The Conveyancing Task Force (CTF), formed last month in response to the government’s proposals for homebuying reform, has written to local societies in England and Wales asking them to take urgent action over the plans.
The CTF – a collaboration of 23 law firms including SMEs and a public limited company, as well as individuals – has warned the proposed reforms ‘go far beyond procedural improvement’ and represent ‘a potential existential threat to many small and regional law firms’.
‘For the first time in decades, the structure, scope and accountability of conveyancing are being reshaped under the influence of regulators, lenders and technology companies, with minimal practitioner oversight’, said Stephen Larcombe, spokesperson for the CTF.
“These proposals risk transferring responsibility away from qualified, regulated professionals and into the hands of commercial operators with little accountability. The public must understand what is really at stake – this is not about speed; it is about integrity.”
The CTF has been established to coordinate a national, evidence-based response to the government’s consultation, which sets out 26 questions covering every stage of the homebuying and selling process. It has written to all local law societies in England and Wales, inviting them to engage with the consultation and circulate the CTF’s online survey to their conveyancing members.
‘This is a pivotal moment for the profession’, Larcombe added.
“If local law societies and practising solicitors do not engage now, decisions will be made without us – and about us.
“The CTF is not anti-reform. We simply insist that reform strengthens, rather than undermines, public trust and professional independence.”
The CTF is also preparing briefing notes for MPs and key stakeholders, Larcome added, warning ‘unchecked digitisation of the property process could erode consumer protection and destabilise one of the cornerstones of English law’.
In the letter sent to local law societies, the CTF explains its ‘early focus’ is on questions five to seven of the consultation, which relate to the overall reform objectives and assumptions, the proposed introduction of mandatory upfront information and the concept of digital property logbooks.
‘These issues go to the heart of conveyancing practice and directly affect both our clients and our professional responsibilities’, the letter claims.
Practitioners are invited to complete the online form shared by the task force by Friday 21 November, at https://forms.gle/1Kq2mbYDsB27AnvL6, with responses to be included in the CTF’s collective submission. All responses will remain confidential and will be anonymised before analysis, the CTF said.
9 responses
Who are the CTF? No website, no list of members, all very cloak & dagger. They portray themselves as a voice of the conveyancing profession, but sound like a self-inflated group of archaic law firms who hide behind the Property Lawyers Alliance.
If they truly are working on behalf of our profession, show who they are…
Agree fully. You cannot claim to be looking after the future of conveyancing if you live in the shadows.
Just another minority self interest group nothing to see here.
trying to do what’s right for the profession. i’m one of them- no cloaks and daggers here. just honesty and standing up for what you all moan about but don’t have time to do anything about!
Why would you when snide remarks like this appear? You could question whether those people who self-appoint themselves as ‘leaders’ of our profession actually speak for us? Many are self-interested in receiving sponsorship or an income from lawtech or receiving monetary income from setting up forms, etc. Or they are groups representing the factory outfits. Many of those leaders are no longer practising front line conveyancers and have little understanding of the battles faced on a daily basis.
Perhaps you would like to show who you really are to avoid accusations of being a “bot”!?
Having a website or formal structure is meaningless these days as it tells you nothing necessarily true about the intentions of any organisation. The current government being a prime example.
What truly counts is what the CTF actually says and its arguments and reasoning. If you cannot deal with that, your comment is wholly meaningless
The irony is that those calling for openness could be part of this. The CTF’s survey is open, transparent and inclusive – we want every practitioner’s voice heard. This is about safeguarding professional independence, not protecting self-interest.
I joined the CTF because it’s important to me that hard working conveyancers whether that be LC, sol or legal exec, are heard. There’s nothing sinister or hiding in the shadows. I just signed up with other like minded people to respond to the consultation.
I believe property lawyers need a voice and that a collective voice is more effective than individual voices. The deafening silence from the Law Society is one of the reasons independent law firms are collaborating to deliver a co-ordinated response to the government’s consultation on improving homebuying.
We are all busy hard pressed professionals with demanding roles, no time or budget for websites, or publishing membership lists or costly PR campaigns. We are all volunteers doing our best in our precious free time. So less vitriol please, Anons.
The Conveyancing Task Force is razor focussed on responding to the consultation from the perspective of practising property lawyers who are profoundly concerned at the government’s direction of travel.
I am proud to also be part of the CTF. All members are working tirelessly to prepare a robust response to the consultation for no personal or professional gain other than to make a positive impact on the future of the conveyancing process, the client experience and the sanity of the legal professionals on the front line. We are openly encouraging all those in the profession to get on board. Who knows when or if such an opportunity will arise again!