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News

It’s coming for homes

28 September, 2022

The annual CLC stakeholder roundtable found that the property market continues to run hot – and that leadership is needed to ensure that the conveyancing process is modernised to cope The period from the housing market reopening in June 2020 after the first lockdown and the end of the stamp duty holiday in September 2021 [Read more]

SDLT Changes, 23rd September 2022

23 September, 2022

Increase in the nil-rate thresholds for residential property The Chancellor has announced that, with effect from today, the SDLT nil-rate threshold for residential property has been increased from £125,000 to £250,000. The nil-rate threshold for First Time Buyers’ Relief is also increased from £300,000 to £425,000 and first time buyers can now claim relief on [Read more]

Converting from CILEx Regulation to become a CLC Lawyer

5 August, 2022

FCILEx lawyers who qualified in conveyancing and/or probate can apply to transfer to CLC regulation with no further training or occupational requirement. You will become either a Licensed Conveyancer and/or Licensed Probate Practitioner. You will enjoy the benefits of being an Authorised Person in terms of the Legal Services Act 2007 and will be regulated [Read more]

Register of Overseas Entities goes live

2 August, 2022

The new Register of Overseas Entities is being introduced by the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act and launched on 1 August 2022. It will be held by Companies House. The register forms part of the government’s strategy to combat economic crime. Overseas entities that bought property or land on or after:– 1 January 1999 [Read more]

Risk agenda highlights key issues for CLC practices in 2022

14 July, 2022

Cyber-attacks, sanctions, cryptocurrency and anti-money laundering are among the new issues highlighted in our second annual Risk Agenda, published today. The agenda brings together a list of the biggest risks faced by the CLC’s regulated community, which emerged during its regular monitoring and inspection work throughout the year. It includes advice to help practices stay [Read more]

Legal Services Board approves changes to PII renewal process

23 June, 2022

From 2023, firms regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) will have to submit at least one application for professional indemnity insurance (PII) two months ahead of the renewal deadline, under plans approved by the Legal Services Board (LSB) in early June. Insurers receiving applications will then be required to respond no less than [Read more]

Improving diversity in the conveyancing industry – a consultation

14 June, 2022

The number of women and people of colour in senior roles within conveyancing is still unsatisfactory. Despite the many initiatives aimed at lowering barriers to entry and ensuring fair career progression across the entire legal profession, change is very slow – particularly for those who are vulnerable or have protected characteristics. The CLC has now [Read more]

Digital ID tools

10 May, 2022

The CLC is part of the Regulatory Response Unit of Lawtech, part of Technation. We’ve worked to develop a joint statement supporting the use of digital identity technology in the legal sector, because there seem to be misconceptions and in some areas a reluctance to move to new ways of working.   The CLC has [Read more]

Sanctions – Compliance with changing sanctions

10 March, 2022

The CLC has issued an Advisory Note on the fast-changing situation in relation to UK sanctions. It will be updated as necessary. Read the Advisory Note on the UK Sanctions Regime

Adjudication Panel Rules

16 February, 2022

The CLC has launched a consultation on changes to existing rules and the addition of further rules to to ensure that they are capable of governing a range of constitutional and procedural matters. This will include amending the constitution of the independent Adjudication Panel by codifying current practice and clarifying its powers. Read more and [Read more]

The Conveyancing Academy

4 February, 2022

The CLC has been extremely concerned by the issues at the Conveyancing Academy and the experience of students and their employers. However, the Conveyancing Academy is overseen by the SQA. The CLC has no management or control over the Conveyancing Academy or any of the other education providers approved by the SQA. This is not [Read more]

Consultation: Professional Indemnity Insurance

17 January, 2022

A consultation has been launched on possible changes to professional indemnity insurance (PII) cover for conveyancers and probate lawyers.    The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) is updating its policy on PII, a vital element of consumer protection that all the firms it regulates must have. The last review was carried out in 2016, prompting [Read more]

Routes to Licence as a CLC Lawyer (Licensed Conveyancer or Probate Practitioner)

17 December, 2021

We want to remind students and employers that the assured educational route to qualify for licence as a CLC lawyer is via the SQA level 6 Diplomas in conveyancing and probate that are regulated as part of the Register of Regulated Qualifications that are offered by providers approved by the SQA. In addition to the [Read more]

Firms that generate complaints to pay more as oversight regulator approves CLC reforms of practising fees

4 November, 2021

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) has won approval to overhaul how it calculates and collects regulatory fees from the practices it regulates, so it can now recharge more of the cost of the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) to the firms that generate disproportionate levels of complaints. The oversight regulator, the Legal Services Board, has approved [Read more]

Annual Anti-Money Laundering Report

29 October, 2021

The CLC has today published its first annual report as required by the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019. The report sets out in the detail, with the help of some useful case studies, how the CLC’s risk-based approach has assisted regulated in achieving compliance with AML requirements and improving the risk profile [Read more]

Cyber Cover in PII – Changes to the CLC’s Minimum Terms and Conditions

27 September, 2021

The Legal Services Board approved on 21 September the CLC’s proposed amendments to its Minimum Terms and Conditions (MTC) for Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII). The changes set out to clarify the extent of cover for cyber-related losses while maintaining consumer protections. Read the Decision Notice These amendments follow directions from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) [Read more]

CLC strips out cost of Legal Ombudsman from practice fees and will recharge firms based on complaints numbers

7 September, 2021

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) is planning to start recharging the cost of the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) based on how many complaints each law firm generates, rather than spread the cost across the profession. The cost of LeO (£14.5m this year) is recovered from all of the legal regulators in proportion to the number [Read more]

Firms that generate disproportionate numbers of complaints to the Legal Ombudsman should bear more of the cost

14 May, 2021

Law firms that generate high numbers of complaints compared to their size should bear a greater burden of paying the costs of the Legal Ombudsman (LeO), the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) has proposed. In the first move of its kind among legal regulators, the CLC is consulting on moving away from spreading the cost [Read more]

CLC insurance terms on cover for cyber events to be clarified

10 May, 2021

Changes that aim to clarify the extent to which cyber-related losses are covered by professional indemnity insurance (PII) have been put forward for consultation by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC). The six-week consultation that runs until 18 June is in response to directions from both the Prudential Regulation Authority and Lloyd’s of London to [Read more]

Scam Regulatory email

12 November, 2020

In recent days, we have seen examples of scam emails purporting to be from legal and financial sector regulators. The emails ask firms to complete a compliance questionnaire. If you receive such an email purporting to be from the CLC, do not open the questionnaire.  Please forward the email to clcl@clc-uk.org so that we can [Read more]

CLC responds to Legal Services Board Prices of Individual Consumer Legal Services Report

7 September, 2020

Responding to the publication of the Legal Services Board Prices of Individual Consumer Legal Services in England and Wales 2020 Report Sheila Kumar, Chief Executive of The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) says: “This research from the CMA and LSB makes an important contribution to our understanding of the initial impact the transparency requirements we [Read more]

CLC response to the Legal Services Consumer Panel Tracker Survey 2020

11 August, 2020

Responding to the publication of the Legal Services Consumer Panel (LSCP) Tracker Survey 2020, Sheila Kumar, Chief Executive of the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) says:   “The LSCP Tracker Survey shows a positive rise in the number of consumers who are shopping around and that the majority of consumers are satisfied with the legal [Read more]

CLC Response to LSCP Report on regulatory sandboxes

28 July, 2020

Responding to the publication of the Legal Services Consumer Panel’s Report Developing regulatory sandboxes for legal services innovation, Stephen Ward, Director of Strategy and External Affairs at the Council for Licensed Conveyancers said: “The LSCP report makes a useful contribution to the thinking about the use of sandboxes. While the CLC does not provide a [Read more]

CLC response to the Legal Services Consumer Panel quality indicators research

24 July, 2020

Responding to the publication by the Legal Services Consumer Panel (LSCP) of its research on consumers feedback on quality indicators in legal services, Sheila Kumar, Chief Executive of the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) says: “We know from our own monitoring that CLC practices are complying well with the existing transparency requirements we introduced in [Read more]

CLC Response to HM Land Registry Annual Report 2019-2020

16 July, 2020

The CLC has issued the following statement in response to the publication of HM Land Registry Annual Report 2019-2020: “The Land Registry’s Annual Report shows an organisation that has a strong customer and solution focus. It has been most welcome to see how they have engaged with stakeholders and sought to rapidly adapt their process during the [Read more]

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