I have been thinking about the speed at which transactions happen – there is a lot of chat on social media about speeding up transaction times but as I have said before, do clients really want to move quickly?
Notwithstanding all of the legal work, I believe that clients do need to reflect on the biggest and most expensive purchase they will ever make and they do need to know, in no uncertain way, that they cannot ask for their money back if they just don’t like the house!
When you read that a typical house viewing lasts for an average of eight minutes, you just know that buyers need to go and see a house more than once. I have spent longer looking at books in a book shop before buying one!
And what about “no sale, no fee”? Why would anyone even think this was a good idea! Why should any solicitor or conveyancer, with all their years of experience, agree to work for nothing? Why should we (as I read this week) only be paid on completion? or to put it another way – if we advise a client not to buy a property due to some legal matter, why should we not be paid for having potentially saved the buyer a lot of money by not completing on a property that they potentially could not sell… and then I read – and wait for this – conveyancing is a basic low skilled admin job. Read that again…
So, my lovely conveyancing friends reading this – do you agree? Is what we do a basic low skilled admin job? I know that I do not really need to ask you that question – we all know the answer. We are advising clients on the biggest purchase of their lives; and by clients, I also mean the lenders as well as the public.
We are making sure that the clients, lenders and public, will own the property and are registered as the owners/mortgagees and should not experience any difficulties when they come to sell the property. Not only are we advising on legal title, we are carrying out money laundering services, whilst spinning the plates in the air as the chain progresses and we just hope that all in that chain are truly committed to moving and spinning the same plates.
And while this goes on, a surveyor visits a property which we will never see and advises the buyer on the need for specialist reports. And this can lead to the purchase not proceeding – that is nothing to do with the legal work but the property itself – and all of those plates come hurtling to the ground.
We should be paid for the work done to that point – because what we have in fact done is made sure that the legal title is good and marketable. This gives an advantage on the next sale because the legal work has already been done – which brings us to upfront information and you can see that could and should speed up the transaction.
And that is where I started this week – transaction times. Speeding up the process. Yes it is possible but it is not just about the legal part, is it? And remember, clients do just change their minds.
2 Responses
Worth reading the article written by Robert Gurney also:
What are the challenges in the conveyancing process and how can it be improved?
I was just reviewing an estate agents property brochure for the property which my client is buying. Below the property dimensions it advertises their recomended “Conveyancing Services” as follows, “Our solicitors work on a no sale, no fee basis. They work longer hours than the conventional solicitor and are available weekends. Please contact us for more information on our conveyancing services.” Replace “solicitors” with “doctors” and tell me this is what you want.