Cybercrime And Conveyancing: Safe as houses?

First money laundering, then mortgage fraud, and now conveyancer hacking. Alasdair Urwin and Sandip Singh explain the latest fraud risks of which lenders, borrowers and conveyancers should be aware ‘In what are being described as some of the most worrying scams seen by the SRA, fraudsters are hacking into law firm e-mail accounts and intercepting …
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Davisons Solicitors v Nationwide Building Society [2012] EWCA Civ 1626

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | April 2013 #128

The claimant (Nationwide) offered on 12 December 2008 to lend Mr Patel £187,500 to enable him to buy 61 Avery Road, West Midlands (the property) for £249,995. Both Nationwide and Mr Patel instructed the defendant (Davisons) as solicitor on the basis of the Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook (CML Handbook).

Paragraph 10.3.4 of the CML Handbook required Davisons to hold the loan money on trust for Nationwide until completion. On 30 January 2009, Davisons were informed by a letter sent from the offices of Rothschild in Small Heath that Rothschild were ac...