Reducing the size of the Council for Mortgage Lenders Handbook would vastly speed up the conveyancing process according to one former conveyancing MP.
The MP for Colchester Will Quince was admitted as a solicitor in 2013 before his election in 2015 was contributing to a Westminster Hall debate on the conveyancing process.
Quince also said that creating more comprehensive and standardised questionnaires for clients would also speed up the process.
He said: “I recall in practice the minefield that was the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook – part one, two and three – with all lenders having differing requirements. Reducing the handbook would lead to a reduction in the work that a conveyancer needs to do and therefore considerably speed up the process.
“I recall in practice that it was only when a sale was agreed that conveyancers were instructed and a retainer paid to the conveyancer that they’d send out the property information protocol forms to their clients.
“These forms are far from simple and took several hours, if not days to complete and this meant at least a week of delay before these were returned to their conveyancer and then could be sent on to the purchaser’s conveyancer.
“I believe comprehensive and standardised questionnaires would create consistency and enable those selling a property to complete the forms when a property is originally put on the market.”
The intention to issue a call for evidence was announced in the budget earlier this year although the date of the call for evidence has yet to follow.
As well as questionnaires and CML handbook reforms, Quince also says so-called factory style conveyancing hasn’t helped either.
Quince said: “As fees fall, the margins fall, and firms need to take on more and more work to remain profitable,’ he added. ’This means that many conveyancers are reactive instead of proactive, not out of choice but out of necessity. It is the client that then suffers, as conveyancers are not able to meet their rightly high expectations.”
