The Gazette 1967/71

It is illegal for anyone other than a lawyer or owner to do conveyancing work unless he can prove that he did not do it for gain. The Which ? report concludes that: " you will get the best conveyancing from a good solicitor", although with a straightforward conveyance the N.H.O.S. " may have been doing a good job at half the cost". Mr. Basil Blower, chairman of the N.H.O.S., 'said last night that the original draft of the Which ? report had recommended their conveyan cing as being as good as that provided by solicitors. The Consumers' Association, publishers of Which ?, replied that the draft represented only their preliminary views, which were modified after further research. The N.H.O.S., which has over 10,000 members, claims to have saved them £150,000 in about 7,000 conveyances. The price of a house is not necessarily a guide to the final bill which a client could receive, accord ing to the Which ? report. Some solicitors made extra charges, and others gave reductions, occa sionally on the conveyancing scale fee. Three-quarters of the conveyances examined by Which ? had taken over two months, and one in 25 took more than six months. Some people complained about lack of infor mation from their solicitors, and were dismayed to find that problems arose after moving in which should have been cleared up beforehand. The report blames the system which limits what a soli citor may be able to discover about boundaries and developments. Which ? advises a buyer of a new house against sharing a solicitor with the seller, as it is important to have advice independent of the builder. LAWYER COMPLAINT COMMITTEES Improved machinery to ensure that complaints against lawyers are properly and quickly investi gated is proposed by the lawyers' reform group, Justice, in a report today. A committee of barristers, solicitors and three non-lawyers, after studying the problem for five years, recommended the setting up of local com plaint committees, organised by local law societies but with lay chairmen and barristers as members. They would investigate complaints against both branches of the profession and after eliminating 153

A sports organisation which holds land for re creational purposes, will have a statutory right to renew its tenancy, provided it has held the land under lease for at least 25 years, or has occu pied the land for 25 out of the last 40 years, and provided it has spent 15 times the rent or a minimum of £1,000 on the lands. Right extended The right to purchase the fee simple is extended to these new classes. Another improvement is that the right extended in the Ground Rents Act of three years ago to buy out the fee simple is being cut from leases of 99 years to leases of 50 years or more. Tenants of vacant building land in towns have now the right to buy the fee simple on the same terms as apply to ground rent leases—provided they secure planning permission. Due account must now be taken of improve ments made by the tenant when fixing the new rent when a ground-rent lease is renewed. NEED FOR CHEAPER CONVEYANCING URGED The legal costs of moving house are too high, according to the consumer magazine Which ? A report published says the conveyancing system is in need of urgent revision to fit the needs of present-day house-ownership. Members of Which ? complained that convey ancing took too long and cost too much. Not enough information was available to them during the process. The report says these difficulties are the fault of the system rather than of individual solicitors. The Law Society last night said the report was fair, and welcomed the fact that it had not blamed solicitors. The prices and incomes board has recom mended that although solicitors' conveyancing charges for houses below £2,000 are unprofitable and should be raised, fees for properties above £4,000 should be cut by 6 per cent. The Govern ment has accepted the proposals but they have yet to be implemented. The Which ? report considers the conveyancing provided by the National House Owners' Society, which has been convicted several times for break ing the solicitors' conveyancing monopoly. An action by the Law Society is now pending against the N.H.O.S.