Failure to follow the rules has never been more risky for conveyancing firms, says Jonathan Smithers
Council of Mortgage Lender figures show that there were 34% more first-time buyer loans in the first quarter of 2014 compared to the same time in 2013. For March 2014 that amounted to a total of 24,400 new loans. Coupled with the latest figures from the Bank of England indicating that gross UK mortgage lending was £15.3bn in March, up 32% in value compared to March 2013, the housing market is viewed by some to be spinning out of control.
This is further evidenced by both the Nationwide and Halifax house price indexes showing that house price growth is almost at the same level it was before the 2008 slump. And with prices rising on average over 10% per annum, mortgage fraud is starting to become more prevalent again. In the last two months alone two separate high profile criminal cases amounting to nearly £7m in mortgage fraud have come before the courts, with the perpetrators given custodial sentences totalling over 18 years.
To counter this, residential
