SLC Annual Conference – 2018
26th November 2018
The SLC Annual Conference, in association with the Bold Legal Group (BLG) was held on Wednesday 14thNovember 2018 at The Riverside Centre, Pride Park, Derby. We were delighted to welcome back Kate Faulkner, a leading property consultant and property market commentator who has presented for the BBC and currently co-hosts LBC’s Property Hour every Thursday evening, as our host for the day.
Departing Chairman, Simon Law, welcomed delegates to the event and announced that Valerie Holmes had recently been appointed as his successor. Val thanked Simon for his hard work over the past few years and hopes to continue in his footsteps. She went on to thank everyone for coming along to get the latest news from the industry and this was echoed by Rob Hailstone, BLG’s CEO.
The first speaker of the day was Allison Bradbury, Head of Local Land Chargers Programme at HM Land Registry. She explained that their strategy is to become the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data. They have currently migrated data from three local authorities and aim to have migrated 26 in total in Phase 1 by the end of 2019. Rob Hailstone took to the stage next with the results of the recent BLG Conveyancers Survey. We welcomed back Matt Prior from MHCLG who gave an update on the progress on ‘Improving the home buying and selling process’. 1205 responses were received with a conclusion that all parties need to work together, both Government and industry, to reduce stress by reducing the time and cost the process takes. There will also be regulation of estate agents and referral fee transparency. Dame Janet Paraskeva DBE, Chair of the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, gave an update on the work of the CLC.
Geodesys had kindly sponsored the refreshment break and was an opportunity for all the delegates to visit the exhibition stands and network with colleagues.
Simon Brown of The Estas gave a presentation on the importance of customer service and this was followed by Mariette Hughes, Senior Ombudsman, who explained that the Legal Ombudsman is an independent scheme to resolves lawyer complaints. She gave an insight into the common complaints and issues they face regarding conveyancing, the expectations of the consumer and how to put things right. The morning speakers then joined up for a panel session with a variety of questions from the floor.
The SLC AGM was held during the lunch break and another chance to visit the stands. Geoff Dunnett of Shieldpay kicked off the afternoon session entitled ‘Tomorrow’s World’ with a demonstration of their online platform. Conference regular, Richard Hinton was next with an update on his conveyancing analytics comparison tool working in collaboration with TrustPilot.
Our next speakers were the duo from HM Land Registry, Lauren Tombs and John Abbott, on Digital Street, smart contracts, Blockchain and ensuring that identities can be stabled and shared securely across the buying and selling process. Another panel session followed with questions for Geoff, Richard, Lauren and John. The afternoon refreshment break, sponsored by SQA, also gave the delegates the last chance to enter any exhibitor raffles.
We then welcomed Sucheet Amin from InCase, Simon Lumb from the National Dees Depository, Claire Cooper from The LinkApp and Duncan Samuel from Gazeal to give presentations and answer any questions.
After the prize draws, a round-up of the day’s topics by Kate, Val and Rob thanked everyone for attending another successful event and it was then on to the conference dinner at the iPro Stadium with entertainment by John Hendrie, fun in the photo booth and a chance for all to relax and dance the night away. Our thanks again to LFS for sponsoring the pre-dinner drinks reception.
We would like to thank all our sponsors – Stewart Title, Future Climate Info, Howden, Geodesys and SQA for helping to make it such a great day.
Copies of the speaker presentations will be available to download shortly.