Connells Survey and Valuation extends digital footprint through new surveying team

We are pleased to announce that Connells Survey & Valuation Ltd., now has more than 300 surveyors using the Landmark Quest 'Q-Mobile' property data capture solution to generate major efficiencies with valuation service delivery to mortgage lenders.

In July 2014 Connells Survey & Valuation was awarded the exclusive contract to deliver valuation panel management services to Principality Building Society.  Under the contract, Principality Chartered Surveyors also joined Connells Survey & Valuation business.

Q-Mobile, used in conjunction with Panasonic Toughbooks, improves workflow, standardises surveyors’ site notes and allows Connells’ surveyors to access supporting data for each valuation report while they are on site.  

The mobile software provides a seamless process from the receipt of a valuation instruction, scheduling the appointment, undertaking research and the inspection, through to transmission of the valuation report to the client. Connells have been pioneers in developing and using Landmark Quest’s Q-Mobile, which has supported their surveyors being more efficient in responding to increasingly complex service requirements and improving the customer journey.

Matthew Morgan, Area Director, Connells Survey & Valuation (former Chief Surveyor at Principality Surveyors), comments: “At Principality Surveyors we were researching the best mobile technology system on the market.  Connells Survey & Valuation has an unparalleled reputation for quality service delivery and had already made a major investment in its service involving Landmark Q-Mobile and tablet PCs. This was taken into consideration during the tender process.”

Ross Bowen, Managing Director of Connells Survey & Valuation, adds, “Using Q-Mobile has delivered tangible benefits to our clients and superior customer outcomes. We are now even better placed to manage our surveyors’ workloads and work patterns during the course of the day. Within the space of just a few weeks of rolling out Q-Mobile, it has become the established platform underpinning the delivery of our professional valuation services.”

Ross Bowen explains that introducing the new surveying team to Q-Mobile and the latest mobile working methods required three days’ initial training, but has paid dividends in efficient working practices and time saved when responding to queries: “When a query is raised by an underwriter or solicitor, we can push this out to surveyors in the field and they can respond immediately and effectively. Information such as site plans, photos and post valuation queries are all in one place, so it is much easier to access at the surveyor’s fingertips, speeding response times to clients and their time to mortgage offer. Using Q-Mobile in the field has also more than halved the time taken to respond to post valuation queries from two days to under one day.”

Whilst highlighting the benefits, Ross Bowen emphasises that Connells’ investment in Q-Mobile and tablet PCs was part of implementing its next generation service delivery model. “Being able to access data from mobile devices in real time is a major change for our industry and it’s helping to evolve the working patterns of the profession.”

Rachel Brookes, Product Manager at Landmark Quest comments, “We are delighted to be able to support the integration of the former Principality Chartered Surveyors into Connells Survey & Valuation, by using our mobile data capture software to standardise reports and improve validation, efficiency and quality for all surveyors. We will continue to work with Connells to further develop Q-Mobile to incorporate datasets, such as the homebuyer report.”

More details: 

Panasonic Toughbooks 

Connells Survey & Valuation

The Green Factor

Peter Stimson, Managing Director of Landmark Quest, features in the March edition of industry publication, Mortgage Finance Gazette, discussing the topic of the importance of understanding environmental risks in making mortgage lending decisions.  

Peter suggests that  the use of environmental data in the mortgage application process can be used in one of two definitive ways to help lenders understand any potential risks: as a means of providing some certainty to other checks lenders conduct, such as Automated Valuation Models, in addition to providing surveyors with additional support and direction in the valuation process: 

The Green Factor

"Those of you who have worked in the mortgage market like me, for a number of years, will have noticed how much things have changed over the last 20 years. Mortgages have gone from a local relationship with a branch where cases where manually underwritten to a large centralised administration unit, where the bulk of cases will barely be seen by an underwriter.

Whilst some may pine for the days of being able to talk through cases locally and get those ‘exception’ cases through, the stark reality is that, from a bank’s perspective, all the automation and centralisation has resulted in two clear outcomes.

Automation
Firstly, it needs less people and hence less money to process cases. Secondly, the standardisation of risk and criteria and the use of technology, in particular credit scoring, has had a dramatic output on default rates. Whilst an exception case may turn out to be an exception and perform well, they are generally never the rule.

In my view, the game changer in risk occurred in the early 1990s with the advent of credit reporting. Rather than relying on an applicant’s honesty (or otherwise) and a few paper checks, it becomes apparent (to some lenders much later than others…) that you could tell an awful lot about an applicant and particularly his propensity to repay simply by looking at his previous history.

Surveyors
Whilst the mortgage process has changed, one aspect however remains very much the same as it ever was: the property risk assessment. In over 95 per cent of instances there is still a reliance on a physical inspection and the same pressures on a surveyor to get it right or ultimately down the line, risk being sued.

This reliance on a surveyor does put pressure on the whole process and ultimately is often the reason why mortgage offers take as long as they do. Whilst surveyors are putting in place processes to address some of the issues that occurred in the market last year, particularly in and around London, the fact remains that a lot more could be done with the available data in the market, either to reduce surveyor pressure at peak times of demand or, to assist the surveyor in getting the job done right."

To read the full article - visit the Mortgage Finance Gazette website.

Colleys introduces Landmark Quest’s Q-Mobile II:

Delivering digital valuation reporting efficiencies to its team of surveyors

Landmark Quest, a leading provider of risk management, mobile solutions and bespoke valuation software for lenders and surveyors, has announced that Colleys  who is one of the largest valuation and surveying firms of its kind in the UK, is the first to adopt its brand new Q-Mobile II platform.  The new edition of the valuation application for tablet PCs has been developed ‘by surveyors, for surveyors’, and enables surveyors to digitally capture valuation site notes at each property, providing a number of advantages.

All of Colleys' valuation surveyors have upgraded to Panasonic FZG1 Toughpad rugged devices.  Via the touchscreen tablet PCs, surveyors use Q-Mobile II to capture the complete site notes during a valuation inspection. Built-in intelligent validation checks reduce the possibility of errors or incomplete reports, plus the application helps surveyors make better use of their time on site by providing online access to supporting materials or data, or incorporate photos using the in-built camera.

Peter Stimson, Managing Director – Landmark Quest, Landmark Information Group: “Q-Mobile II is the next-generation tablet PC technology for the mortgage valuation industry. Working with the team at Colleys has enabled us to launch a solution that is 100% focused on what its team of surveyors want from a system. It creates significant efficiencies for them when at each property, and being based on the Windows 8 OS, it is future-proofed so new features – such as the ability to complete Homebuyers reports or other instructions – will also be able to be completed digitally, on the go. Watch this space for updates.”

Q-Mobile II includes a wide range of new features and enhancements, including full compatibility with Windows 8, an improved user interface to improve the speed of site note completion, compatibility with touch-screen or digital pen usage, plus the ability to access integrated camera and calculator functionality.    The site note functionality has also seen a number of improvements, including quicker data inputting features, plus intelligent validation for enhanced risk management.   

http://www.colleys.co.uk/

Jayne Coppinger appointed as Sales & Relationship Manager

Jayne Coppinger has been appointed as Sales & Relationship Manager for Landmark's 'Landmark Quest' division.  Jayne is responsible for supporting mortgage lender clients with their use of the Q-Guard risk management and fraud prevention platform.

Jayne joins the division having considerable experience in the UK’s property industry.  Prior to Landmark, Jayne was Business Development Director at Move With Us in addition to National Sales Manager for Zoopla Property Group. Jayne also spent four years as Business Development Manager at Rightmove.

Peter Stimson, Managing Director – Landmark Quest, Landmark Information Group said: “Jayne is a great asset to our financial risk division; she brings with her a huge amount of experience in the property industry and has an excellent grasp on the current legislations that are facing the lending community related to risk management and security. She will work closely alongside our existing lender clients, particularly those that are already using our Q-Guard platform, as well as support the sales team in further increasing adoption of our risk management and fraud prevention tools.”

Added Jayne Coppinger: “I look forward to meeting many new and existing client and contacts from the industry over the course of the coming weeks.   From my point of view, I will be on hand to support our lender clients in ensuring their current risk strategies are backed-up by the very latest risk alerts and automated detection methods.”

Jayne Coppinger, Sales & Relationship Manager

Santander incorporates environmental data from Landmark Quest into mortgage valuation assessment process

Latest news from our 'Landmark Quest' division:

"Landmark Quest, a leading provider of risk management, mobile solutions and bespoke valuation software for lenders and surveyors, has today announced it has partnered with Santander to integrate environmental risk data into the lender’s mortgage valuation process.  It is the first high street bank to assess environmental data, in order to support its overall decision-making process.

With Santander opting to use Automated Valuation Models (AVMs) alongside physical valuations for property purchases and remortgages, the environmental data helps support the AVM decision by highlighting risks such as flooding and subsidence. Should either the AVM or the environmental data highlight a risk or not be sufficient to support a decision, rather than cases being declined they will be forwarded to a specialist valuation surveyor to undertake a physical inspection.

David House, Head of Property Risk at Santander UK said: “We have partnered with Landmark Quest to integrate environmental data into our AVM. By incorporating this, Santander is taking a robust approach to property risk by looking at factors other than just the valuation. If any environmental risk is highlighted, we will revert to our usual physical inspection process. This ensures that none of our customers will be disadvantaged as a result.”

Adds Peter Stimson, Managing Director – Landmark Quest, Landmark Information Group: “Landmark’s database is one of the largest of its kind in Europe holding approximately one billion active features.  By working in partnership with Santander, we are proud to integrate environmental data into its valuation process so any potential risks can be analysed as part of the lender’s already thorough analysis.”

Nipping Buy-to-Let Fraud in the Bud

In the September 2014 edition of Mortgage Finance Gazette, Jayne Coppinger,  Sales & Relationship Manager of Landmark Quest provided her expert view on Buy-to-Let fraud:

Jayne Coppinger

"Reports are coming through from the industry regarding an increase in the number of mortgage applications that are being fraudulently submitted as buy-to-let cases, since the more stringent affordability checks in the Mortgage Market Review rules came into action.

Applications are being identified where borrowers have requested a buy-to-let loan, with the intention of actually living in the newly purchased property.   This is a clear breach of the spirit of buy to let lending, and is a “fraud for property”, since this route is often used to buy properties which would not be regarded as affordable to the applicant when treated as a residential purchase.

While this currently appears to affect a relatively small number of cases, it is clear that this approach is being used to avoid the more meticulous MMR affordability checks. The FCA is alive to the risk, and during the summer, issued a warning to lenders to be more aware of this potential practice.

Some lenders apply similar affordability criteria for BTL cases as for residential mortgages and are therefore relatively immune to this kind of fraud, but for those who primarily rely on rental income to adjudge a loan’s suitability, there are definite risks that they are left open to this kind of “fraud for property”.

As part of our partnership with two lender clients, this risk was identified alongside their risk and fraud teams, and was shared with our technical team. The resulting risk mitigation strategy – Landmark Analytics’ “Let to Live” alert, went live into the Quest Q-Guard system 12 months ago, and has already seen great success detecting and preventing this misuse of BTL lending. We are seeing volumes of alerts generated increase post- MMR – which fuels our suspicion that the FCA’s concern is well placed.

We all have a duty to make the mortgage market an unattractive fraud target, and whilst this may not be a “fraud for profit” such as property club activity, it is in all our interests that the products offered to market are used for their intended purpose so that the market remains healthy and sustainable."

To access more industry articles on this topic, also visit the Mortgage Finance Gazette website: http://www.mortgagefinancegazette.com/fraud/nipping-buy-to-let-fraud-in-the-bud/ 

On the Alert for Mortgage Fraud

In the September edition of Mortgage Finance Gazette, Peter Stimson, Managing Director - Financial Risk at Landmark provides a detailed view on the technology that is key in helping mortgage lenders stay one step ahead of fraudsters: 

Peter Stimson

"The latest studies in to the scale of mortgage fraud are reporting some positive figures.  Experian’s most recent analysis into fraudulent mortgage applications identified that the number of such applications had decreased from 30 applications in every 10,000 identified as fraudulent during the last year, compared to 38 in every 10,000 during 2012 and 34 in every 10,000 in 2011.

While this may sound promising, it is worth remembering that as well as Experian only covering a limited amount of the market, lower fraud detection rates don’t always equate to less fraud.  It could well be that methods being used to detect fraud are becoming less successful, as mortgage fraud prevention is essentially an ongoing ‘cat and mouse’ game between lenders and fraudsters, as fraudsters adapt their attempted frauds by using alternative means.

Technology is key in helping lenders stay one step ahead of fraudsters. By implementing intelligent or automated detection systems that proactively alert lenders to discrepancies, it is possible to police a large number of avenues that fraudsters may be using to try and access the funds they want.

Having the ability to automatically investigate application and property data is where software tools really come into their own.  In the past, fraud detection meant manually analysing mortgage applications, which as well as being very inefficient, is also very inconsistent as a large number of frauds are missed. Spotting anomalies in complex data by ‘hand’ is very difficult. In short, it is simply not possible for risk teams to manually analyse cases to the extent that detection systems can, particularly taking into account the wide range of routes that fraudsters attempt to use."

To access the full article, please visit the Mortgage Finance Gazette website: 

http://www.mortgagefinancegazette.com/features/on-the-alert-for-fraud/

Team Landmark take part in the Ride for Ryder challenge

A team of seven of us here at Landmark took part in the Ride for Ryder challenge on Sunday 11th May 2014. The challenge, now in its eight year, organised by the charity Sue Ryder who provide hospice and neurological care to people with life changing illnesses, started and finished at the Nettlebed hospice in Oxfordshire.

The charity raise funds to help continue and provide care for patients living with incurable illnesses with every £100 funding the cost of a nurse for a 7 hour day shift to provide care and support for patients and their families across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

Overall, roughly 350 people took part in the challenge, up from 100 taking part last year, with three routes winding through the Chiltern Hills to choose from. Carole Ankers, Product Development Director, Marc Littlefair, Technical Support Manager, Matt Dellowe, Development Support Manager, Lisa Middleton, Marketing Executive, Nick Capek, Product Manager, Julian Bedford, Development Team Leader and Nicola Ellis chose to ride the 25 mile course and Ian Clarke, Chief Technology Officer, the 60 mile course. Together raising £1,115 for the charity which Landmark have pledged to match.

The weather on the day was not especially kind, with strong cross winds and the threat of downpour making each mile seem that much harder, but everyone was in good spirits and proud to be supporting a cause close to their hearts. One member of our team, Nick Capek, completed the 25 mile course on his childhood BMX from 1984, in memory of his Nan who spent time in the Sue Ryder home. Two members of the team (myself being one!) ended up off course and completing significantly more than the required 25 miles!

For me, I only very recently took up cycling – the last time I was on a road bike was probably as a child, other than that the odd (and boring) spin class in the gym. I bought a bike about a month ago and when the email came around asking if anyone would be interested in joining the team I thought it would be a great idea and I’d give myself a challenge to work towards, with the bonus of raising money for a worthwhile cause in the process. Never having done a cycling event before, it was daunting but I had already done a ride of 25 miles to prepare so I knew I could cover the distance. What I hadn’t prepared for was the strong winds coupled with large hills and a wrong turn, sapping my energy and making what should have been an enjoyable ride seem like an epic 32 mile marathon -finishing in 2 hours 44 mins. Not bad for a beginner….. maybe 60 miles next year!?

Overall, the winning times for each course were:

·         10 miles      00.55.07

·         25 miles      01.53.47

·         60 miles      03.36.09

Landmark continues to support our two nominated charities, Sue Ryder and MapAction, as well as backing the efforts of our staff in their own worthy charities and community causes. During our last financial year Landmarkers raised over £15,000 (Landmark charity matched over £7,500) for a range of charities including: Comic Relief, Coppafeel Charity for Breast Cancer, WaterAid, European Disaster Volunteers and the Brain Tumour Charity. We promote healthy living through a range of initiatives and with National Cycling week coming up in June and our continued support of Jessica Varnish, the most promising young talent of the British Track Cycling team we are looking forward to seeing what else we will be taking part in.

Lisa Middleton
Marketing Executive

Whose Responsibility Is It Anyway?

From 26 April, the Mortgage Market Review comes into force, and brings with it stricter affordability rules.  As such, it increases lenders’ obligation to determine affordability – both now and in the future.

Some worry however that the rule change may see mortgage application fraud rise, in avoidance of more rigorous checks.  For those with income verification worries, there is concern they may target alternative mortgage products.

With self-certification ended, we have been warning clients to ensure that they incorporate strict fraud alerts on unregulated loan business.   In fact, Buy-to-Let is increasingly being mooted as the potential ‘replacement’ to self-certified loans; a straw poll by a broker magazine asked its readers whether any clients have attempted to buy property for residential purposes via a buy-to-let mortgage.  Out of 275 responses, 52% had witnessed such attempts.

Systems are in place with many lenders to detect this activity, however it is important that the industry remains vigilant. But who in the property purchasing chain is actually responsible for policing or reporting related concerns?  Where does the responsibility truly lie?

Estate Agents

At the start of the process, Estate Agents are in an ideal position to gather information on the purchaser and the property, including its potential for rental, and to understand how the purchaser intends to use the property.  Once a purchase proceeds the agent is less likely to be involved in the financial transaction – unless the applicant happens to use their in-house financial advisor.  Perhaps there is scope to incorporate feedback from agents in the process, so their initial findings can be analysed?  As unregulated professionals this may be a long shot, but there’s no doubt that most agents will know the purpose of a given purchase.

Brokers

Mortgage brokers are often considered to be in the ‘hot seat’ as it is their recommendations that will be adopted by the applicant in terms of which mortgage product they should opt for. It is therefore up to brokers to extract enough information on the applicant, their intentions and plans for the property plus their relevant financial history, to make an accurate judgement.  Brokers have a duty to report any suspicions they may have, whether related to falsified ID or income data.  We are seeing lenders tightening up their management of broker panels with some refusing to accept further business if fraudulent applications are submitted.   

Surveyors

We've spoken about the surveyor community as being the ‘eyes and ears’ of the industry, and believe they are in a strong position to identify any suspicious activities. Surveyors not only meet the current occupant during the valuation but also physically assess the property.   We believe this places surveyors at the heart of the risk management process and in a prime position to identify factors that may add up to a fraud referral when combined with other information sources.

Conveyancers

As the last line of defence, legal conveyancers have a responsibility to ensure the transaction is fully transparent.  As ‘gatekeepers’ of the mortgage process, conveyancers undertake detailed identity verification checks, have a view of the source of funds, and also have an insight to the property, including a range of detailed property search information. 

There has been some interesting debate over whether the data available to conveyancers could be used earlier in the purchase process, with obvious benefits for instance if lenders were able to make use of Land Registry charge information when deciding how to value a property.

Lenders

Lenders are of course at the heart of fraud detection and prevention with their profitability directly affected by bad lending, and now a strong focus from regulators not only on their processes and controls but also on capital requirements for different categories of lending.

Fraud teams walk a tightrope between ensuring that the customer journey for the majority remains smooth and trouble free, whilst at the same time investigating as many cases as possible, making it genuinely tough to gain approval for a mortgage when criteria are abused or significant suspicion persists.

The IT systems which today form a key part of lenders’ defences aid this process by analysing every potential loan at various stages, from the moment of application through valuation and even the conveyancer’s certificate of title process.

By analysing both applicant and property data – for example, looking at previous loan applications or the property’s transaction and listing history – risk systems can work together to issue alerts if the application meets specific criteria, as determined by the lender. Detailed investigations can then be undertaken by the lender’s fraud team before the application is allowed to proceed.

What this shows is that there isn't a definitive single body that is responsible for policing, detecting or reporting cases of fraud, and whilst lenders are clearly driving the process from the centre, each ‘link in the chain’ has the ability to influence the overall strength of the anti-fraud toolkit. 

Knowledge in this arena clearly equals power, and the provision of new data driven solutions that intelligently analyse all facets of the proposed transaction will enable the entire industry to make better informed decisions – first time, every time.

Richard Groom

Product Development Director

Financial Risk - Landmark Information Group

The Calm Before The Storm?

The latest research from CIFAS has identified a decrease in fraudulent cases during 2013. According to the latest numbers from the fraud prevention service, an 11 per cent reduction was recorded from the previous year; which was the first year-on-year decline since 2010.

It’s all very positive news until we learn that fraud continues to remain at a higher rate than ‘pre-recessionary times’, so we still have some way to go.

When looking at why the drop has occurred, it is positive to note that increased investment in fraud detection and prevention technology, including data sharing, has been a key factor. 

It doesn't however mean that fraud has stopped altogether: in fact with more systems being deployed to stop such crimes from occurring, fraudsters are turning their attentions to targets that appear more ‘vulnerable’.   For example, fraud against loan accounts, including secured, unsecured and payday loans went up by 55%.

So, while the overall figures paint a fairly optimistic picture, we must continue to be on our guard against fraud. 

In particular, next month, we see the implementation of the Mortgage Market Review recommendations.   With a host of new rules and procedures coming into force, including greater scrutiny regarding applicants’ affordability, are we in fact simply witnessing the ‘calm before the storm’?

With borrowers having to provide more detailed assurances that the loan is appropriate to their financial circumstances, we will be closely monitoring whether this has an impact on application fraud, such as an upturn in false income declarations or non-disclosure of debts, for example. 

We are working with our lender clients to ensure that relevant fraud alerts are in place on their risk dashboards so any potential impact is identified as early in the process as possible.  This includes attempting to go ‘under the radar’ and instead access funds via Buy-to-Let products, where income verification isn’t a requirement.

Time will tell, however risk-based IT systems are ready and in place to safeguard lenders from a wide range of risks. It will be particularly interesting to see what effect the new regulations have on both mortgage volumes and incidences of application fraud. 

Richard Groom, Product Development Director, Landmark Quest

(www.questuk.com) 

Landmark announces senior appointments to its Financial Risk division

We are delighted to announce two significant appointments to the management team of our Financial Risk division, both of whom join from internationally quoted blue-chip corporations, to direct the planned growth and future product development strategies of the group.

Peter Stimson joins Landmark as Managing Director of the Financial Risk division, having spent over 20 years in the mortgage and financial services industry at director and senior management level.   Peter has a wealth of experience in fraud detection, Automated Valuation Modelling (AVM) and risk strategy development, all of which greatly complement the Landmark Quest, Landmark Analytics and Metropix brands that sit within Landmark’s Financial Risk division.

Prior to joining Landmark, Peter’s previous roles included UK Managing Director of CoreLogic Solutions, Head of Product Management for Platform – the intermediary lender of the Co-Operative Bank, Commercial Director of Checkmate Mortgages and Senior Vice President at Lehman Bros.

Commenting on his new role, Peter Stimson said: “I have worked in the mortgage sector for over two decades, and more recently have concentrated on supporting lenders with their fraud detection, credit risk and AVM requirements.   I am excited to bring this experience to Landmark, where I will work closely with the team to implement the next phase of the Financial Risk division’s planned growth and development programme, in conjunction with our customers in the mortgage lending, surveying and wider property sectors.”

Working alongside Peter is Andrew Stevens, who has been appointed as the new Head of Development, Financial Risk.   Andrew joins from Sage where he was the Head of ERP Research and Development for the UK, Germany and Austria and responsible for turning product portfolio strategies into reality.  Andrew is a seasoned R&D specialist having worked in enterprise architecture development since 1993.

Commenting on the appointments, Mark Milner, CEO of Landmark Information Group said: “Our Financial Risk division is going from strength-to-strength with activity levels continuing to grow. With gross mortgage lending forecasted to rise to its highest levels since 2008, we have made two significant appointments to our Financial Risk division in order to ensure our business remains fully prepared for the further increase in demand that we will experience as a result.  Both Peter and Andrew join Landmark with considerable experience of managing business growth and product development within internationally-quoted corporations; we are delighted to have them both join Landmark at what is an exciting time and period of continued growth for our business.”

Landmark Information Group launches social housing heat maps

Landmark Analytics extends property market data to provide social housing density analysis for urban or property studies

Landmark Information Group, the UK’s leading supplier of digital mapping, property and environmental risk information, has today announced the unveiling of new social housing heat maps that highlight social housing density by postcode or region, at a glance. 

Via the Landmark Analytics division, the heat maps have been launched to provide an additional layer of data insight into the concentration of social housing property, as well as view average prices, crime information and ‘£ per sqm’ heat maps. 

Managing Director, Selwyn Lim of Landmark Analytics said: “Our aim has always been to find new and innovative ways to equip our users with key property data and so today’s announcement strengthens this.  The social housing heat maps will be of interest to a wide range of different users, from social housing organisations through to developers, local authorities or urban planners who are undertaking analysis of towns, boroughs or property density in general.”

Drawn from various data sources, the social housing heat maps will provide Landmark Analytics clients with access to data from across England and Wales. This freely available new addition to the Landmark Analytics product suite provides users with an overview of where social housing properties are clustered.  Users can type in the postcode of their area of interest, and navigate their way around, viewing the distinct differences in areas, and utilising the colour-coded key on to calculate percentage rates.

The accuracy and breadth of Landmark Analytics’ property database, which is used by HMRC, and in models approved by Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s, supports housing officials with verifying and maintaining the overall quality of their internal records.  The Landmark Analytics database includes a wealth of data including 90 million property images, 20 million sold price records, 18 million historic estate agency listings, 3 million floor plans, plus bedroom numbers, estimated internal area and Council Tax banding information.

In addition, Landmark Information Group provides a wealth of consultancy, data and mapping services, including simple, online GI mapping solutions that enable housing providers to instantly identify areas of risk, visualise essential business intelligence and deliver significant efficiencies and improvements.

For further information visit www.landmarkanalytics.co.uk. 

Landmark Raises the Bar in the Sustainability Software Market

We're pleased to announce the launch of Sustainability Sure, a new platform brought to market via a strategic partnership with ManageCO2. An innovative environmental software development company whose mission is to make carbon, sustainability and energy management easy. 
 

Sustainability Sure is a new sustainability platform that meets the full requirements of the new (October 2013) mandatory carbon reporting for all UK incorporated and stock exchange listed companies. Uniquely, Sustainability Sure combines energy meter analytics, CRC compliance and reporting, GHG reporting and CSR in a single platform. It also conveniently enables companies to automate the data collection and data entry without any IT implementation. In addition the management information derived from Sustainability Sure delivers benefits beyond simply legislative compliance, such as enabling costs to be allocated to specific cost centres as opposed to rolling up to a general ‘catch all’ corporate pot. This platform therefore meets the needs of the Finance Director as well as the Head of Sustainability. Ultimately, Sustainability Sure is a comprehensive and highly intuitive sustainability platform.

We, as Landmark forged a reputation in the energy and sustainability market via their Carbon Counter product, launched in 2010, to help companies manage their emissions in light of the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) legislation. Sustainability Sure now supersedes Carbon Counter.

Sustainability Sure is powered by the ManageCO2 software platform which is doubly accredited and independently tested by SGS, the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company, and the CDP (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project). Thanks to this accreditation, Sustainability Sure is the only software solution that has been independently tested against, and meets, the international Greenhouse Gas Protocol and ISO 14064 (the international standard for environmental management) as well as DEFRA’s standards of 2012 and June 2013.

ManageCO2’s success stems from the fact that the software was purpose built to fit both the current legislative framework and also easily adapt to future legislation. This has resulted in a product that is seamless and straightforward in its day-to-day application.

David Mole, Business Development Director, Landmark Information Group comments:

“Sustainability Sure combines ManageCO2’s carbon, energy and sustainability software excellence with Landmark’s experience, highly regarded reputation, and excellent sales and marketing teams to offer a truly market leading product.”

Sustainability Sure has already helped a leading university better manage their emissions. As the platform automatically calculates certain exemptions which were valid in this case for the university, analysis showed that the university had in fact overpaid tax on its emissions.  This was flagged because of the way that Sustainability Sure works ensures that data is automatically entered and checked for errors, before generating an automatic report. This results in a far simpler and smoother process for the user.

Adrian Fleming, CEO and Founder of ManageCO2, said:

“Both Landmark and ManageCO2 have an aligned vision for the future of this sector, and this was a logical next step in the development of our relationship. It is a fantastic partnership, one which together makes us probably the largest global carbon and sustainability software provider in terms of client numbers, which currently is in excess of 200 companies with their 100,000 buildings stretching across all seven continents.”

Landmark Quest wins ‘Best Valuations Technology' at Mortgage Finance Gazette 2014 awards

We are proud to reveal that Landmark Quest has been announced as the winner of the ‘Best Valuations Technology' category, in the prestigious Mortgage Finance Gazette 2014 awards.

The award recognises our Q-Mobile software and tablet technology and the successful implementation with Connells Survey & Valuation. The team at Connells has embedded Q-Mobile across its business, nationwide, and is the latest development in its strategy to extend its mortgage valuation report validation, efficiency and quality.

Adopting Q-Mobile and Panasonic Toughbook devices is part of Connells' planned next-generation service delivery and moves to dramatically reduce paper-based, manual reporting across the business. Connells' adoption followed 12-months comprehensive development and live testing across its full suite of customer services.

Liam Parker, Product Development Director, collected the award on behalf of the team, and was joined by Ross Bowen, Managing Director of Connells Survey & Valuation, who was our guest for the evening.

Commenting on the award, Mark Milner, CEO of Landmark Information Group said: "Congratulations to the team on winning this prestigious award from Mortgage Finance Gazette. A great deal of work has gone into the launch of Q-Mobile and it is extremely gratifying to be recognised by the judges for our efforts. Through Q-Mobile, Connells is aiming to improve the overall efficiency and quality of its valuation reporting process, whilst providing enhanced data validation and security for its customers.”

The full list of winners can be accessed here: http://www.mortgagefinancegazette.com/awards-special/winners-announced-in-the-mortgage-finance-gazette-awards-2014/

Conveyancing and Fraud

"Having worked with the mortgage industry for many years developing system-based anti-fraud controls, in particular mitigating valuation risks, the latest area of our research and development programme extends naturally to the area of conveyancing-based risk. 

 

With an appetite for lenders to apply greater rigour to the entire application verification process, it is important to ensure that appropriate checks are being undertaken at every key stage of the process – from application, through to valuation and conveyancing, prior to completion. Additionally we must ensure that systems are linked to automate as much of this joined-up analysis as possible.

 

The current workflow for a mortgage application means that by the time a solicitor is instructed, lenders will have already reviewed the loan application and granted the loan in principle. There are however a number of due diligence safe guards undertaken at the point of conveyancing to further limit exposure to risk or potential frauds and our vision is to deliver a seamless system that automatically analyses risk at each stage of the transaction.

 

Anti-Money Laundering
As well as reviewing a number of warning signs that may suggest a suspicious transaction – such as whether the legal professional has met the client face to face, if the deposit is being paid by a third party, or left over monies from the transaction are being paid to an external party – applying the requirements from the CML Handbook, in addition to undertaking Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks should help towards identifying fraudulent cases.

 

Whilst legislative AML guidance exists, there is no benchmark to ensure one AML service is comparable to the next and no specific governance in place to ensure that all parties in a transaction comply with the regulations. Plus, there is no easy way to check if an AML audit has been carried out by each professional in the transactional chain. As such, this leaves gaps in the process and makes it potentially possible for fraudsters to take advantage of the system.

 

For example, a fraudster may attempt to beat an electronic AML check if they are providing the correct information regarding another person’s identity and have false documentation that incorporates their own photo. It would then be entirely down to the lending organisation to identify other information disclosed in the application that appears to be out of place and therefore raise an alarm to the appropriate parties.

 

Identity Fraud
Unfortunately, the fraudulent use of identity data is on the increase. The UK’s fraud prevention service, CIFAS, released its ‘FraudScape Bulletin’ in August, which backed-up this very point. The half-yearly insight into the latest fraud-related trends identified that of the 113,980 cases recorded for the first half of 2013, two out of every three frauds (66%) were as a result of identity theft.

This compares to application fraud (at 18%) and misuse of facility (at 15%). In fact, in the previous year, CIFAS confirmed that over 150,000 cases had an identifiable victim illustrating the true scale of this problem.

 

When it comes to cases of identity fraud that lenders and conveyancers need to be aware of, typical mortgage cases include examples such as unencumbered fraud. This involves someone attempting to access funds using a property that has no mortgage linked to it. So, this could be an empty property, is part of a deceased person’s estate or perhaps has an absent landlord. The perpetrator, using false identification, seeks to access a low-LTV product and hopes to keep under the radar by applying for a low-risk mortgage, using identification that matches those on the deeds of the property in question.

While the Law Society provides practice notes that offer guidance on how conveyancers can protect themselves against such risks, we are also working with nominated Compliance Officers for Legal Practice (COLPs) within conveyancing firms to assess ways in which the due diligence and AML checks can be automated and integrated earlier in to the risk management analysis process.

 

By eliminating the loopholes that fraudsters are exploiting we believe that a joined-up approach that electronically evidences the outcome from the varying AML suppliers is an important step forward. Removing paper-based searches and automating the entire process will provide greater assurances earlier in the process.

 

Alerting Tools
In addition, we are working with a number conveyancing panel managers and third party risk management firms to create new alerting tools that automatically analyse applications at each stage of the process – from applicant, valuation, to legal completion – to provide integrated risk management that systematically checks for discrepancies at every step of a mortgage transaction and links the professionals involved to further guard against 3^rd party involvement.

 

Based on the latest figures from CIFAS, it would seem that fraudsters appear to have the brazen ingenuity – and downright fearlessness – to continue to deceive lenders by hiding behind stolen identities, and therefore we must continue innovating with new alerting tools and technology innovation that prevents as many attempts to defraud as possible.

 

As technology continues to evolve, we believe that the tide will start to turn as fraudsters have ever fewer loopholes to exploit due to transactions being made more transparent and key data intelligence being shared from one professional to the next involved in the property transaction."

Richard Groom, Product Development Director, Landmark Information Group

As published in the September edition of Mortgage Finance Gazette magazine

Valuation – capacity and fraud control

Having focused last month on lenders’ use of property data to manage valuation selection and therefore capacity issues, it has been interesting to see the media focus on the issue as mortgage brokers and consumers feel the effects of longer turn-around times in areas of peak demand.

Peter Bolton-King, Residential Director of RICS, last month commissioned an enquiry to consider the challenges facing property valuation, and a BBC radio programme focused on supply and demand fluctuations driving valuation fees downwards.  It is clear that this trend will reverse in today’s environment of raised professional indemnity costs and rising demand as the heat is felt of a market on the rise.

In the same BBC programme, Richard Sexton, Business Development Director at e.surv was keen to place matters in context, rightly pointing out that the large panel managers who service the majority of mortgage lenders still have average valuation turn-around times measured in days not weeks, which in the overall framework of a home move likely to take several months, will only impact consumers in a small minority of exceptional cases.

Surveyors are particularly focused on process improvements, and recent experience of rolling out our mobile technology platform amongst over 1000 of the country’s busiest valuers has shown that efficiency improvements are achievable, which combined with an industry wide recruitment drive is growing overall capacity.

So, whilst industry capacity is a concern, and something the lending community is particularly live to, it’s clear that between data driven decision making and technology driven efficiency in the surveying process itself, this is an issue which can be managed effectively.

Landmark Quest, part of Landmark Information Group, continues to work with both lenders and panel managers to ensure that whilst solutions are targeted at assisting with capacity concerns, they also have a keen eye to ensuring a risk-based approach can be demonstrated to regulators.  In addition to this we find ourselves applying a wider range fraud detection and control to all of our clients’ solutions as it becomes key to show that whilst some of the market excesses of the noughties appear to be returning, systems and controls are now available to ensure risk is absolutely minimised.

Richard Groom

Product Development Director, Landmark Information Group