An evening with Brandon Lewis MP

On Thursday 22 October, Conveyancing Data Services were delighted to welcome the Minister for Housing and Planning, Brandon Lewis MP, as a guest at an evening event at the Victory Services Club.

Brandon spoke to the assorted guests from the property industry about Government plans to build hundreds of thousands of new properties to meet the country’s demand for home ownership, and about the Right to Buy scheme, which is being extended to Housing Association tenants, making it easier for those who wish to own a home of their own to do so.

Following his speech, Brandon then took questions from the floor, including an interesting question from

Rob Hailstone from the Bold Legal Group , who  asked, : "The conveyancers in this room have to be on their guard all the time to make sure they don't get caught up in money laundering, fraud and email scams. If an old lady, who has just collected her pension goes into her conveyancers with a few hundred pounds in cash, they pretty much have to shine a bright light in her face and quiz her on its origins. You quite rightly said that everybody wants to live and work in London and that pushes prices up. So, my questions is, are the buyers of these high value properties, genuine buyers or money launders?"

Brandon replied "This is the only question that has me stumped tonight", which raised some laughs, but he then went on to stress the 

Importance of guarding against these issues and how conveyancers must continue to carry out their due diligence and protect themselves from email scams. 

After Brandon had spoken, Lloyd Davies from Convey Law showed a short video on the Matterhorn Challenge which Geraint Aubry will be completing this year to raise funds from the Conveyancing Industry for Ty Hafan. People were asked to donate towards this charity by putting a contribution in an envelope and our fantastic guests managed to raise a grand total of £1000.

After dinner two envelopes were picked at  random and Jill White of eConveyancer and Daniel Stanton of Kiteleys won a bottle of champagne each. Congratulations both!

The band Primo Acoustic Duo proceeded to entertain while clients relaxed until midnight.

We thank Brandon for his time and our guests for coming. There were many interesting questions which were asked and hopefully our guests have been reminded that while all the Governments plans for increasing homes are put into place it is imperative that conveyancers protect themselves, by remaining diligent and compliant and always carrying out the recommended residential or commercial searches for their clients.