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Poll finds UK home buyers think conveyancing process it old and slow
The legal conveyancing process when buying a home in the UK is often seen as too complicated and slow and in need of modernisation, according to a new survey of home owners. Some 42% felt their experience of the process was too complicated and slow and only 4% of felt the process was quick while 23% felt it need to be brought up to date, the YouGov poll for land, environment and property data firm Landmark Information Group. With home buyers becoming more aware of environmental risks that could affect properties following high profile flooding events, the emergence of sinkholes and other such land based risks, some 37% agreed that the home buying process would be improved if all environmental search information was provided online, instead of through the post. To add to this, 22% said they were confused and relied on the guidance provided by the solicitor when receiving the environmental search reports, in order to summarise the key findings and interpret the risks. When asked whether enough environmental information is provided as part of the home buying process, 785 people from the total 1,314 respondents provided an answer, of which 26% felt that not enough information was provided to them by their solicitor. ‘With everything being digital in today's world, people are used to carrying out transactions with speed and immediacy. It is clear that changes need to happen in order to meet people's evolving needs and expectations,’ said Angela Gordon-Lennox, product manager (legal) of Landmark Information Group. The survey also found that 22% want easy to read information, while 37% agreed or strongly agreed that the home buying process would be improved if all environmental information from a conveyancing solicitor was provided via the Web instead of through the post. The firm is currently market testing a new all in one environmental report for the conveyancing industry called RiskView Residential which also provides interactive links to an online portal, enabling home owners to instantly visualise environmental risks on a digital map. The aim is to collectively present the findings previously provided in four separate legal reports in one order. This includes flood risk, contaminated land, ground hazards, and energy and infrastructure. The combined analysis is delivered in an easy to read lightweight PDF report, which includes interactive web-links enabling conveyancers and their clients to click through and instantly view the data within an interactive online map. ‘So far, the feedback received is that not only does RiskView Residential help simplify the process, but it is the first radical step in taking conveyancing due diligence into a fully digital age,’ said Gordon-Lennox. Continue reading
Property price growth in Australian capital cities continues to fall
Home price growth in Australian capital cities fell in November with the slowdown recorded the previous month in Sydney and Melbourne in particular continuing, according to the latest CoreLogic RP Data index. Over the month, Melbourne values fell by 3.5% while Sydney values were down 1.4%. Hobart dwelling values dropped by 2.4%, Darwin values were down 1.3% and down 0.5% in Canberra. Values rose in the remaining three capital cities, with Adelaide showing the highest month on month growth rate at 0.7%, followed by Brisbane with growth of 0.6% and Perth up 0.3%. Overall the combined capitals housing index has seen dwelling values drop by 1.5% over November, taking the rolling quarterly rate of change to -0.5%. Head of research Tim Lawless pointed out that the latest results are now placing downwards pressure on the annual change in dwelling values. The annual rate of growth across the combined capitals index peaked at 11.5% back in April 2014, and has since reduced to 8.7%. Sydney maintained the highest annual growth rate at 12.8%, which is down from a peak rate of annual growth of 18.4% in July earlier this year, while Melbourne’s annual growth rate has reduced from a recent peak of 14.2% to 11.8% over the 12 months ending November this year. The only capital cities where values have declined over the past year are Darwin with a fall of 4.2% and Perth with a fall of 4.1%, where weaker economic conditions and a slowdown in population growth contributed to an early peak in housing market conditions in December last year. The equivalent peak in the cycle for Darwin was May 2014. Since that time, Perth values are down a cumulative 5.9% and Darwin values have fallen by a larger 6.8%. ‘The fact that mortgage rates have risen independently of the cash rate has, in all likelihood, become a contributor to the slowdown in housing market conditions, as well as tighter lending practices evidenced by a recent reduction in lender risk appetite for investment loans and high loan to valuation ratio mortgages. Tighter mortgage servicing criteria across the board and affordability constraints in the Sydney and Melbourne markets are also having an impact on market demand,’ said Lawless. As a consequence of the tighter lending environment for investors, as well as gross rental yields being at near record lows, participation in the housing market from investors has reduced from 54.1% of all new mortgages in May 2015 to 45.4% at the end of September, which is the lowest level since July 2013. The 1.5% decline in capital city dwelling values over the month, coupled with a 0.3% rise in weekly rents, has seen the average gross yield record a subtle improvement over the month. This follows a trend towards lower rental yields which commenced in May 2013, Lawless pointed out. Gross yields remain close to record lows for houses in Melbourne at an average of 3% while Sydney has overtaken Melbourne… Continue reading
Court rulings in Spain create more uncertainty over illegal homes
Three rulings by Spain's Supreme Court have left the owners of more than 16,500 homes built in Marbella since 1986 in legal limbo by declaring planning regulations void. In a series of decisions, the country's highest court has declared null and void Marbella's urban planning regulations that were passed in 2010 and which legalised thousands of homes constructed since the previous town plans, dating back to 1986, were approved. In response to appeals against previous Supreme Court of Andalusia rulings, the rulings all arrived at the same conclusions, namely that the Town Council does not have power to retroactively declare legal properties that have been built illegally as that rests with the courts, nor to alter land classifications, nor legal liabilities. According to Adam Neal of real estate firm Terra Meridiana it means that individual property owners, even those who bought in good faith, will be held liable for illegal constructions, rather than passing the responsibility on to developers, as the 2010 plan sought to do. He explained that much of the problem arose during the three terms of the GIL (Grupo Independiente Liberal) government, from 1991 to 2003. The then mayor Jesús Gil is regarded as having run the council like a fiefdom, with claims of cash being funnelling under the table in exchange for carte blanche building licenses. ‘Subsequent administrations, under mayors Julián Muñoz, Marisol Yagüe, and Tomás Reñones, all sentenced to jail time for offences following the Caso Malaya scandal, were little better, leading to the suspension of the entire Town Council in 2006 by the central government, to make way for a team of auditors who tried to unravel Marbella's finances,’ he said. Neal believes that now all the paperwork for every property built within Marbella's municipal area since 1986 will need to be looked at very carefully indeed. ‘There are two possible outcomes: either a property is legal, because it was built on urban land as per the 1986 town plan, or it isn't, because it wasn't,’ he pointed out. According to Mark Stucklin of Spanish Property Insight it is bad news for the local property market, which was one of the few real estate bright spots in Spain until now. ‘It drags Marbella’s reputation back into the dirt by reminding people of its corrupt past, whilst the uncertainty will put off buyers and investors,’ he said. He pointed out that the decision could mean no more new building licences for the foreseeable future, plunging the residential construction business back into crisis just when it looked like recovering after more than a decade of downturn. Ricardo Arranz, president of the National Association of Urbanisation Developers, said the decision was right and expected. He explained that the industry welcomes the demise of the 2010 revised plan. ‘It was an unmanageable plan, absurd in every way and had started to scare off investors. It was done in a hurry by architects who knew absolutely nothing about the needs… Continue reading
