When I was thinking of writing a series of opinion pieces discussing the future of the conveyancing industry, I wasn’t sure where to start or how they might be received by the industry.
I don’t expect everyone will agree with my views and some will try to shoot me down, but I want to assure you this isn’t an attempt to put myself on a pedestal or go on a one-man crusade to revolutionise conveyancing. Nor will i be using this format to promote my business in any way.
Having worked across all sectors of the market over several decades, I have gained a valuable insight that will help to advance our industry, which I believe has been on a steady decline for a number of years. These written pieces will serve as a genuine attempt to level up the property industry and to get everybody pulling in the same direction; and by that, I mean everybody!
Don’t get me wrong, there are some Agents, Brokers and Conveyancers that work incredibly well together, however I attend conferences aimed at all sectors of the property market and it probably won’t come as a surprise but in the main, each sector dislikes the other – which is RIDICULOUS.
Whilst we all have our own unique interests, at the heart of it all, we all have the same common goal, which is to provide the best possible service to our clients and ensure the client journey is as stress free as possible.
In the coming months, I will be inviting several industry experts to come forward and put their points of view across. We can no longer pull any punches and I do expect a number of them to be thrown along the way.
I will also be asking for feedback from as many of you as possible as I believe the conveyancing industry is at crucial stage.
So, I will throw the first ‘punch’ and ask:
RIGHT NOW – IS CONVEYANCING BROKEN?
- Yes, Conveyancing is broken.
- No, in the main everything works well in conveyancing.
- Somewhere in between.
Conveyancing is undoubtedly different these days, with more due diligence than ever required.
It is nigh on impossible to get an accurate conveyancing quote at the start, which for the majority of mortgage brokers out there is a real challenge when you consider the accuracy required when providing mortgage illustrations.
There are so many panels and firms that quote in different ways, and there is a real lack of transparency. Is this surprising when you consider that in addition to any base fees there can potentially also be any of the following:
- Leasehold Fees
- New Build Supplements
- Shared Ownership Supplements
- Help to Buy Supplements
These will all add to the complexity of a case, which will obviously attract additional fees if not provided at quote stage.
Add into the mix the following additional fees:
- ID fees
- TT Fees
- Dealing with Lender Fees
- Dealing with Stamp Duty Land Tax fees
- Storage Fees
- Source of Funds/Wealth charges
Is it any wonder that when estate agents and mortgage brokers refer cases over to conveyancing firms they regularly get things wrong?
Until you’ve received the title documents it’s almost impossible to predict costs accurately or indeed provide an accurate timescale to do the work – at which point the broker or the agent may well have misaligned the clients expectations around completion dates.
One thing for certain is that across the whole the property sector, there is a lack of understanding around one major factor relating to conveyancing – that of legal risk and who is responsible for such risk.
It’s a fact that whenever anything goes wrong on a property transaction, whether it is at the purchase stage or in the future, the person that everyone turns to for redress is the conveyancer.
This is why Professional Indemnity premiums have risen so dramatically over the last 10 years and why a lot of insurers have pulled out of the market altogether.
BUT does this mean that conveyancing is completely or irreversibly broken?
ABSOLUTELY NOT.
A lot of firms do a fabulous job, but conveyancing has been perceived as the poor relation in the property market family for several years.
My intention with this and future articles is to raise awareness of the problems that conveyancers are currently facing and to improve understanding across other areas of the property sector in a bid to set better client expectations.
I also plan a deep dive into what improvements are needed. Numerous ‘revolutionary’ tools and platforms have emerged over recent years, many of them claiming to be ‘game changing’ and intended to speed up the process.
Yet here we are well into the 21st century with lots of innovative technology, yet it is still taking four times longer to buy a property now compared to the early 1990’s.
Levelling up forums
What can we do? I certainly won’t have all the answers and I absolutely cannot and do not want to do this alone. I do intend to pull other industry experts together to hold open and honest forums to ensure we achieve the art of the possible.
I already have agreement from other panel managers, and a number of the larger conveyancing firms and we will gather for our first open discussion in early January 2024.
However, in future discussions I am keen to involve the smaller, more traditional firms, and would also like to see representation from the mortgage and estate agency sectors as well as the surveying industry and hopefully lenders too.
To address the question, ‘is conveyancing broken?’ we need collaborative efforts, candid conversations, and innovative solutions. The goal is to restore conveyancing to its rightful place in the property sector and ensure that buying, selling or refinancing a property can be as efficient as it should be.
If you have any thoughts or are interested in contributing to these conversations, please let me know: [email protected]
Kevin Tunnicliffe, CEO of the Sort Group
