Paul Addison is managing director of DevAssist, a specialist provider of development risk reports for residential and commercial property transactions. Drawing on decades of land, planning and housebuilding experience, Paul created DevAssist to help conveyancers and property professionals identify development risks that could affect a property before their clients commit.
What was your career path to your current role?
I spent many decades working for PLC housebuilders, ultimately becoming director of land and planning for Charles Church. I then became managing director of Oracle and, over time, one thing became increasingly clear: the British public hate development and change in their neighbourhoods, yet many people buy property without properly understanding what could happen around them.
That was the starting point for DevAssist. I wanted to create a product that helped conveyancers protect their clients, while also protecting themselves by ensuring development risk was properly identified, explained and recorded before exchange. If a report identifies a significant risk, the conveyancer is in a stronger position to advise the client clearly, and the client can then renegotiate, withdraw or proceed with a full understanding of the risks. That is the level of service and protection the property market should expect.
What keeps you motivated in your work?
We help thousands of purchasers every year make better-informed decisions. Some choose to proceed with confidence. Some renegotiate. Some walk away from a transaction that could have caused them serious stress or financial loss later. That matters.
We also help lawyers increase their service levels to clients. Conveyancers are under constant pressure, but clients still expect clear advice, practical insight and protection from avoidable risk. A DevAssist report gives lawyers another layer of intelligence they can use to advise clients properly. At its heart, this is about improving transparency in property transactions.
If you could change one thing about the transaction process, what would it be?
I would change the type of searches and reports that purchasers are required to buy. The location of a property is the primary contributor to its value, yet purchasers often buy in complete ignorance of what is happening, or could happen, around the property at the point of purchase. That is a serious problem.
A standard transaction can tell a buyer plenty about legal title, drainage, environmental matters and other technical points. Those things are important. But if a buyer discovers after completion that land nearby is allocated for housing, or that a major development could affect privacy, traffic, noise, value or resale potential, the damage is already done.
The market needs to stop treating development risk as an optional extra. For many clients, it is one of the most important risks of all.
What has been the best development in conveyancing in the last 20 years?
The introduction of DevAssist reports. That may sound bold, but I genuinely believe development risk has been one of the biggest missing pieces in the conveyancing process. The industry has spent years refining searches, improving technology and trying to speed up transactions, yet many buyers still complete without understanding the planning and development context around the property.
DevAssist reports were created to fill that gap. They take planning expertise, land assessment experience and local development intelligence, and translate it into something practical for buyers and their lawyers. For me, the best developments in conveyancing are the ones that improve client protection. A faster process is useful, but a better-informed client is far more valuable. That is where development risk reporting has a very important role to play!
What’s the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you regarding your career?
Never short-change your accountant and your solicitor. It is simple advice, but it has stayed with me because it is true. Good professional advice is worth paying for. The right adviser can protect you from mistakes, help you make better decisions and save you from problems that are far more expensive to fix later.
The cheapest advice is rarely the best advice when the consequences of getting it wrong can be so significant!
What advice would you like to give to someone just starting out?
Make sure you understand your subject better than your competitor. That applies in any profession, but particularly in property. If you understand the details, you can ask better questions, spot risks earlier and give more useful advice. Clients rely on professionals to protect them. That responsibility should never be treated as routine.
