Nick Mundy
Senior Partner
Tel 01432 265630
Fax 01432 262799
Email nm@mundys.co.uk

Yasmin Collier has joined Hereford property lawyers Mundys as an Associate.

“I am really looking forward to working at Mundys,” says Yasmin. “It’s a go-ahead firm with an interesting range of clients and a particular emphasis on client care that I find professionally satisfying.”

Yasmin was formerly with a major conveyancing specialist in Cheltenham and more recently with a Hereford-based practice.

Says senior partner Nick Mundy: “Conveyancing has become highly competitive over the last couple of years, but we have seen a substantial increase in the volume of our property transaction business – both locally and nationally. Our reputation is based on quick and uncomplicated sales where the client always comes first.

“That philosophy is obviously working, and for some time now we have been looking to add to the Mundys team. We see Yasmin as something of a catch for us – she comes with a wealth of experience but also brings just the right approach.”

Yasmin is a Member of the Institute of Legal Executives. She is married with an 18-month-old son and lives in Ledbury.

Sara Connor (née Davies) of property law specialist Mundy’s of Hereford has qualified as a Licensed Conveyancer.

A Licensed Conveyancer is a specialist property lawyer, someone who is trained and qualified in all aspects of the law dealing with property.

For three years Sara has been a key member of the team as a conveyancing assistant and now becomes an Associate of the firm.

A local girl, Sara is a former student of Whitecross High School.

“Sara is already an important member of the team” said Nick Mundy, senior partner of Mundy’s. “It is a credit to her that all her hard work has been rewarded with this qualification. I am pleased that she is playing an even more important part in the firm.”

Mundy’s Property Lawyers has been a specialist conveyancing firm since 2000, having operated as a conventional full-service legal practice before that.

An ever-increasing number of homeowners are finding that the value of their property is being affected by unforeseen Planning Approvals and other forms of blight.

In the past, there wasn't much that you could do about this. But now insurance policies are becoming available to provide a decent level of cover.

Newly available from Mundys Property Lawyers is the Home Value Protection Insurance policy. For just £12 a month, you have £100,000 worth of protection – which means that the policy will pay up to £100,000.00 against any reduction in value of your home when you move. You will also be able to claim expenses of up to £30,000.00 incurred in moving to another property.

The policy can be triggered by any of these unforeseen developments:

-- Building or upgrading of roads
-- Railways, tramways, airports
-- Housing estates, antisocial neighbours
-- Hospitals, sports grounds, prisons, educational establishments
-- Industrial, retail or commercial estates
-- Sewage works, power stations
-- Pylons, aerials, telephone masts
-- Wind turbines or wind farms

Mundy's is able to offer this policy to any homeowner owning a freehold property; the policy can also cover leaseholds providing there's a minimum of 50 years' unexpired term. The policy must be taken out within 13 weeks of moving into your home, or within 13 weeks of re-mortgaging.

The insurance is of course underwritten at Lloyds.

A Reader Satisfaction Survey among subscribers to the Mundy Morning Mail, the free emailed newsletter on property matters from Mundy’s Property Lawyers of Hereford, has produced impressively high marks.

The survey generally confirmed that the Mundy Morning Mail is both useful and entertaining. In particular, on the question "How do you rate the newsletter overall" the newsletter achieved an average score of 4.11 out of 5.

“It’s very gratifying to know that we’re doing something right” said Nick Mundy, senior partner of the property law specialist. “We are using the results of the survey to tweak the design and content of the Mundy Morning Mail, which is now in its third year.

“But we will not be changing the essentials – the newsletter has always been free, it has never carried advertisements, and we work hard to ensure the confidentiality of our subscription list.”

The February issue has just been published, with comment on Self-Invested Personal Pensions and the state of the housing market as well as a mix of property news from the press.

On Friday 1 October 2004 staff at Mundy’s Property Lawyers in Hereford will denimstrate they care by throwing out their suits and twinsets, jumping into their jeans and donating £1 each to the national Jeans for Genes appeal.

The annual campaign is urging everyone to get denimstrating simply by wearing their jeans and donating £1 or more. Proceeds will help eight national charities, including Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity and The Muscular Dystrophy Campaign to fund vital genetic research to help alleviate and cure childhood genetic disorders.

In the UK, one baby in every 33 is born with a genetic disorder or birth defect – that’s one born every 30 minutes whose life could be affected. Jeans for Genes has now raised more than £18 million to support pioneering research projects and provide valuable support services for affected children and their families across the country.

To find out more about Jeans for Genes, call freephone 0800 980 4800. .

House prices in Herefordshire have risen by nearly a third in the past year. So says an analysis of the latest Land Registry figures by Mundy's, the property law specialists of Hereford.

The Land Registry has just published its latest quarterly residential property price report, covering the period January to March 2003.

In that period the average price of property sold in Herefordshire was £147,676, slightly above the overall average for England and Wales of £145,897.

But a year ago the Herefordshire average was £112,655, well below the national average then of £121,881. So the county has seen a price increase of just over 31 per cent in 12 months. By comparison, the increase for all of England and Wales in the year was 19.7 per cent.

Tellingly, though, the total number of sales was down. "Some 640 properties were sold in Herefordshire in January-March 2003", says Nick Mundy. "That's a noticeable drop on the 709 which changed hands in the same period last year. The inference is that fewer properties are available, with all the bargains now long gone."

A similar pattern is repeated nationwide, with the total sales 4.6 per cent lower during the first three months of 2003, to 217,262.

Most of the counties in our immediate area also did better than the national averages in terms of price and percentage increase over the year. "Overall the six local counties managed a healthy 30 per cent jump in average prices" says Nick Mundy.

Said Nick Mundy: "We regard these figures as a pretty good reflection of the state of the market.

"Admittedly the Land Registry reports a quarterly average and takes some time to collate the data, so in a fast-moving market they might be out of date already.

"But importantly the figures are based on the actual numbers of properties that were sold and their actual selling price," says Nick. "Other market assessments are based on asking price, which obviously isn't necessarily the same thing."

The Land Registry survey also has the merit of including specific figures for Herefordshire and other local counties, unlike most other housing market reports.

The analysis is reported in the current issue of the Mundy Morning Mail, Mundy's monthly e-newsletter. Readers are invited to sign up for a free copy at www.mundymail.co.uk.

The latest update of the website for property law specialist Mundy's of Hereford includes a major overhaul of the Links section.

This page has a selection of clickable pointers that will take the visitor to other useful websites. The website now has 118 of these links.

"Our Links page certainly doesn't list every website that mentions Herefordshire or property sales" says senior partner Nick Mundy.

"But all the sites we list have been visited and assessed by us for their usefulness. So we believe this is the most useful guide available for anyone thinking about buying or selling houses in Herefordshire and the Marches.

"What's more, we check all the links regularly. And we update the list frequently to make sure that it continues to be the best source of local information for the housebuyer."

The list is completely independent, and Mundy's does not charge for inclusion.

Mundy's website was redesigned and relaunched last year by local marketing specialists Fields Place Productions.

The links are all categorised to make them easier to use:

• Property research: Basic information about the property and the area you're considering - 10 must-visit websites
• Find the property - nationwide: 14 of the best countrywide websites covering properties for sale
• Find the property - in Herefordshire: our local area is now well-provided for estate agents, and we have websites for 32 of them
• Find the finance: eight online sources for property loans
• Ideas and advice: a potpourri of information and advice for the buyer or seller of property. We list 13 sites
• Rent: websites for the top three local letting agencies
• Build it yourself: If you're keen to build your own house, we have four sites that would make a good starting point
• Professional contacts: a collection of nine websites for the key professional bodies in the property business
• Local information: 17 key websites giving a guide to local life

Sara Connor (née Davies) is the latest member of the team at property law specialist Mundy's of Hereford.

"Sara is already an important member of the team" said Nick Mundy, head of Mundy's. "Our business has been growing fast over the last few months, with more sales and more purchases going through the office, and we had been looking for the right person for some time.

"In particular, we need a thorough professional who can also communicate well with people. I'm happy to say that Sara impressed us immediately with her confidence, competence and abilities."

Said Sara: "I'm looking forward to building my career at Mundy's. The firm handles a wide variety of different types of property transactions for its clients, and it manages to mix a high-tech approach with the personal touch."

Sara joins Mundy's from local law firm Gabbs.

A local girl, Sara is a former student of Whitecross High School. In her spare time she is studying for a licence from the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.

A major revamp of www.mundys.co.uk, the website of property law specialist Mundy's of Hereford, includes extra facilities for clients and visitors.

"The website has worked well for over a year now" said Nick Mundy, head of Mundy's. "We have become comfortable with the technology of online access, and indeed we have developed our own interactive client files with a gateway from our web site."

That service, called Track-a-Matter, means that at any time of day or night any client can check the progress of a sale or purchase. Clients simply enter their security password to see just what stage their transaction has reached.

"We update the information as soon as we have it" says Nick Mundy. "Letters, phone calls, documents sent or received — they are all entered on to the client's file and can be checked virtually straight away."

The improvements to Mundy's website have more than doubled its size. "We wanted to improve details like how easy it is to get around the site" comments Nick Mundy. "But more importantly, we wanted to add extra information that house buyers and sellers would find useful."

An example is a comprehensive guide to buying and selling a house complete with pop-up explanations for legal terms. "We explain the whole process", says Nick Mundy. "With our jargon-busting guide you will be able to understand exactly what is going on and why."

The website also has a property news section, and visitors can sign up to receive the Mundy Morning Mail — Mundy's free emailed newsletter.

The website revamp was handled for Mundy's by Dennis Jarrett of the local marketing services specialist Fields Place Productions.

The property boom has seen dramatic increases in the price of houses. But for one licensed conveyancing firm, it has also meant a doubling of business.

For the 12 months to the end of June 2002, the Hereford-based property law specialist Mundy's has shown a 98 percent increase in the amount of money going through its client accounts.

"We handled the legal side of over £60 million worth of property sales last year" said partner Nick Mundy. He added: "That's not our profits, unfortunately — it's the money we look after briefly during the transaction.

"But clearly we can draw some conclusions about the property market."

In particular, Nick Mundy noted that "The average sale price is rising, as you would expect. But for Mundy's it is rising faster than the local average." During the year Mundy's average transaction was for a property worth £137,436. A year ago the average was £104,079.

And Mundy's is getting a much greater share of the business available. According to the Land Registry, some 4,000 properties changed hands in Herefordshire during the year to June 2002; Mundy's handled nearly 15% of those.

Nick Mundy isn't surprised. "We offer a personal service with the option for high-tech file access. Our clients know that they will be dealing a real person, someone who is fully qualified and who cares about their sale or purchase. At the same time we offer online access to your file so that clients can check the progress of the transaction at any hour of day or night."

Mundy's has introduced a free emailed newsletter to keep clients, friends, and associates in touch with moves in the property market.

The property law specialist has just despatched the first issue of the Mundy Morning Mail, and initial response has been excellent. "A dose of common sense and a breath of fresh air" commented one recipient.

Said Nick Mundy: "We aim to provide a useful and entertaining supply of property news, information and authoritative comment. There's a joke in there too."

Issue 1 includes an assessment of the Seller's Pack scheme intended to speed up the purchase of property. The Mundy Morning Mail comments "In reality it may not save much time" though it does foresee "less delay between acceptance of an offer and exchange of contracts". Legislation to make the Seller's Pack a mandatory requirement is expected to be introduced next year.

The Mundy Morning Mail also has a report on house price changes in Herefordshire (the average property now costs £113,000, up by 4.5 percent on last year) and our regular selection and summary of property news.

"The newsletter isn't a hard sell for our services, and it's not a scam to accumulate email addresses for us to bombard people with junk mail", said Nick Mundy. "Anyone who is interested in seeing a copy is welcome to send an email to subscribe@mundymail.co.uk."

The emailed newsletter is produced for Mundy's by Dennis Jarrett of the local marketing services specialist Fields Place Productions.