The Residential Conveyancing Conference

Current key issues affecting residential mortgage lending

The Chair of the UK Finance Scotland Policy Committee will consider: energy performance legislation and certification and the willingness and desire by lenders to encourage home owners to improve their homes; modern methods of construction and how lenders deem construction types acceptable for mortgage (or not); and cladding, updating the current position and what policy position lenders may be taking.

Stewart McKenzie, Nationwide Building Society

Commercial awareness for new home conveyancers

As new home builders seek efficient legal solutions for their customers, how can you position your firm to obtain new build business? This session will consider commercial awareness, why it matters for conveyancers, the new home market and lockdown, and the future of the new home market – what could it look like in 2025?

Andrew Todd, Springfield Properties

Professor Robert Rennie: his legacy for conveyancing

This session will reflect on the distinguished career of Professor Robert Rennie, who sadly died in January of this year. As a lawyer with one foot in practice and the other in academia, his scholarship combined the best of both worlds and made an important contribution to the evolution of conveyancing law and practice in Scotland. This session will highlight some of his key work in areas including rights in security and land registration, identifying some issues he raised which have yet to be resolved. 

Professor Frankie McCarthy, Scottish Law Commission and The University of Glasgow 

Risk management for conveyancing solicitors – adapting to the remote-work reality

This session will look at some of the common risks that can lead to Master Policy claims in property transactions, with a focus on conveyancing in this COVID era and beyond. Delegates will learn about the risks facing conveyancing solicitors as they adapt to new ways of working, including issues such as remote working, fraud, supervision, diary systems and information management. The session will involve case studies, together with suggestions of simple steps that conveyancers can take to reduce and manage their risk.

Matthew Thomson, Lockton

Get up to speed with e-signing

E-signing is here to stay. When should you use e-signatures? When should you think twice? What practical steps need to be taken for their verification? As electronic signatures become a key component of conveyancing, what does the future hold for e-signing? This session aims to take some of the mystery out of electronic signatures and provide delegates with a comprehensive guide to their use as our business practices evolve.

Ann Stewart, Shepherd & Wedderburn

A day in the life of Derek! Finding solutions to plans problems

The presentation will cover some of the enquiries received on a daily basis and will include deed plan preparation, plans reports, rectification and issues arising during the pandemic, including working from home. It will use actual case studies and provide a detailed step by step process to arrive at the advice given. We will also look at the Ordnance Map and explore some of the issues around Registration and Registered Titles.

Derek Hand, First Scottish 

Building on digital submissions - what’s next from RoS?

In the last year RoS launched five digital submission services, designed with solicitors, paralegals and lenders, across four of its key registers. It’s building on these, via initiatives like casebuilder. Stephanie will speak about this continued work with customers to deliver improvements in the registration process and the collaborative approach to achieve this.

Stephanie Brown, Head of Product, Registers of Scotland