This website uses cookies

We use cookies to improve your experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are happy to accept all cookies on the CLC website. You can change your settings at any time.

Blog

Improving the home-buying process

17 December, 2018

Issues and problems with the homebuying process are never far from the spotlight and it is no different at the moment. Whether it is lengthy purchase processes, poor advice on leasehold purchases or consumers being duped out of monies online the news often seems bleak. Behind the scenes though there is much work being done [Read more]

Money laundering – how vulnerable are you?

11 December, 2018

Stephen Ward, director of strategy & external relations at the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, highlights how property can be vulnerable to money laundering Quote: “People have bought houses with cash, and somehow some… have not thought that that is remotely suspicious…” Ben Wallace MP, Minister for Security and Economic Crime, 12 September 2018 Fraud, in its [Read more]

Informed Choice: the benefits to your firm

27 November, 2018

The new Informed Choice requirements will bring benefits to CLC firms as well as consumers if the changes are fully embraced. From 6 December, firms licensed by the CLC will be required to display cost, service and regulatory information on their websites. The changes to our Regulatory Arrangements have been kept to a minimum to [Read more]

What should you do if you need to complain about your conveyancer?

13 November, 2018

Stephen Ward, from the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) looks at some common reasons for conveyancing complaints and where consumers can turn to for help if things don’t quite go to plan Purchasing a property is often mentioned as one of the most stressful life events a person faces. Sitting alongside such life-changing events as [Read more]

New Northern Ireland initiative leads the way to best practice conveyancing process

17 July, 2018

The Law Society of Northern Ireland, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and NAEA Propertymark have agreed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which aims to facilitate a more efficient conveyancing process for all involved.   The initiative is a positive move for the property market, setting a great example for the rest of the [Read more]

One-click conveyancing – reality or dream?

6 July, 2018

Stephen Ward, director of strategy at the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC), discusses changes that are going on in the conveyancing industry One-click conveyancing, digital workflows and online property purchase are all buzz phrases of the property world at the moment. As the government urges all of us in the industry to reform the homebuying [Read more]

Transparency: avoiding a race to the bottom

25 June, 2018

By Sheila Kumar, CEO of the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) and chair of the Legal Services Remedies Programme Implementation Group, set up in response to the CMA’s recommendations for improvements Transparency is a word that lawyers are hearing a lot, thanks to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), who thinks the legal services sector [Read more]

Lawtech can transform the homebuying process

14 September, 2017

At our second workshop event with Legal Geek we homed in on two points in the conveyancing process. At the beginning, the provision of vital property information and at the end, secure transfer of funds between all the parties. We were impressed by how close we are to solutions in this area that could make [Read more]

How can a regulator accommodate disruption?

18 August, 2017

Like any regulator, we need to deliver consumer protection in a changing world. And as a regulator with a proud history of supporting innovation in the delivery of legal services, we also support lawyers who want to find new ways of responding to changing client expectation and who harness new tools to do so. That’s [Read more]

Lawyers need an innovative watchdog for the tech era

25 November, 2016

By Dame Janet Paraskeva, Chair of the CLC A chatbot has successfully challenged hundreds of thousands of parking tickets in London and New York. It is surely only a matter of time until artificial intelligence (AI) brings the impact of the fourth industrial revolution to wider legal services. The degree of automation that can be [Read more]

Turnover of CLC Firms Doubles in Four Years

29 July, 2016

The combined turnover of CLC-regulated practices has more than doubled since 2011. In 2011, the combined turnover of all practices was £93,421,038, but by 2016, this had increased to £197,940,246.     Of course over the same period there has been an increase in the number of practices regulated by the CLC, but further analysis [Read more]

Focusing regulation on Risk

1 June, 2016

Chief Executive of the CLC, Sheila Kumar, writes in Legal Futures.

ABSs Leading the Way on Information Technology

13 April, 2016

Among CLC-regulated practices, Alternative Business Structures (ABSs) are three times more likely than recognised bodies to offer novel online solutions for clients wishing to access their services. That’s the finding from analysis of data gathered during last year’s Annual Regulatory Return. In recent years the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and the overarching regulator for the [Read more]

Understanding the conveyancing profession

14 March, 2016

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) is surveying all lawyers that hold a CLC licence and all staff in CLC-regulated firms. We’re asking about diversity and inclusion, job satisfaction and reward. When the CLC-regulated profession was last surveyed, in 2013, we found that women were the majority of all lawyers and others working in CLC-regulated [Read more]

Increasingly rich mix of managers in CLC-regulated firms

9 March, 2016

Section 18 of Legal Services Act 2007 defines “authorised persons” as persons authorised in respect of a given legal activity (such as conveyancing or probate) by a relevant approved regulator (such as the CLC), or licensed bodies authorised in respect of those activities. Whether they are Recognised Bodies or Alternative Business Structures, practices regulated by [Read more]

Help to Buy: ISA – First Bonus Applications

1 February, 2016

From 1 February 2016, conveyancers will be able to make the first bonus applications under the Help To Buy: ISA scheme on behalf of their clients. Since 1 December 2015 over 200,000 first-time buyers have opened and saved in their Help to Buy: ISA accounts. Those who have saved £1600 will be able to claim [Read more]

A specialised, innovative community

29 January, 2016

The analysis of the CLC’s Annual Regulatory return for 2015 is now published. Two major findings underline the degree to which the CLC regulates an innovative sector of the legal profession and the extremely high degree of specialisation of CLC-regulated firms. Overall, 94% of clients are individuals and only 6% are businesses, charities or government bodies. [Read more]

Making innovation easier

15 October, 2015

All regulators have been challenged by the government to submit ideas that could be part of departmental innovation plans. At the CLC we are casting the net wide to understand what steps we or others in the legal sector could take to innovate or to foster innovation in the market place. We’re asking those we [Read more]

Cloud Computing

3 December, 2014

Cloud computing offers great benefits, such as greater flexibility and scalability, self-service provisioning, mobile working, and increased reliability and resilience in terms of business continuity and disaster recovery. But there are also risks around security, accessibility and confidentiality. So let’s have a look at some of the considerations for firms looking to outsource their IT [Read more]

CLC-regulated conveyancing firms out-performed the market during the downturn

5 September, 2014

CLC-regulated conveyancing firms out-performed the market during the downturn This graph shows the total number of sales recorded by the Land Registry each August from 2006 to 2013 We’ve chosen August because it is consistently the month that sees the highest number of recorded sales and I assume this is linked to a slight lag [Read more]

About

Consumers

Lawyers

Trainee Lawyers

Regulation