conveyancing

To blame conveyancing, or to understand conveyancing?

With homemovers continuing to face record delays, many within the property industry are naturally looking to point the finger.

Increasingly, the conveyancing process and conveyancers are on the receiving end of this finger-pointing, largely due to its complexity, intricacy, and vulnerability to a host of factors that can cause delays.

That said, many of said factors come from outside of the conveyancing process and are not within the hands of conveyancers. Think additional enquiries, incomplete contract packs, clients needing reassurance, incorrect mortgage offers… the list goes on.

Conveyancers and the conveyancing process are, however, often blamed for the resulting delays.

In light of this, Today’s Conveyancer and Property Industry Eye last week polled their respective readerships with a version of the following question:

“Do you think it would be beneficial for all the parties to a transaction – agents, lenders, buyers, sellers etc – to have a better understanding of the conveyancing process?”

Of nearly 500 respondents across the property industry, a striking 95% responded “yes”.

Despite the comprehensive findings, it seems that there is a lack of intent to better understand the process, and to understand that conveyancing delays aren’t entirely the fault of conveyancers. One must only look to LSL’s H1 results to see the narrative:

“The Estate Agency Division… was impacted by lower activity levels in the new purchase market and continued delays in conversion of our residential sales pipelines caused by conveyancing issues in the market. We have yet to see evidence of an improvement in these issues which we had expected to ameliorate during H1.”

There is no overnight fix, though a better understanding of the conveyancing process for other parties to the transaction would be a starting point to reduce the burden on conveyancers and put an end to the blame-game.

Iain McKenzie, CEO of The Guild of Property Professionals, said that while conveyancing is not perfect, agents are not entirely blameless and “should manage their clients’ expectations and disappointment by clearing the runway and ensuring all the information they provide to the conveyancer is correct”. He gave the example that 60% of memorandums of sale are inaccurate, often not having the right initials or names – there are no chain details on them or upfront information. He added:

“It is important that agents have as much knowledge about the conveyancing process as possible, so that they can take control of their conveyancing chain themselves.”

Spicerhaart have introduced a number of measures aimed at increasing the amount of upfront information shared between parties. “We need agencies and solicitors to work together in a relay so that the baton, i.e. the memorandum of sale, along with as much information as possible, is handed over the moment the sale is agreed, allowing the solicitor to speed off down the track and over the finish line,” said Jon Lay, Spicerhaart’s Divisional Managing Director for Legal Services. He went on to highlight how agents can support conveyancers:

“Any good agent interested in actually selling a property should be working with the vendor to collocate as much information as possible upfront, having those discussions about FENSA certificates, when the boiler was last serviced and identifying any alterations that will have required planning or building regulations. They should also be gathering information about leaseholds, such as details of managing agents, ground rent receipts and fire risk assessments.

With an estimated 2,000 fewer conveyancers nationwide than three years ago, there is immense pressure on the industry while organisations are trying to recruit. It’s therefore vital that both existing and new conveyancers become better communicators when it comes to sharing information. There needs to be regular and effective communication, at agreed times, between the agents and conveyancers – and people mustn’t keep bugging each other but allow each other to get on with the job.”

Rob Hailstone of The Bold Legal Group said that the results of the poll “speak for themselves”, noting that 2023’s inaugural National Conveyancing Week may be an opportunity to put things right:

“With the first ever National Conveyancing Week taking place next March (week commencing 20th), maybe conveyancers could open up their offices for a half day, or even a day, so that agents could shadow a busy conveyancer. Then they could spend some time explaining and discussing each other’s roles and the difficulties they both have to deal with?”

Support for increased information sharing and understanding is clearly widespread, and this sentiment is reflected in the impassioned comment section of the Eye’s poll post.

One agent said that their office previously “had good relationships with local solicitors [who were] always happy to allow my new staff to sit in with their conveyancing team for a couple of days to give them an insight into the conveyancing process”. They added:

“This worked well and the solicitors were happy to have staff back later in their training too. This allowed my staff to understand the process and explain it to our clients: win-win for all involved.”

Hailstone seconded this relationship’s efficacy through the 1970s and 1980s, though it was refuted by some commenters who were less optimistic. One said:

“Try and help, yes, but it is all down to the person who makes the decision of when, how and when… the competence of the conveyancer.

So now I have the knowledge of what the conveyancer should be doing, and they aren’t. I haven’t a clue of their workload or the confidentially of information by interested third parties (lenders/chain solicitors etc). What happens now if it isn’t moving as fast as I think it should be? Ever tried to push a conveyancer that you have no control over?”

Another responded that “it would be helpful for everyone if agents and homemovers had a better understanding of the process (and technical knowledge in the case of agents), but it doesn’t speed up the conveyancers”, to which Hailstone said: “If the conveyancers were left to get on with their work it might.”

What is clear is that there is a widespread hunger for increased understanding of conveyancing across the board. This is not wholesale change; it will not fix every aspect of the system overnight. It could, however, impact transaction speeds, minimise toxicity within the industry, and reduce the burden on conveyancers. At the very minimum, it’s something to consider.

2 responses

  1. I have been a conveyancer for over forty years, though I am not anymore. The conveyancing process has degenerated from a proper branch of law to a poorly handled admin. exercise. There are battles between agents and lawyers and between the lawyers. There is poor communication, very little management of client expectations and a lack of understanding between the various parties buying and selling. I have known on many occasions agents peddling outrageous lies, just to get a deal done on the agent’s terms. I have known sellers wreck properties before moving out. There is little, if any, explanation of the process or why it is done. In some towns email is not used to slow the process down and there is wholly unreasonable pressure from sellers and buyers to achieve completion. Many buyers and sellers demand constant immediate action and I have been threatened with physical violence on more than one occasion. Conveyancing is a truly unpleasant, soul-destroying experience as a practitioner which is why I don’t do it anymore.

  2. “It’s a shame to see this all-too-familiar finger pointing persist as the industry comes to terms with ‘The New Normal’, specially as future success relies heavily on collaboration. It’s high time for the blame game to stop and for all parties to focus on what they could and should be doing to support the end-to-end conveyancing process.” (The New Normal: TM Group: Jan 22).

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