It has been a very pleasant Easter/long weekend and it prompted me to think back on the last few Easter breaks.
Go back to 2020 and we were in lockdown. 2021, we were in the midst of the SDLT exemption where the deadline had just been extended from the end of March to the end of June with tapering to the end of September. 2022, still in a ‘boom’ period. I would like to think that 2023 was calm and that us conveyancers did not have to spend too much time working. I have done a few contract reports and cleared my emails but other than that, I have not felt the dread and fear of not working as I felt last year or the year before.
It is refreshing and I am sure that I am not alone in feeling more relaxed this Easter. And we have three Bank Holidays in May – it is like a bonus month!!
However, I am still finding that we are being put under pressure to meet targets for the benefits of others. Estate agents know that the market is not as busy and want to make sure those transactions they do have are moving along and complete as quickly as possible.
So yet again, I find myself moaning about those firms who tell agents that they are waiting for replies, the agent calls to tell me to send those replies and I have to tell the agents that the enquiries arrived about five minutes ago (surely prompted by the agent’s call to the buyer’s solicitor asking for an update!).
So my Easter message for 2023 is – please don’t do that!
If you have not raised enquiries, don’t tell the agent you have and then quickly send them in the hope that the buyer’s solicitor has so many emails that they won’t notice the time that the enquiries were sent.
Be honest and say that the enquiries are being drafted. We need to work together and not against each other and we do not need the estate agent to take on the role of referee.
What does the poor client think? They just want to move! So let us head into the summer moves feeling refreshed and positive and let’s all work together to get those home movers moved!
This is written by a real high street conveyancer who wishes to remain anonymous. Read more in Today’s Conveyancer every week.
