A conveyancing giant whose businesses handle a quarter of a million transactions suffered a major IT systems outage due to a 'security incident', it has emerged.

Simplify, which describes itself as the UK’s leading independent conveyancing and property services group, was set up in March 2019 and its business includes six of the largest conveyancing firms in the UK. It confirmed in a statement that parts of its business were affected by a 'security incident involving some IT systems'.

The Gazette became aware of the situation yesterday after a worried solicitor got in touch. 

In a statement yesterday afternoon, Simplify said: ‘Following preliminary investigation of our system outages, we became aware that parts of our business had been subject to a security incident involving some IT systems.

‘We are working with our third-party cyber specialists to restore systems, find ways to support our clients’ property transactions and undertake a thorough investigation to gain a fuller understanding of the incident. We have also taken steps to report the incident to relevant authorities and to contact clients, partners, and others we work with.

‘We have now restored IT systems sufficiently to enable clients to move. The good news is that almost all contracted transactions with a fixed completion date are up to date. Over the coming hours will continue to proactively contact clients who are scheduled to complete and provide all the support we can to our clients and partners.’

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers, a specialist property law regulator, said it had been advised by the Simplify Group that certain parts of the business, including Premier Property Lawyers, were affected by a security incident.

The CLC said: 'The Simplify Group responded immediately upon discovery of the incident by engaging a number of third-party cyber specialists to fully restore systems, find ways to support clients’ property transactions and undertake a thorough investigation to gain a fuller understanding of the incident. The Simplify Group have therefore taken proactive steps to contain the incident, including by taking a number of their systems offline as a precautionary measure. We understand the Simplify Group has also taken steps to report the incident to relevant authorities and to contact its clients and partners.'

The Law Society said it has been keeping its Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) firms up to date about the situation and waiting to hear confirmation that the backlog has been worked through. 'We hope that the situation is now largely resolved and have provided information and suggestions to CQS firms whose clients may have been affected,' a spokesperson said.

 

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