Ryan Sparrow, a digital content specialist in the legal division of The Access Group joins podcast host David Opie to discuss a newly published report on the current state of conveyancing.
“The State of the UK Conveyancing Market“, now in its third year, draws on data and expertise from a range of sources including HM Land Registry, technology and data providers, and industry commentators.
The picture is mixed; transaction volumes are down 20% on last year, the number of active conveyancers in the market is down 9%. There are fewer firms dong more cases, and more firms doing fewer cases; the bottom 50% of active firms have completed on average 47 cases p/a… less than one a week. Over 1000 firms have done 10 cases or fewer; of which nearly 300 have completed just one case.
There is some leeway in the exact numbers given delays at HMLR and some data, like new-build, being skewed, but there is a general trend.
“It raises the question of dabbling” says Ryan. “Do these firms have the appropriate expertise and risk management measures in place around things like anti-money laundering for example, which is a huge issue for conveyancers.”
At the other end of the scale, the largest conveyancer completed 11,000 purchase transactions last year; 2% of the market total. The numbers fall dramatically thereafter with the 4th largest conveyancer completed just 50% of that number, and once you get down to the 50th largest by transaction volume, the number of transactions is c.10% of the largest. The report itself also looks at the breakdown regionally.
Other issues raised by the report include client complaints around communication and delays (a growing problem year on year identified by the Legal Ombudsman), business development and referrals.
The third edition of “The State of the UK Conveyancing Market” is available to download now.
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