2011 Q3 Conveyancing Periodical - Foreword

October 2011

by Julian Farrand QC LLD

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Welcome to the third edition of First Title's quarterly conveyancing periodical - First Comment. It is encouraging that the feedback we are continuing to receive indicates that those of you who have read first two editions have been glad to receive them into your in-boxes. 

The nature of conveyancing, and especially the fact that it is subject to relatively frequent change, means there is generally something interesting to write about and debate. Hopefully, this edition will reinforce this point.

The ill wind of economic uncertainty is the most obvious catalyst for change in the market at present. Its potential impact directly affects the need for conveyancers to be ever more mindful of their risk-management strategies.

Fraud remains a pernicious characteristic of the current environment. There are more and more stories about mortgage fraud in the newspapers - it would seem that desperate times call for desperate measures. The legal fraternity is still struggling to manage this problem and, as I explain in my article, what has been written in statutes over the years with the intention of limiting fraud and ensuring certainty may actually make matters worse when read and rewritten by judges. Hard cases can produce bad laws.

As if the successful completion of a house purchase were not hard enough, the increasing trend for buyers to withdraw from a sale at the last minute, is only making things more difficult. The impact of 'gazanging' (as this new phenomenon has been curiously called and which must not be confused with gazumping or gazundering each of which is aimed at renegotiating the price rather than aborting the transaction altogether) could be as ugly for the conveyancing market as the term itself.

Well, it may not be all 'good news', but I hope this edition at least offers some useful insight and food for thought. And do keep the comments flowing. You can email us at hopp@firsttitle.eu

Julian Farrand QC LLD
Editor

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