The Secret Diary of A High Street Conveyancer: Isn’t our work is hard enough without getting bashed on social media?

This week’s diary entry talks getting trashed on LinkedIn – and how much of the hard work in conveyancing is learned in day-to-day difficulties – not education settings…. 

Conveyancers are getting a hard time on LinkedIn at the moment.  It is upsetting to see. 

I came into this profession to try and make some sort of difference and I am sure that most solicitors start with that intention but as those of us stupid enough to like conveyancing drift into that stressful area ,we realise that we want to help people  – help them to move house and achieve their dreams.

It is hard work and has got harder and harder in the last few years. Although the advent of the internet has made some elements of our working lives easier, there is now so much information out that that I often give clients the warning regarding the rabbit hole of googling ‘what happens when you move house’.

There are so many horror stories out there. And let’s be honest, us conveyancers know more horror stories than any one else!

And I thought this week, about how when we start work, our heads are full of so much land law. And how, even though we may no longer refer to specific Acts or Statutory instruments, we know  that the law is there, underpinning everything we do. We know what a freehold is and what it means, and we know the difference between a freehold and a leasehold.

But because the word leasehold is in the news so much , we assume that clients know what it means. They may not, and importantly, they may not appreciate that it is a depreciating asset. This needs to be explained to them. But even with all of the law that we know and  the appreciation that this is what  underlies our day to day decisions  when we consider a contract and title, I was surprised by the thought that I have  spent more time considering what a lintel is rather than explaining what in perpetuity means.

Our roles take in  the part of  moving house which other specialists are  experienced in and although I would never explain to a client what a lintel is (leave that to a surveyor), I have learnt what it is and how that ties in with a FENSA certificate and how important it is that the windows are installed correctly in order to comply with regulations.

No-one taught me that at university . It is something we learn in our day to day work. And with the thought that many new entrants without any qualifications can come  into the conveyancing world and call themselves case handlers from day one, I think it is important that all those doing conveyancing  have some background knowledge of land law and learn the softer skills of handling clients by listening to others who have done it for years and at the same time, learn the nuances of what we do, day in and day out.

And by learning and  becoming more experienced, we can put our costs up and be respected for the work we do .

One Response

  1. I have come off Linkedin for about one month now. As a result of not having to read the same old talking heads being negative, bashing the profession every day, criticising fellow conveyancers, telling everybody how impressive they are, or just being downright toxic, I feel totally reinvigorated.

    Before I was letting the environment drag me down, so I am quite happy to allow the same thing to happen to those negative influences now. Otherwise I would say to anyone who feels the same way I did watching the profession throw mud and tear itself apart, take a break, it is the best thing you will ever do for your conveyancing career.

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