Home buyers across the UK were facing distress and uncertainty after a cyber attack targeted CTS, an IT services provider for law firms. The attack, occurring last week, has delayed property completions reliant on CTS’s systems.
With around 80 law firms affected, buyers meant to complete purchases have been left hanging. Many took to social media to vent frustration over limited communications and the persisting problems.
In its latest update posted to its website on Friday, CTS confirmed the outage resulted from a cyber incident but gave no timeline on when services may resume. The firm continues working with a leading cyber forensics team to restore operations.
The CLC, the UK’s property law regulator, acknowledged the resulting transaction disruptions. They stated firms must properly alert all associated lawyers to minimise consumer harm.
Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill moving through parliament
The government has stated that the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill introduced to Parliament yesterday will give homeowners a fairer deal, and greater rights and protections.
Millions of homeowners in England and Wales will be given greater rights, powers, and protections over their homes as part of the most significant reforms to the leasehold system for a generation.
A key part of the Government’s Long-Term Plan for Housing, the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill, will make it easier and cheaper for leaseholders to buy their freehold, increase standard lease extension terms to 990 years for houses and flats, and provide greater transparency over service charges.
The new powers will also help more leaseholders take over the management of their property if they wish to, instead of being stuck with the freeholder’s management choice, and we will make this process cheaper for leaseholders.
There couldn’t be a better time to buy in London
According to Zoopla, London has seen slow price growth over the last seven years of just 8%, while for the rest of the UK, house prices have risen 28%.
Homes in the capital are now seen as better value for money, while a steady return to office working is supporting sales volumes and pricing levels here.
In fact, new sales have rebounded more in London than any other part of the UK over the last 2 months, leading to a slight firming in prices.
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