Fallon Sara Spencer

Coronavirus

The Coronavirus Pandemic has impacted our daily life as we know it. Even if we have not been infected by the virus we have still been affected by it.

Lock-down, working from home, cancelled holidays and events, being worried for friends and family coupled with information overload can be a recipe for stress and anxiety.

Feeling anxious and stressed is inevitable in the current Pandemic, but too much stress can negatively impact your mood, sleep routine and even your health. There are a variety of ways to effectively manage stress and here are a few suggestions:

1. Change "I'm stuck inside" to " I can now focus on the things I don't usually have time for"

As uncertain as things may feel right now, think of working from home as an opportunity to refocus. Doing one productive thing per day can lead to a more positive attitude. Complete that long avoided task, organise your wardrobe, create something you have always wanted to or wash the dog. Creating a "could-do" list as opposed to a "to-do" list assists with approaching the task with a relaxed frame of mind as opposed to a deadline orientated task, which if you don't manage to compete, will only stress you out more. This is your chance to slow down and focus on yourself.

2. Try to maintain your daily routine (in so far as possible and is allowed!)

Try and maintain some form structure from the good old pre-quarantine days. When working from home it could be all too tempting to adopt a more lethargic lifestyle, which could lead to negative thinking. Instead, wake up and go to bed around the same time, eat healthy balanced meals, shower, adapt your exercise routine and get out of your PJ’s!! Not only will sticking to your normal routine keep you active and provides something to occupy your mind it will also be easier to readjust when lock-down ends and we can all head back into the office.

3. Limit information overload

It is all to easy to spend your days and evenings mindlessly scrolling through social media (I mean, do you really need to find out what pizza you would be or what Harry Potter house you would be sorted into?!) and news apps. But spending too much time reading about the Pandemic can actually make you feel more anxious and confused. Of course it is important to be informed but limiting your time and reading content from creditable sources is important to ensure you are not being tricked by incorrect reporting and click-bait headlines.

Hopefully some of these tips will help however, if your stress levels are reaching levels that are unmanageable, you should reach out for professional help https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/understanding-stress/

Fallon Sara Spencer

Coronavirus,Land Registration,Security,Consumer,Regulation

The Scottish property market was plunged deeper into disarray on the 24th March 2020 as the Registers of Scotland (RoS) closed the application record, which records the transfer of ownership and registration of lenders charges.

Since the application record was closed, RoS has been working closely with the Law Society of Scotland, UK Finance and key stakeholders to devise a solution which will keep staff safe but allow applications to be processed remotely.

However, the solution was not simple to implement. Registration law in Scotland was modernised in 2014 with the introduction of the Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act 2012 which provided RoS with a statutory basis for their powers and to implement a workable solution to reopening the application would require a legislative amendment.

The Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 came into force on the 7th April 2020 and provides a workaround to allow applications to be submitted electronically however, this is still in the beta testing phase.

Myself and McVey and Murricane have been working closely with RoS trailing the new workarounds and providing feedback.

For further information, please contact Fallon Sara Spencer, Principal and Head of Specialist Lending.

Fallon Sara Spencer

The Bank of England has published their first report on the potential impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic on the banking sector and UK economy.

The report focuses on the recent performance of the financial system after the seriousness of Coronavirus was reported, the resilience of the UK banking sector amidst the Coronavirus Pandemic and discusses the financing of the corporate sector during the Pandemic.

The report also includes a scenario which based on the assessment of risk of the UK's financial stability and the resilience of the UK's economy. If the scenario is correct, it would see the GDP of the UK falling to 14% which would equate to the worst annual slump for more than 300 years.

The report can be read here

Fallon Sara Spencer

These are terrible times and while the completion of property-related transactions is well down the list of priorities, when compared to the health of individuals and the nation as a whole, nevertheless McVey and Murricane understand these transactions are important for individuals to feel safe and secure.

As one of the largest providers of property-related legal services in Scotland, McVey and Murricane clearly recognises the impact of the virus on transactions. Often it is the logistics which have been limited by lockdown requirements which mean that transactions do not complete, even where the parties involved want to achieve that.

Again, while these matters are not important when compared to the restrictions faced by individuals and the country, nevertheless anything that maintains economic activity is worthwhile.

ContactlessConveyancing is the key that unlocks so many of those transactions.

How does it work?

Since 2012 McVey and Murricane have been utilising an innovative method called MMiAuthority to ease the constraints and tensions of conveyancing and remortgage transactions.

MMiAuthority is a limited single use authority which has been successfully used in over 100,000 transactions. It has received widespread praise including the Property Law Committee of the Law Society of Scotland. MMiAuthority requires a great deal of organisation to be effective which is provided by the innovative and unique systems used and developed by McVey and Murricane. The systems use a "traffic lights" control to determine whether an MMiAuthority exists for any particular transaction.

ContactlessConveyancing develops the existing MMiAuthority further. As innovators, as well as experts, in Scottish property and lending law McVey and Murricane are always looking at new ways to make the conveyancing process easier for clients and lenders. We invest heavily on innovation as opposed to replicating what has been done for years.

ContactlessConveyancing takes matters one step further. Relying upon an obscure section within existing Scottish legislation it allows for digital documents to be treated as original provided that that digital document is an electronic image of an original wet signed document.

The process has been approved as entirely valid and secure by one of the most senior conveyancing authorities in Scotland.

To find out more about the innovative ContactlessConveyancing service, visit here or contact Fallon Sara Spencer, Principal and Head of Specialist Lending.

Fallon Sara Spencer

Specialist lenders are typically non-bank lenders, meaning that they do not receive funding from the Bank of England and they raise the capital needed from the various capital markets around the world. Since the Coronavirus pandemic, specialist lenders have felt the strain as the capital markets have closed, essentially cutting off their funding supply. Yet at the same time the Government has enforced mortgage payment holidays for customers.

As the Coronavirus pandemic grows the funding support for specialist lenders diminished. Unlike high street lenders, they cannot receive financial assistance from the Government or the Bank of England and in order to maintain capital and several specialist lenders have had to withdraw products from the market to survive.

This is particularly concerning as the specialist lending customer has changed over the last few years. Yes, there is still a large share of limited company and special purchase vehicle lending but a wider customer base is now using specialist lenders including those who are self-employed, have poorer credit ratings or defaults and customers with lower incomes. All of whom would typically not be offered a mortgage with a high street lender.

The proposals submitted to the Government and the Bank of England are intended to offer specialist lenders the same capital and liquidity support already offered to high street lenders. The proposals are:

A term-funding scheme open to non-bank specialist lenders, funded by the purchase of investment-grade bonds by the Bank of England and supported by bank guarantees to support wholesale funders.

A Forbearance Liquidity Funding Scheme which proposes that the UK Government provides eligible specialist lenders with the liquidity required to fund loans on which forbearance has been provided that would currently fall outside of existing funding lines.

There has been much discussion over the last few years about extending term-funding to specialist lenders, but it had not been implemented. The closure of the capital markets during the pandemic has reawakened the issue of financial support for specialist lenders.

Specialist lenders cater for a particular market which will need assistance more than ever following the pandemic and it is hoped that the proposals will begin to allow specialist lenders to reopen pipelines to assist customers during these difficult times.

Fallon Sara Spencer

Registers of Scotland have today announced that certain applications can be submitted electronically from the 27th April.

The announcement should allow a number of cases which settled under the interim arrangements to be submitted to Registers of Scotland and now that the electronic solution is in place, we would expect to see a number of lenders who have not signed up to the interim arrangements proceeding with transactions.

It is important to note that the register has not been re-opened and this is an interim solution to allow registration.

Fallon Sara Spencer

Our earlier article on non-bank funding mentioned that proposals had been submitted to the Bank of England and HM Treasury to provide support packages for non-bank lenders.

A decision was expected this week as to whether the submitted proposals would be accepted however discussions are still ongoing and as of yet, no decision has been made to approve the support packages.