What a week it’s been, with the heatwave and the dramas in the Women’s Football World Cup in Canada and also on the courts at Wimbledon. I’ve been fortunate enough to spend much of the week meeting with and delivering training sessions to clients and colleagues in the legal profession in Southampton and Fareham. It’s always good to catch up in person – email and telephone just isn’t the same.

I certainly enjoyed it and got a lot from the sessions and I hope they did too. We covered local land charges conveyancing searches – the background, development and what we know of the future. It was great to be joined by Andy Crawshaw from Groundsure who delivered sessions on Energy Reports and Japanese Knotweed. His presentation covered fracking – which was in the news as we heard the latest Council reject proposals for fracking. However, the map that Andy showed identifying the potential fracking development sites across the southern region was a real eye opener and showed that whilst it may not have been an everyday issue to date for conveyancers – it soon could be.

The discussion about Japanese Knotweed was also of interest, not least the shocking fact that it can grow up to twenty centimetres per day at it’s peak growth season. Frightening. What is of particular interest to property buyers and conveyancers during the conveyancing process – are the potential costs of remedial works required in the event of discovering the plant on your property. As with many of these things it’s always better to know prior to purchase.

Thanks again to all those that attended and hope to see you again soon.