Conveyancing bodies unite to manage homebuyers expectations

Portrait of happy senior couple packing cardboard boxes while moving to new house

Conveyancing bodies unite to manage homebuyers expectations

Overheated property market causing delays in the homebuying process.

The Society of Licensed Conveyancers (SLC), the Bold Legal Group (BLG) and the Conveyancing Association (CA) have come together in a concerted effort to manage the expectations of those currently engaged in the home buying and selling process. A variety of factors are currently contributing to delays in the process, and it is important that home buyers and sellers, and the estate agents serving them are aware of the current circumstances and make allowance for them.

Simon Law, incoming Chair of the SLC said:

“Conveyancers are currently dealing with an unprecedented set of circumstances which are constraining the ability to progress transactions. The property market is seeing volumes not experienced since the recession, caused by a backlog of transactions from the period of lockdown, and many people re-appraising where they want to live as a result of the covid-19 epidemic. This is compounded by the current SDLT ‘holiday’ on property purchases under £500,000 which has added fuel to the fire. This and the impact of Covid-19 on the legal profession has resulted in conveyancers being stretched to the limit.”

Rob Hailstone, Founder of the BLG commented:

“it is not just the demand side that is creating a challenge to the conveyancing profession, but also the dependence on outside parties to progress transactions. Covid-19 restrictions mean that many local authorities are operating under extreme difficulties and this has affected their ability to supply their own searches and also to provide access to data for personal search companies. In addition many mortgage lenders are experiencing delays in supplying offer letters and the valuer profession is also under extreme pressure. I have just received this e-mail comment from one BLG member: “The problems we are encountering are across the board. There are delays with searches, surveys, mortgage offers and pretty much every other aspect of the process. Chasing, on the face of it seems sensible, but the more we chase people the more they get distracted. You might get put to the top of the pile for a few moments but doesn’t seem to last for long.”

Lloyd Davies, Operations Director at the Conveyancing Association added:

“being able to plan for the current market circumstances has been an enormous challenge. The impact of Covid-19 created a vacuum of activity which has been followed by a tidal wave of property instructions. Not surprisingly during lockdown, most law firms furloughed many of their staff and indeed there were some redundancies. As the lockdown restrictions were lifted, firms were faced with the challenge of making work places Covid secure which inevitably meant that fewer employees could be accommodated at their place of work. The challenge then has been to choreograph home working alongside those back in the office with all the challenges that brings. Whilst firms have performed wonders in making such arrangements work it is inevitable that maintaining productivity is a real challenge, and of course allowance has to be made for the fact that unfortunately some employees have been affected by the disease.”

Members of all three conveyancing organisations are working evenings and weekends to serve their clients, and the message that conveyancers would like clients and their estate agents to take on board is – understand that transactions are going to take longer than usual to progress and please be patient. Continually chasing your lawyer actually makes them less productive and indirectly is a further cause of delay in the process.

All three organisations are working with key industry stakeholders to look at ways at improving the home buying process and in particular the current SDLT holiday which needs to be extended to avoid further disappointment in the spring.

Toni Ryder-McMullin

Toni is the Media Officer for Today’s Conveyancer, Today’s Wills & Probate and Today's Family Lawyer. I worked for a law firm for 16 years, during my time at the firm I worked as a company commercial legal secretary for 7 years but changed careers and moved into marketing for the remaining 9 years – where I covered all aspects of marketing. While in the marketing role, I achieved a CIM Professional Certificate in Marketing and CAM Diploma in Digital Marketing.

2 Comments

  • Everyone involved in the business should try to understand the pressures and see what they can do to help out. Searches will not be getting back faster any time soon. The Only answer is for clients themselves to get on the queues sooner by ordering Searches when going to the market as a vendor, or, by ordering them on day one of a sale being agreed by the buyer if there is no pack ordered.
    Property Searches Direct continue to help with this immediate issue by enabling home movers to access Searches Direct saving significant transaction time.

  • Conveyancers inability to meet consumers’ expectations means that the work should be transferred to others.

    I favour the insurance sector

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