40% of consumers believe it is the conveyancer who checks the structure of a property is sound during the home moving transaction. 48% were unaware the conveyancer acts on behalf of both them and the mortgage lender, while 2/3rd of respondents said the conveyancer’s role was to transfer the ownership of the property (68%); effect a change of ownership at Land Registry (65%); and check that the property is not affected by neighbour disputes, flooding, drainage or planning breaches (63%).
The research is part of a national home moving sentiment survey conducted as part of National Conveyancing Week, which runs throughout this week. 2,000 UK adults were surveyed to highlight the level of consumer understanding of conveyancing and the role of a conveyancer in the home purchase/sale process. It also asked how UK homeowners found their conveyancer, their satisfaction with the service, and what improvements they would like to see to the process.
Other key findings from the research revealed that clients have an overall positive moving experience, 72% of respondents who moved in the last 5 years said they were ‘satisfied’ by their experience of using a property lawyer and 74% of respondents would use their conveyancer again. But residual sentiment for conveyancing and property law firms is low with 28% of those who moved over 5 years ago 28% unsure whether they would use their conveyancer again.
The research also looked at delays and identified the top 5 reasons for transactional delays as
- Delays in the chain (buyer/ seller wanting longer to complete) (35%)
- Seller delays in coming back on enquiries (26%)
- Legal issues (lack of paperwork, guarantees, certificates, permissions) (25%)
- Mortgage/ lender delays (24%)
- Search delays (15%)
And while overall satisfaction was high, 60% of respondents felt that the home moving experience could have been improved with speed, communication and online document completion and milestone updates identified as opportunities for improvement.
National Conveyancing Week is taking place between the 11th and 15th March 2024 and is aiming to raise awareness of the conveyancing process across the home moving market, including lenders, estate agents, brokers and IFAs and consumers. Throughout the week a series of online discussions and education pieces are taking place with conveyancing firms encouraged to play their part in encouraging the industry to better signpost their services, provide greater clarity on the services they provide, explain what consumers can expect for their money, and what they are doing to improve the process.
All the sessions conducted are recorded and available, alongside a host of other educational content, on the National Conveyancing Week YouTube channel.
Rob Hailstone, Organiser of National Conveyancing Week, commented:
“With only two out of five adults currently knowing what conveyancing is, there has to be a focus on improving the wider consumer understanding of the home buying and selling legal process and the role of the conveyancer, and we have to accept that many people going through this are not clear on what is happening, or how long it might take.
“As you might expect, knowledge of conveyancing amongst those who have already bought a home is higher than amongst non-homeowners, yet there does remain a knowledge gap particularly in terms of who the conveyancer is representing, what services they are providing, and indeed how consumers access the services of specialist conveyancers in the first place.
“While it’s clearly important to understand what conveyancing is and what services consumers are paying for, there are also difficulties in terms of finding the right specialist conveyancer and sign-posting towards firms should improve.
“The good news is the research shows a significant number of those who have bought in the last five years, took advice and a recommendation from other property market professionals, either a mortgage adviser, an estate agent, or others.
“Furthermore, nearly three out of four consumers were satisfied with the service they received from the last conveyancer they used; however we should also acknowledge that, on average, transactions are taking longer to complete, particularly as conveyancers are having to carry out more work on individual cases than they have ever done before.
“Part of the focus of National Conveyancing Week will be about highlighting ‘best in class’ conveyancing firms which consumers can have confidence in instructing, but also trying to help firms themselves improve their service either through better communication, or explaining the process in simpler terms and managing expectations about how long it does take to complete in today’s market.
“Overall, we want to educate consumers so they go into this process clear and confident on who to use, the service they are receiving, what they pay for, and to ultimately be satisfied with the end result.”
Paula Higgins, Chief Executive of HomeOwners Alliance, added:
“You can’t buy or sell a home without using a conveyancer and while it’s great to receive good news that the conveyancing service is improving for consumers, more needs to be done to raise awareness of what conveyancers do. I’m particularly alarmed that 40% of people wrongly believe the conveyancer will check the structure of the building. This is the job of the surveyor, not the conveyancer.”
