Enquiries are the topic of discussion for this latest Today’s Conveyancer Podcast. The bane of most conveyancer’s existence, there has been much discussion about the volume, and what might be considered triviality, of enquiries raised on property transitions.
To discuss the issue host David Opie is joined by Peter Ambrose, CEO of The Partnership, a conveyancing firm based in Guildford which completes around 200-300 transactions per month.
The Partnership have seen a 35% increase in the volume of enquiries this year alone, and Peter says there is no doubt that dealing with enquiries is the single largest element of the transaction his lawyers are spending the most time on.
And without pulling any punches Peter’s view is that the situation is only getting worse with increasing numbers of ‘poor quality enquiries’ which he attributes to
- a lack of training
- a fear of the risk posed by not asking the question
- lack of understanding of where the risk is
When probed on the final point Peter highlights the source of claims for PI insurers which include enquiries that are not being passed on from clients. He also offers a second consideration which is that conveyancers are not asking the right enquiries in the first place
“Clients ask questions and we don’t answer them at all, or we don’t get a satisfactory answer. If a claim is brought against the firm, the first thing that should be done is to review the enquiries; and there often isn’t enough transparency around enquiries. They’ve been raised in emails, or over the phone… in other words not in a structured way. There needs to be a clear audit trail.”
Tracking enquiries is difficult and there is a risk of accusations of dumbing down the law and undermining expertise when people start to talk about mandating enquiries, or templating enquiries. With the launch of a new product called Legalito, Peter is trying to create greater collaboration between conveyancing firms, and better manage the process of enquiries to reduce risk and deliver a better client service.
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One Response
I think the discussions you refer to Peter, are more often than not on LinkdIn, and not so much on the BLG forum.