Our news stories can be in the form of e-shots, ‘white papers’ or social media commentary, but we will not comment on trivial matters – you will not see us mentioning on what type of coffee we are drinking whilst waiting for a train! You can catch up on our previous commentaries below.
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Tenant Arrears
A recent survey by a Law of Property Act receiver estimates that there are 99,000 tenants that are two months overdue on rent. This will be unwelcome news for any…
RMBS – is there hope on the horizon?
Bank deleveraging and cheap central bank funding schemes are constraining European securitisation volumes, and Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services believes that UK residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) issuance could fall again…
The next mis-selling scandal?
LPA receivers Rockstead is uniquely placed in the mortgage review market since we have business relationships with lawyers requiring expert witness services and holders of mortgage assets requiring servicer audits.…
Reviving the asset backed securities market
The Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) has launched its Prime Collateralised Securities (PCS) label aimed at reviving Europe’s ailing asset backed securities market. The initiative will develop a…
FSA Oversight
The recent announcement by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) that it expects bridging lenders to behave with “the same high standards” on unregulated business as on regulated business has opened…
Regulation of Credit Rating Agencies
The European Mortgage Federation (EMF) has recently reiterated their support for the European Commission (EC) proposal to amend the Regulation on Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs). In particular it supports the…
Is forbearance finished?
Paul Diggle at Capital Economics recently tried to quantify how important a role forbearance has played in propping up the UK housing market. He estimated that without lenders – leniency,…
Interest only back books
The FSA announced, in the most recent “Retail Conduct Risk Outlook 2012” review, that a thematic review is about to be commenced. Their concern is that in the medium to…
Buy to let lending – solicitor conflict of interest
It appears that a number of solicitor firms are just starting to test the subtlety of some of the requirements and provisions of the recent changes to the Solicitors Regulation…
Mitigating risk
Standard and Poor’s have recently commented that the securitisation market during 2012 will remain slow due to wider market pressures, the fragile economic backdrop and subdued underlying mortgage lending, which…
Can TPAs survive the downturn?
The mortgage market has changed hugely since the seismic shocks of 2007/8 and it is not just lenders and borrowers who are experiencing a very different playing field from that…
Failure to mitigate loss?
Anyone involved with the post completion mortgage administration process will be acutely aware of the pressures to show ‘forbearance’ to borrowers who are facing difficult times. However, many involved in…
Relevance of experts’ experience
The lending market has gone through immense changes over the past thirty years; the launch of centralised lending in the eighties, new specialist and sub-prime lenders in the nineties and…
International mortgage underwriting practices
On the 26th October 2011 the Financial Stability Board (FSB) issued a paper for public consultation, titled ‘Principles for Sound Residential Mortgage Underwriting Practices’. The FSB was established to co-ordinate…
Scullion v Bank of Scotland Plc – our view
On a superficial reading the recent Scullion v Bank of Scotland Plc (t/a Colleys) [2011] EWCA Civ 693 decision may appear to have little relevance to lender/valuer professional negligence claims…
Mortgage forbearance and impairment
On the 5th October the FSA published its final guidance on forbearance and impairment provisions following consultation and review of lenders arrears processes. The review was designed for the regulator…
