‘An issue since the 1970s’ – Eddie Goldsmith responds to Smoove’s conveyancing research

Having previously set up and run one of the biggest conveyancing practices in the UK, I set up YouConvey four years ago to address exactly the issues raised in this article. I am delighted to add my comments and observations on what is unfortunately a running sore for the conveyancing industry and has been a constant issue ever since I started working as a conveyancer in the 1970s.

Before I set up YouConvey I carried out extensive consumer research with a variety of industry stakeholders and existing and potential consumers of conveyancing. What came over loud and clear was a strong view that, more often than not, consumers paid a fortune in legal fees for the most expensive transaction in their lives. What should have been an exciting experience that finishes with a successful transaction ended up with them frustrated and unhappy with the experience and them saying that it was never to be repeated.

Of course, the memories of bad experiences tends to fade and people do go on to move again. However, I don’t think anyone sensible believes this should be (or has to be) the default position. As this research strongly points out, it is not just first timers who find the service unsatisfactory – but ‘seasoned’ movers who often find the experience second or third time around as poor (if not worse ) than the first time.

My concept for YouConvey was clear and simple – to take note of our research and offer a proposition to customers and the industry where consumers were guided at all times through the process by experienced staff; experts who could take the heat out of a potential issue and calmly guide customers through what is inevitably a document heavy process.

Why we in the UK have ended up with a conveyancing process which is steeped in the 19th Century (before even phones) and why our Government seems remarkably reluctant to review the process wholesale and offer something more like the Australian process (customers commit legally on acceptance of their offer) is not something that is necessarily relevant to this article. What Smoove correctly identified is that there is a real and current issue with the service from conveyancers – and more importantly what can and should be done about it.

I realised from the inception of YouConvey that lay customers are not used to dealing with unfriendly prescribed legal documents (the Law Society transaction forms are a perfect example) nor do they understand the process (some not actually understanding what conveyancing is). A priority, therefore, was to make sure help was at hand at all stages of the process to assist lay customers in completing the necessary forms .

I can’t count the number of times I have been asked by customers to help them complete the Property Information Forms or, indeed, answer questions on when they would need to pay their deposit and what happens on the completion date. These are all questions which no doubt form part of the FAQs of conveyancers who send them out routinely to customers in their initial packs. But the issue here is there is really no alternative to a friendly and non-judgemental expert answering queries over the phone. Yes, it sounds a little old fashioned, but our feedback shows that it is a key ingredient in the customer relationship and success of a transaction.

As a starting point, I would urge all conveyancers to take on board Smoove’s findings and make sure that they have sufficient resources available (preferably human beings!) to guide customers through what is a strange and unfriendly process. This will pay significant dividends and ensure that customers know that they someone they can talk to (and it will not cost them a fortune in extra legal fees).

Secondly – and this may be more contentious – is my advice to all conveyancers that are using technology such as digital ID and Source of Funds apps. These are absolutely great, but if all you do is take on more customers without the people to handle workloads then you are not solving the problem but actually aggravating it.

I know from my experience of 40 years in conveyancing that there is a maximum realistic case load of live files that can be run by a good conveyancer and support staff. Managing this right level of cases is vital to providing a good level of service and communication to customers.

I know many conveyancing business owners who are looking for their teams to run increasingly high numbers of live cases and, quite simply, if this is not the right ratio, it is very likely to let down and dissatisfy all those customers.

And lastly – something even more contentious – but conveyancers need to charge more for the work that they do. When a cup of coffee and a cake can cost £7 and the weekly shop over £100 (and still having nothing in the bag to actually eat!) then to charge £400- £500 to deal with such an important service is simply just not enough.

Conveyancers should all review their charging models and the number of files they expect their conveyancers to run and adjust their prices accordingly. This will immediately relieve conveyancing departments of some of the financial and budget pressures and will also improve the job satisfaction of the conveyancers who are constantly under pressure from demanding customers.

Top line vanity is often bottom line insanity. The right balance between work volumes and income will allow conveyancing businesses to invest in increasing resources (both people and technology) to provide the level of service which customers rightly deserve.

In my opinion, it’s all quite simple and just needs the foresight, planning and implementation to succeed.