Following on from yesterday's story about IRIS being the only vendor to have a volcano-related story, today we have the first – and so far only – general election-related news item. This takes the form of David Kempster, marketing director at MDA SearchFlow, explaining how the various possible outcomes are likely to affect the UK property market. (Cynics might say the Spanish property market might also be affected, as we all emigrate there...)
With the General Election just around the corner, the final outcome is still difficult to predict. However, whether we have a change of Government after the election or not, the outcome is likely to be a defining moment for the property market, especially in terms of how property information, future housing supply/demand, and technological developments will be affected.
The Conservatives have stated (in no uncertain terms) that they do, indeed, plan to abolish HIPs. The speed at which the consultation and suspension process is conducted will ultimately be a question of priorities. In the housing team, will HIPs really be a big deal when compared with “the big society” ideals on planning and house building?
Even so, the Conservatives are committed to removing regulations in this area, and to letting market forces dictate the future demand for upfront packaged property information. Grant Schapps has been consistent in his view that HIPs could be gone within three-to-four months, which has been given a further boost by the surprise change in the Liberal Democrats' manifesto, which expresses this same sentiment.
Personally, I foresee more focus on the EPC, especially if a Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition is formed. Both parties have expressed a desire to enhance the EPC and deliver value off the back of it, such as the Conservatives' “Green Deal”. There could be a meeting of minds on this area of policy to drive energy efficiency further within the housing stock.
With the market still sceptical over Exchange-Ready HIPs, buyers' solicitors will always be suspicious of relying solely on information supplied by the seller, and will therefore want to obtain much of this information for themselves. It’s possible that a return to pre-HIPs property information could be accelerated to fill the void. At the same time, budget constraints and a need to streamline processes at a local authority level will necessitate driving down costs to meet the requirements for reduced prices for property search information. This could liberalise data – or constrain the speed at which it can be delivered – depending on how much investment is put into service delivery.
If re-elected, Labour will continue maintaining the existing momentum that HIPs have in the market. Many agents accept that HIPs have been in place for some time now, and welcome the margin opportunities that they can create. The CLG review over the summer may take a more detailed view at some of the remaining dysfunctions. Although this should be welcomed, I do not believe this review will yet address the fundamentals of why property information from source-to-consumer needs a root and branch reform.
In terms of the general health of the housing market economy, no matter which party wins the election, lending criteria by the main banks and building societies remains the overall driver of supply within the conveyancing industry. Clearly, with a deficit of more than £160 billion, the banks can expect further taxes on their profits. As a result, the banks will redouble their already considerable focus on risk when making lending decisions, resulting in even tighter requirements for borrowers and an increase in interest rates. This, together with rates of employment, are the key factors affecting the health of the housing market, rather than any stamp duty reduction or HIPs being suspended for first time buyers.
Housing supply and demand is teetering on a knife edge at present. It’s clear that the pace of house building needs to accelerate to match that of household creation. Under a Conservative government, new local housing trusts could give residents a direct say in what their local needs are, but could also stall planning decisions in a morass of “nimbyism”.
Although Labour has pledged an eye-catching figure of £105 billion to support house building, this needs to go hand in hand with reform of the planning process to ensure that house builders have the confidence to invest and to meet the demand, and also requires confidence by the banks in their capital lending.
As I write, there is an unprecedented build-up to the election, with a hung (or balanced) parliament very much in the offing. The key for the property market is whether this comes with a consensus for meaningful change to satisfy and create housing purchase, as well as concrete plans to reduce inefficiencies and concentrate on investing in market led technological innovation.
On technology, all parties have expressed their support for further e-Government as a way of managing down the deficit by reducing inefficiencies and driving down costs. We see a future where information is delivered electronically, from source to all parties visible in the transaction. This requires a new vision on the ideal platforms needed to connect the conveyancing industry together, including serious conversations about how data and documents are managed through the process. If it can be more efficient, lower risk, more transparent and quicker, it must surely benefit all of us, while also addressing some of the main dysfunctions that have led us to where we are today.
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Friday, April 30
General election: what it means to property market?
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 30 Apr 2010 10:01 BST
Thursday, April 29
Latest Asia-Pacific News Round-up
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 29 Apr 2010 20:00 BST
• Zylpha expands into Australia
Zylpha have teamed up with former managing director of Visualfiles Australia (LexisNexis), Bevan Read to re-sell the DocBinder document bundling solution in Australia. Read will also be continuing in his advisory role with Justin North’s Janders Dean group, specialising in case management and workflow systems for the legal sector. According to Read "As a former solicitor, I could appreciate the value of this software the first time I saw it. Simple to implement; easy to use; and it makes massive improvements to a very real, everyday task inside all legal practices" www.zylpha.com • Allen & Gledhill win for Elite Allen & Gledhill, one of the oldest and most influential law firms in South East Asia, has signed with Elite 3E. After a lengthy review process, firm, Allen & Gledhill determined that 3E was the best option. The selection process was open and despite competition from Aderant and internal momentum to update their existing Elite Enterprise platform, the 3E solution prevailed. Based in Singapore with more than 300 lawyers, the firm has received numerous accolades and awards from respected legal publications and directories. It is the only law firm in Singapore that is consistently ranked at the top of the league tables for every major area of its practice. • Phoenix & Janders Dean Breakfast Briefing - Sydney, Australia Justin North of Jander Dean reports that a lot of interest has been expressed in the Phoenix Business Solutions and Janders Dean International breakfast briefing around Alternative Billing to be held in Sydney at Becasse on May 18th. Representatives from in-house counsel at Telstra and Westpac will be joined by CFO and CEO level attendees from law firms including Blake Dawson, Clayton Utz, Freehills, Gilbert+Tobin, Minter Ellison, Sparke Helmore, Norton Rose, DLA Phillips Fox, Baker McKenzie and numerous others to discuss the trends and issues surrounding this area.
Cloud computing helps barristers chambers caught by volcano's cloud
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 29 Apr 2010 09:00 BST
Congratulations to IRIS Legal for being the only vendor to send us a story that legitimately involves the recent Icelandic volcano's eruption and its clouds of ash...
As on Monday this week, Mike Sayers, Chambers Director of IRIS Hosted barristers set Park Lane Plowden, was still stranded in the Canaries: "I’ve been on holiday here in the Canary Isles since 14th April and was due to return on 21st April. Obviously this didn’t happen as a result of the volcanic ash cloud causing all inbound flights to the UK to be cancelled. Although airlines have now resumed normal operations, I’m still stranded on the island as they clear their backlog of passengers. As yet, I have no firm date of arrival back home because Thomson Holidays have 1600 people stuck on this island alone. "As Chambers Director, my role is integral to the running of chambers, so I’ve been accessing our systems remotely via the IRIS Hosted Service which we’ve been using since 2007. The ability to resume working during what would normally be very disruptive circumstances has meant our service provision to clients has continued unaffected in my physical absence. Although you always hope that you’re never personally afflicted by disaster in the workplace, it’s something you can’t accurately predict, however you can plan for it with IRIS Hosted Services. Because of the current situation, our investment has been worth every penny and I’d strongly recommend it to other chambers.” Another IRIS Hosted user, Stephen Ward, Managing Director at Clerksroom, was delayed in India: “IRIS Hosted system was a godsend (that is opposed to an act of god!) during the recent Volcano eruption because I was stuck in Goa, India. The key benefit to me was having my outlook contacts all remotely hosted within the system so I could access all my professional and personal contacts quickly. Using the hosted system for 3 weeks on a 24/7 basis came to a total of £30 in data charges through the hotel’s wi-fi system, which is significantly cheaper than using mobile data or making calls to get work sorted. I had a key deadline to meet one Monday morning which was in danger of being disrupted due to the airline delay. As it turned out, I sat by the pool in the sun and did manage to get the tender submitted on time, without anyone needing to know I was delayed. One thing you cannot stop in India is the constant power cuts which did make it a little more problematic than normal, but the system worked and all was well.” Wednesday, April 28
Latest issue of Legal Tech Insider out now
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 28 Apr 2010 16:30 BST
The April issue of Legal Technology Insider newsletter (UK & EMEA edition) is out now. Digital copies are arriving in desktops about now (apologies if you get 2 copies, our email server reset itself half-way thru sending) and the print copy will be landing on desktops from tomorrow (Thursday). Top stories include... another PMS vendor trying to establish itself in the legal market – this time it is Maconomy (they are big in Scandinavia – well the Norwegians would).
And, Open Text reveals its plans for DMS, Sharepoint and its new Social Workplace product. As this needs to be seen to be understood, here are some video links...
FWBS rebrands and upgrades
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 28 Apr 2010 11:22 BST
FWBS today launches a refreshed branding for both the company and it’s MatterCentre product. FWBS have been strong suppliers of Case/Matter management to the mid tier for nearly 12 years, and now with their success in tier 1 firms wanting to have the latest fully Microsoft based solutions, an updated brand was desired.
  Mark Craddock Sales & Marketing Director at FWBS said: “As we are having significant success in the UK tier 1 market with our clear Microsoft implemented case/matter management solution, we wanted to bring a fresh look to the FWBS brand. The MatterCentre product branding is also updated as part of the activity, with some new advances in the latest version of the product, which now is fully embedded within Office 2010 as well as 2003 and 2007. In addition we’ve also advanced our comprehensive interface to Autonomy iManage as well as giving further capability to the modular approach of MatterCentre, giving firms the ability to define exactly their scope of functional needs for case and non-case professionals, and combine other best of breed products”. Orange Rag comment: As TikitTFB's rebranding got people so excited earlier this year, we thought we'd show the new artwork. On a more serious note, along with the upgrade to MatterCentre, was saw FWBS previewing some genuinely exciting new software at yesterday's ILTA Insight London event – full report to follow (probably next week) Tuesday, April 27
Mimecast move into Blackberry continuity services
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 27 Apr 2010 09:00 BST
Mimecast today announced the launch of Mimecast Continuity Services for the BlackBerry Wireless Solution. The new service is the first to enable enterprise IT managers to provide uninterrupted email access to BlackBerry smartphone users in the event of a Microsoft Exchange outage, a BlackBerry Enterprise Server failure and Research in Motion infrastructure downtime. Until now, businesses have been limited in their range of continuity choices for the BlackBerry solution, relying on SaaS services that require the availability of BlackBerry Enterprise Server or server replication solutions.
By bypassing the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and communicating directly with the handset from the cloud, Mimecast’s Continuity Service ensures that critical mobile workers can remain connected; sending, receiving and deleting mail as normal, during server downtime. Whether operating in standard or continuity mode, complete integration between Mimecast’s security, continuity and archiving service elements ensures continuous and consistent enforcement of email security, data loss prevention and archiving policies at all times, supporting businesses’ compliance and security needs. Peter Bauer, founder and CEO of Mimecast, said: “Our own research recently revealed that just 36% of UK companies had a proper email continuity strategy, despite 97% of written business communication being over email. With the BlackBerry solution established in an ever growing number of IT departments, extending business critical email continuity to BlackBerry devices has become an essential requirement.” Mimecast has been providing continuity services to hundreds of thousands of email users around the world over the last seven years. Mimecast Continuity Services for the BlackBerry Wireless Solution is the first extension of the company’s existing range of email disaster recovery services to mobile devices. With Mimecast, users are able to send and receive email and access their personal archive through a variety of mail clients including Microsoft Outlook (desktop), Mimecast Personal Portal (web) and BlackBerry smartphones (mobile) in the event of scheduled or unplanned mail server outages or connectivity failures. In response to the announcement, Tim Hyman, IT Director at prominent UK law firm Taylor Wessing, said: “The Mimecast system has already gone a long way to ensuring the 100% availability of email during times of disruption to internal systems. The development of a genuinely robust BlackBerry solution is the final piece in the jigsaw as it means that our lawyers will be able to access their email from the device they favour, virtually eliminating the inconvenience and productivity loss of email downtime.” * Mimecast Continuity Services for the BlackBerry Wireless Solution is on demonstration for the first time at this week’s Infosecurity Europe conference and exhibition in London, and will be available to customers from July 2010. Monday, April 26
Pilgrim to sponsor Alternative Legal IT Conference
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 26 Apr 2010 15:11 BST
Pilgrim Systems Plc is to be the headline sponsor of this year’s Alternative Legal IT Conference, taking place on 21st and 22nd September at The Belfry, near Birmingham.
Pilgrim’s COO Colin Kennedy said of the decision, “We are delighted to be strongly associated with an event that addresses many of the issues that UK mid-size law firms face today. Mid-size law firms represent 40% of fee earners working in this country. Most legal technology conferences focus on the very large firms which account for a far lower proportion of UK lawyers. The Alternative Legal IT Conference is aimed at the engine room of today’s profession; an engine room that is facing unique challenges and opportunities. Pilgrim has the solutions for these firms and we are proud to be part of an event that I believe will soon be able to drop the word ‘alternative’ from its title.” The Alternative Legal IT Conference is the definitive event for mid-sized firms wishing to enhance their IT function and streamline processes in a challenging economic environment with appropriate speakers, case studies and solutions. Presentations and roundtables will be led by speakers who understand the problems law firms face, because they face the same problems in their firms, every day. You will hear speakers exclusively from mid-tier firms, who aren’t on the usual conference circuit, and who you would not meet otherwise.
But I'm a lady...
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 26 Apr 2010 08:37 BST
News of a new organisation for women working in legal IT in the UK...
Last Thursday (22 April) saw the launch of LILIConnect (LILI = Ladies in Legal Information, geddit) a group set up to support develop and encourage women working in legal information. Membership is open to all women in information roles in law firms and inhouse legal departments, providing an environment for professional and career development and networking with colleagues and peers in the industry. The inaugural dinner sponsored by Ricoh was attended by the 15-strong executive committee chaired by Janet Day, Director of Technology and Infrastructure Services at Berwin Leighton Paisner, supported by vice chairs Jan Durant IT Director at Lewis Silkin and Julie Berry, IT Director at Reynolds Porter Chamberlain. LILIConnect is planning a programme of events where women will have the opportunity to discuss topical issues in legal information. The professional development angle includes encouraging women to develop careers in technology & information without feeling intimidated. "If you go to a legal conference, the women are always outnumbered," observes Janet Day. "We want to give women at all levels in the legal community the opportunity to progress their careers and learn about useful technologies and opportunities in a relaxed and open environment." LILIConnect will host a number of events throughout the year that will be sponsored by suppliers. These will be either social networking forums or information seminars developed for the group. Sponsors will have the opportunity to showcase and discuss their latest offerings at these events while also meeting the group’s members informally. Additionally, the group will meet for more low key meetings lasting about an hour and a half to discuss the group’s direction and strategy. Some meetings will be before work and others will be in the evening. Janet Day explains. "For our more general meetings we are aiming to create a low-key informal atmosphere, and for these we are looking for limited sponsorship from suppliers: a meeting room with some tea and coffee rather than a grand reception." LILIConnect has already attracted a number of enthusiastic suppliers keen to host the main events throughout the year, so the next step is to build up the membership. "We are currently launching a website and distributing publicity materials launching the group. The next step will be to publish a programme of events." LILIConnect’s website* will support the events and the community as it will include materials from presentations and provide an exchange environment for members and even mentoring opportunities. The first events will take place in London, but the plan is to organise regional events and roadshows as the group expands. * While the website is being developed a members group will be available on KnowNet which can be accessed via www.theknowlist.com Friday, April 23
Something for the weekend - Ashpocalypse Now!
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 23 Apr 2010 15:24 BST
It's the weekend and before we had off to the lake at Orange Rag Towers and spend the rest of the afternoon drinking chilled rosé we'd just like to say...
• Why does an Australian-based purveyor of gay sex toys keep trying to post comments onto this blog? • And, good luck to everyone taking part in Sunday's London Marathon (better not mention it looks like being the hottest day of the year so far). 
Upcoming UK events for your diaries
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 23 Apr 2010 12:29 BST
Here's a round-up of upcoming events for your diaries...
• Tuesday 27 April - ILTA Insight London See earlier reports • Wednesday 12 May - Legally High, at the Gherkin, London - Microsoft is now a sponsor - they will be represented by the founder of SharePoint, Jeff Teper, Corporate VP, Office Business Platform. Invitation only • Wednesday 12 May - CRM4Legal briefing, London This is for firms that want to find out how a CRM could help them to develop bettter relationships with clients, win more business and reduce administration costs. Speakers will include Microsoft, Reed Smith (users of CRM4Legal) and Client Profiles (the developers of CRM4legal). CRM specialists Solica Consulting will be demonstrating CRM4legal and discussing the successful implementation of CRM. Other participants will include Concep Global who will speak about email marketing and Capensys who will discuss their eLearning tools. Registration for the event is via the Solica Consulting website at www.solica.com/crm4legal_briefing_2010.php • Wednesday 12 May - Tweet Justice - looks to be an interesting session on social media & its associated legal issue - Full details next week • TikitTFB local user group meetings The local meetings provide a key opportunity to speak directly with fellow users, sharing knowledge and experience to help you use your system more effectively. You can also speak directly with representatives from TikitTFB and put forward ideas on what features and functionality you would like to see in the software in the future. As well as updates on the latest features and functionality of Partner for Windows and user led discussion groups, this year Workshare will be hosting a discussion on Understanding the risk of hidden data in your documents. For further information or to register your firm contact emma.rae@tikit.com London - St Giles Hotel, 10 June Midlands - Needham & James, 16 June Northern - City Inn, Manchester, 22 June South West & Wales - Novotel, Bristol, 30 June Scotland - TBC, 13 July • Thursday 16 September - Elite UK/EMEA Annual User Group Meeting, Holborn Bars, London. Full details to follow |
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