The Solicitors Regulation Authority has published a further round of anti-money laundering sanctions totalling £44,800 against several firms for failures in risk assessments, policies, controls and record-keeping. One firm, Gowlings Solicitors Limited, was also shut down through immediate regulatory intervention to protect clients and trust beneficiaries.
HM Land Registry has opened two consultations covering a simplified fee structure for certain registrations and wider access to its data. The proposals also explore greater public-sector and public-interest access to land ownership datasets, while retaining privacy safeguards for ordinary homeowners.
LMS has partnered with Veyco to enable Qualified Electronic Signatures (QES) for digital signing of mortgage deeds, initially for lenders using its fee-assisted remortgage service and later for Panel Link customers. HM Land Registry says it supports wider adoption of QES and will accept them from August 2025 as part of its digital transformation agenda.
The SRA has delayed implementation of proposed Rule 8.4 changes beyond January 2027, giving affected firms more time to review governance and compliance arrangements. The article argues that firms should use this period to assess where authority sits, strengthen challenge routes, and document safeguards rather than waiting for any future rule change.
The article discusses the SRA’s decision to pause proposed changes to COLP and COFA roles, noting that the move will ease pressure on smaller conveyancing firms but also highlights broader regulatory uncertainty in the sector. It argues that firms are being asked to prepare for multiple overlapping reforms, creating cost, staffing and planning burdens even when proposals are later delayed or changed.
The Open Property Data Association is urging conveyancers and the wider property market to engage now with planned reforms to the home buying and selling process, rather than waiting for government mandates. The article highlights growing adoption of digital tools such as qualified electronic signatures, digital identity verification and open finance data, alongside a government roadmap aimed at making transactions faster, more transparent and less failure-prone.
The article reports that the SME and Boutique and Law Firm Alliance has urged the Ministry of Justice to reconsider proposals to divert a large share of interest earned on lawyers’ client accounts to fund access to justice. The group argues the scheme could disproportionately burden smaller firms, add administrative costs, and encourage work to move into the unregulated sector.
HM Land Registry has published Practice Guide 84 to explain how contractual control agreements will need to be reported digitally from April 2027. The new regime, under the Provision of Information (Contractual Control) (Registered Land) Regulations 2026, covers arrangements such as option agreements, conditional contracts and pre-emption rights where they meet specified criteria.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority reports continued improvement in anti-money laundering compliance across the profession, with the proportion of non-compliant firms falling to 21.9% in 2025/26. The report also highlights conveyancing, particularly residential transactions, as the highest-risk area and notes growing concern around sanctions compliance and AI-enabled fraud.
The article reviews recent property market and conveyancing data, noting a shift from seller-favourable conditions to a more buyer-favourable market. It reports continued declines in new conveyancing instructions and completions, while exchange and completion timelines are lengthening, suggesting process inefficiencies rather than volume alone are driving delays.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has struck off sole practitioner Andrew Lee after finding he continued practising while his firm’s professional indemnity insurance had expired and misled both a client and the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The Tribunal also found he failed to keep proper accounts and ordered him to pay more than £45,000 in costs.
New research from Thirdfort suggests compliance pressures are rising across conveyancers and legal firms, with most senior compliance leaders expecting anti-money laundering budgets and team sizes to increase over the next year. The survey also points to heavier workloads, fragmented systems and lower confidence in current compliance processes among larger firms.
