Diary Of A High Street Conveyancer – 17th March 2020

Diary Of A High Street Conveyancer – 17th March 2020

Being a conveyancer is like putting together a very large jigsaw puzzle – the pieces to that puzzle are all held by others and the conveyancer has to wait for those pieces to come from others – those pieces do not always come in the same order and sometimes the jigsaw has different pieces.

Add to this the stresses and emotion of moving house and you get some idea as to how difficult the job can be but conveyancers are used to dealing with missing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle and even pieces missing from other conveyancers’ jigsaws as they go up the chain.

All it takes is one vital piece to be lost and the whole chain can fall apart.

This time last week, we knew that transactions were going to become harder due to Covid 19, but how quickly that would happen has still taken me by surprise.

As a High Street practitioner, in the last few days, my telephone has not rung as often as I would expect, and whereas I would expect many calls on a Monday morning to ask me about my charges, I did not have any such calls this Monday…and on Tuesday…. Again no such calls.

Speaking to local agents, it would seem that there are very few new properties coming on the market and a visit to the Rightmove site would support this. So, no new properties, and how does this affect those who are presently selling? Will they want visitors to come into their houses without knowing whether they carry the virus? And those who have sold and are in the throes of their transaction – will they want to allow a surveyor to survey and value the house? Will the surveyor want to come into a house?

At least conveyancers can choose not to see clients in person, but that is what clients like – they want to be able to meet and talk to the person who is acting for them. It is a time to build up a trusting relationship and that has to be reinforced so that the client knows that they can rely on their conveyancer in a world that is changing daily. And conveyancers know that the position of a chain can also change daily…..

To be continued…

This diary is written by a real conveyancer who wants to share their views on the ups and downs of high street practice.

The Secret High Street Conveyancer

An anonymous high street conveyancer reveals the truth behind the joy, frustrations, and the unexpected humour in being a high street conveyancer. Read their Diary in Today’s Conveyancer every week. Twitter: @theSecretHighS1

1 Comment

  • “All it takes is one vital piece to be lost and the whole chain can fall apart.”

    Home movers should not be subjected to the stress and cost of such a system in the 21st century

    I have posted elsewhere that radical change could be the silver lining of the pandemic

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