The Government must intervene to drive the digital transformation of homebuying process

For all the talk about change within the home buying and selling process, it does genuinely feel like we’re at a tipping point in terms of moving into the next stage and that we are continuing to put our ducks in a row in terms of the solutions that will help us deliver a faster, more cost-efficient, certain, and transparent journey for all stakeholders, but particularly consumers.

However – and here is perhaps the real heart of what is currently available and what is at play here – when it comes to the conveyancing sector, while we have a large number of the major firms all approaching this with the right mindset and with a willingness to address the issues and take on board the solutions, we are still very much reliant on the thousands of other firms who conduct conveyancing to find (and adopt) a similar approach.

That is not easy, particularly when there is no mandation for them to do this. Again, we have large numbers of volume players within the CA, and they work a lot with each other, but they also have to work with those firms who carry out a very small amount of cases, and that means the former often have no choice but to work at the pace of the latter, or of course the other way around, there are undoubtably some super proactive digitally enabled SME conveyancing firms out there too.

To say this is not ideal would be an understatement and the results are clear to see – a process which is currently taking, on average, five-to-six months to complete and where 30% of all cases currently fall through. The wasted time, energy, cost, and resource in this is staggering.

It is with this in mind, that you might have seen the recent Open Letter to Michael Gove from a variety of property market stakeholders. The letter outlined how this current process does not work well, not just for those directly involved in it, but in a wider sense for the Government, economy, tax coffers, etc.

This letter called upon the Government to lead in this area – to not simply leave it to the industry to decide on what it should or shouldn’t be doing, but instead to endorse – and from our perspective, to legislate – in order to ensure all cogs within the property selling/buying wheel are using the technology and the systems and processes that will deliver greater certainty and quicker results for all.

There can be little to argue about within the letter – and it echoed much of what the CA itself has been pushing for over the years, and more recently what the Home Buying & Selling Group (HBSG) was established to work with the Government in order to deliver.

And, yet, of course we are where we are – a point where stakeholders feel these points need to be reiterated, even when for the most part, all the solutions are actually readily available to deliver on what those letter signatories are looking for, and what many within the conveyancing market are also desperate to see taken on by the entire market.

This is a point which should not be forgotten. The solutions are readily available. Indeed, many come from our CA Affiliate members, and are already being used by a significant number of firms.

The further point to make here is that we have a CA document – currently under discussion – called “The Future Vision of Digital Conveyancing, Material Information and a Consumer Centric Home Moving Process”, which includes a whole host of solutions to the problems outlined in the Open Letter to Michael Gove.

In effect, the document creates a Charter with a particular focus on how conveyancers can use the improvement in technologies we’ve seen in recent years, the digitisation of data, for example, to move away from duplication of tasks or constant chasing of information, to focus on the provision of advice to clients.

With upfront information via the BASPI for instance, use of one source of truth digital ID, Qualified Electronic Signatures, to name just a few solutions, the conveyancing firm will be working from a position of strength right from the outset, rather than having to chase its tail for information, etc, that should be available straight away.

As mentioned, this is all available right now, but to have the impact it really needs to have, we can’t simply rely on tens of firms picking this up and running with it, when you have thousands of others who are unaware of the opportunity or feel no inclination to do so.

The Open Letter is right – it requires Government intervention, but the good news is that the work has already been done, the solutions have been outlined by the HBSG and others, and within our CA Charter they can be easily followed.

But they need the might of the Government to be able to make sure that every conveyancer – and indeed other stakeholders such as agents, advisers, lenders, etc – are integrating them into their businesses to ensure they get the outcomes for all that can be delivered.

We are on the cusp of a big leap forward, but barriers do remain in terms of getting firms into this brave new world. The Government have the opportunity to take all stakeholders on this journey and the sooner they commit to doing so, the sooner we will have a process that is not just fit for purpose but actively benefiting all.

Beth Rudolf is Director of Delivery at the Conveyancing Association (CA)