Lenders are increasingly looking at additional income revenue through providing legal services via HIPs, conveyancing and wills. Karen Babington reports

Among the proposals in the Conservative party’s housing policy paper, Strong Foundations, is a reaffirmation of its intention to scrap Home Information Packs (HIPs), if the Tories wins the next general election.

The HIP Code is to be revised and updated from 6 April 2009. This revision is based on feedback from a variety of stakeholders and consumers.

Mervyn Pilley, CoPSO’s newly-appointed chief executive, looks at the challenges the search industry faces, and asks how a level-playing field can be found to ensure fair competition

Home information packs (HIPs) will be required for all properties being sold in England and Wales from 14 December, the government has announced.

The extension of the government's home information pack (Hips) scheme could bring about a negative investment trend in the rental sector, the Residential Lettings Association has said

Profound levels of brand abuse, most notably through phishing and suspected domain squatting, have been unveiled by brand protection expert MarkMonitor.

Capco’s Michael Atack and David Ellis highlight the importance of taking a strategic approach to outsourcing initiatives whilst simultaneously building a deep understanding of the different market offerings

  With online fraudsters becoming increasingly resourceful, firms with web exposure must tackle them head on, says Charlie Abrahams of MarkMonitor

As lenders struggle to cope with the inevitable escalation of arrears, more are looking to outsource some or all of their arrears management work. Matthew Vallance of Firstsource discusses how outsourcing firms can help lenders

Right people, right time - loan and mortgage book owners are turning to outsourcing. Can focussed experienced professionals reduce the cost of the credit crunch? asks Andrew Fairburn of Target Group

Mortgage lenders can achieve high performance through the current downturn by being flexible and proactively helping customers navigate their way through their own interlinked debt hierarchy. Peter Kirk of Accenture explains

Lord Adair Turner, chairman of the FSA, has indicated that Mortgage Payment Protection insurance could become a major focus for the regulator.

Selling insurance products that are fully branded in a lender’s name can be an effective way to help grow the business and increase revenue, while at the same time providing customers with greater choice and flexibility, says RSA’s Andy Elkington

London & European Title Insurance Services (L&E) has departed from its French parent company, the APRIL Group, following a management buyout led by Christopher Taylor, Chief Executive Officer of L&E.

Following on from the Competition Commission’s review into the PPI market, that sector is now ripe for reform and some insurers are looking to develop new products. Francis Higney reports

The Competition Commission has finally published its long awaited report on PPI following a two-year market investigation. Drazen Jaksic of Assurant Solutions analyses the conclusions

Local planning authorities in England granted planning permission for 16 major developments despite Environment Agency objections on the grounds of flood risk during 2007/08, according to its annual ‘Development and Flood Risk’ report.

Lenders are increasingly looking at additional income revenue through providing legal services via HIPs, conveyancing and wills. Karen Babington reports

A team led by chief executive Matt Wightman has completed the management buy out of Halliwells’ subsidiary, HL Interactive LLP.

National law firm Irwin Mitchell LLP has launched Ascent Collections Ltd, a full service debt collection agency (DCA).

Land Registry is to apply a new 'Early Completion' practice from 3 August 2009 to ensure that registration applications are completed as quickly as possible.

Commoditisation is viewed by some in the legal profession as a threat but it should be seen as an opportunity, particularly with the growth of the internet. Stephen Lucas of Barnetts Solicitors reports

Lee Stafford of Sprecher Grier Halberstam LLP looks at how lenders can work with their legal firm to bring successful professional negligence cases against solicitors and valuers

The European Mortgage Federation has set out a series of recommendations, which are designed to contribute proactively to the European Commission’s initiatives to restore long-term sustainable mortgage financing in the EU.

The European Central Bank has kept the European base rate at 2%.

The European Central Bank has lowered its benchmark interest rate by 0.5% to 2% and the ECB hinted that the rate would fall further. The rate has now more than halved in the past three months.

The European Central Bank (ECB) dropped its base rate by 75 basis points to 2.5 per cent - the largest cut in its 10 year history.

The number of house hunters has dropped considerably in July with an average of 192 on estate agents books compared to 226 the month before, reports the National Association of Estate Agents. This has dropped from 314 house hunters in July 2007 and 326 in both August and September last year.

The Nationwide Consumer Confidence Index fell by 11 points to 51 in July. Overall consumer confidence is 18% lower than this time last month and 46% lower than a year ago. These are the largest recorded falls in the index so far.