Brian Chrystal examines the impact of LA 2012 on real estate transactions
Title indemnity insurance is a very competitive business. Pricing and speed of service are important: so is being first to offer new types of cover to meet changes in the market environment such as those caused by new legislation. Sometimes, though, it’s just as important to help customers to understand how existing products will continue to offer the necessary protection, even if the law has changed. Concerns about the possible effects of the Localism Act 2012 (LA 2012) on real estate transactions are a useful example.
LA 2012 aims to give life to the broad statement made by the prime minister and deputy prime minister as part of the coalition agreement, in May 2010: “The time has come to disperse power more widely in Britain today.” LA 2012 is now being put into force, section by section, in England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have to see to their own dispersal of power, it seems.
Insurance challenge
The challenge for title indemnity insurers is to assess whether they
