sinkholes-buried-underground--s1-e1-sinkholes-buried-underground/  

Terrafirma, one of tmgroup’s environmental search providers, has today rebranded and launched a new website supported by a new strapline -‘understand the ground’. 

In the wake of lenders refusing to secure mortgages against properties in close proximity to mineshafts, the strapline supports Terrafirma’s ongoing campaign to improve awareness of ground stability risks.

Take a look at the new Terrafirma website here

Lenders are refusing to mortgage properties in close proximity to mineshafts 

With sinkholes in the headlines appearing more and more frequently, Terrafirma’s renewed commitment to ‘understand the ground’ has never been more relevant.  Terrafirma is changing the way professionals identify, assess, manage and resolve the risks the ground poses. Combining existing and unique data with a professional opinion, it has created a platform to disrupt environmental risk assessment and management across the UK.

Taking an innovative approach to mining risk and ground instability ensures that professionals and consumers alike are forewarned to the reality and variety of risks the ground poses to properties and land across the UK.

The rebrand closely follows Terrafirma CEO, Tom Backhouse’s, recent TV appearance on Rip Off Britain, where he explained how some lenders are now refusing to secure mortgages against properties in close proximity to mineshafts - creating new challenges for conveyancers and trapping homeowners in houses they’d previously had no problems buying.

The episode covered the case of Sharon who had been struggling to sell her home for three years. Buyer after buyer pulling out at the last minute had been a mystery, until one revealed that banks were refusing to lend against the property after local searches highlighted a mineshaft underneath the neighbouring house. 

Even though the mineshaft had caused no damage to her house, Sharon was given no choice but to put her house up for auction with a reserve price that was £61,000 under market value. Even then, the property remained unsold. 

Given that there are over 130,000 properties in the UK within 20 metres of a mine shaft, this isn’t an isolated issue. 

You can watch a replay of Rip Off Britain here

Terrafirma’s data insights reveal a fuller picture of ground stability

Drawing on Terrafirma’s specialist knowledge in the innovation and provision of mining-instability risk assessment, the TerraSearch® product suite analyses coal mining risks alongside an additional 55 mining hazards to reveal a fuller picture of ground stability in our towns and cities.

The following TerraSearch® products are now available on tmconvey to order against residential and commercial properties :

• TerraSearch® Coal Extra is a regulated ‘CON29M-Compliant’ coal mining search offering an equivalent to the Coal Authority report, including a professional opinion of all coal mining risks and CON29M questions and additionally alerting to 55 further mining hazards. 

• TerraSearch® Assess is a single search that comprehensively assesses the risk to a site (property and land) from all 60 mining hazards, including past, present and planned extraction.

Both TerraSearch® Coal Extra and TerraSearch® Assess include additional professional interpretations, as well as a TerraSearch® Coal & Brine Report Indemnity Policy up to £50,000 loss in market value of the property (in the event that a conclusion changes based on the addition of new data), and £10 million liability per report in the event of wrong or missing information.  

TerraSearch® Coal Extra and TerraSearch® Assess are also supported by a TerraSearch® Alert, which is now available on tmconvey.

For more information, take a look at Terrafirma’s new website. You can also book your place at one of our Risky Business Roadshows this November to discuss your challenges with Tom Backhouse in person.

Ahead of our Risky Business Roadshow, Chris Lowe from Shopper Anonymous explains why making the time to follow up on initial phone enquiries will set you apart from the competition: 

“With only 10% of firms following up on enquiries, huge gaps are developing between those that follow up and those that don’t. 

Making a follow up call to see if you can be of service or offer further advice shows you care. This will differentiate you from other law firms – and help you increase your new client figures by making those calls.”

Join us for our Risky Business Roadshow to find out more

Chris Lowe will be part of our guest speaker line-up at our Risky Business Roadshow events this November, which will explore how firms can better protect, prepare and promote their businesses. 

Click here to see our full list of dates and locations

This week’s episode of Rip Off Britain revealed that some lenders are now refusing to secure mortgages against properties in close proximity to mineshafts - creating new challenges for conveyancers and trapping homeowners in houses they’d previously had no problems buying.

The Rip Off Britain episode first aired on BBC1 on 17th October 2017 and followed the case of Sharon who had been struggling to sell her home for 3 years. Buyer after buyer pulling out at the last minute had been a mystery, until one revealed that banks were refusing to lend against the property after local searches highlighted a mineshaft underneath the neighbouring house. 

Even though the mineshaft had caused no damage to her house, Sharon was given no choice but to put her house up for auction with a reserve price that was £61,000 under market value. Even then, the property remained unsold. 

You can watch a replay of Rip Off Britain here

Over 130,000 properties in the UK are within 20 metres of a mineshaft

Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Many more sellers and their conveyancers could find themselves in a similar situation, as Tom Backhouse CEO and Founder of Terrafirma explained: 

“There are over 130,000 properties in the UK within 20 metres of a mine shaft, so historically the banks acted on a yes/ no response against “is there data or not?”. That doesn’t work anymore.

A lot of the time these mineshafts aren’t actually there. When something is flagged on a report, it is just data (that in some cases can be 150 years old). The report doesn’t look into whether the mine entry is gone or not. 

In Sharon’s case, a specialist excavation report could be ordered to drill into the ground to reassure lenders, but this could cost up to £5,000 – and reveal the mineshaft does exist. 

Overall, banks need to take a more nuanced approach and act on risk assessment. We have the technology. We can proactively go out and find mineshafts and take action to ensure they are not going to cause any problems in the future.”

Homebuyers need to ensure their conveyancers are carrying out relevant searches

Homebuyers need to ensure their conveyancers are carrying out relevant searches to ensure they are aware of any risks relating to a property, as UK Finance commented:

“While most old mine shafts don’t cause a problem for properties nearby, anyone considering buying close to one should ensure that the relevant searches are done and that there’s been a proper assessment of the risk.” 

TerraSearch® analyses coal mining risks alongside an additional 55 mining hazards to reveal a fuller picture of ground stability in our towns and cities

Drawing on Terrafirma’s specialist knowledge in the innovation and provision of mining-instability risk assessment, the TerraSearch® product suite analyses coal mining risks alongside an additional 55 mining hazards to reveal a fuller picture of ground stability in our towns and cities.

The following TerraSearch® products are now available on tmconvey to order against residential and commercial properties :

• TerraSearch® Coal Extra is a regulated ‘Con29M-Compliant’ coal mining search offering an equivalent to the Coal Authority report, including a professional opinion of all coal mining risks and CON29M questions and additionally alerting to 55 further mining hazards. 

• TerraSearch® Assess is a single search that comprehensively assesses the risk to a site (property and land) from all 60 mining hazards, including past, present and planned extraction.

Both TerraSearch® Coal Extra and TerraSearch® Assess include additional professional interpretations, as well as a TerraSearch® Coal & Brine Report Indemnity Policy up to £50,000 loss in market value of the property (in the event that a conclusion changes based on the addition of new data), and £10 million liability per report in the event of wrong or missing information.  

TerraSearch® Coal Extra and TerraSearch® Assess are also supported by a TerraSearch® Alert, which is now available on tmconvey.

For more information, book your place at one of our Risky Business Roadshows this November to discuss your challenges with Tom Backhouse in person.

You can also watch a replay of Rip Off Britain here, or read this blog post on Are sinkholes in the headlines finally revealing the truth about mining risks?.

Image credit : BBC1's Rip Off Britain