During the Second World War, the government promoted the idea that “carrots help you see in the dark”. Whilst carrots contain vitamin A which can reduce the risk of vision loss, they certainly do not help night vision.
The story was designed for two reasons. Firstly, the RAF were using a new technology to spot bombers in the dark and to throw the enemy off track, they claimed pilots could see in the dark because they ate a lot of carrots. Secondly, they wanted the public to eat more vegetables and be better able to deal with the frequent air raid blackouts, so this idea was useful here as well.
Which does beg the following question.
What has eating carrots got to do with the appallingly difficult predicament we find ourselves in, and, given that I run a conveyancing company, where are we going with this?
Government guidance or the law?
When governments give advice, like “eat more carrots” people typically believe it and comply. That’s why, on the Monday, when the government told everyone to stay at home if they could, despite there being no law in place, as it was in the public interest, most people did.
When the regulations were published on the following Thursday, it was clear the restrictions on movement stated within it, did not apply to those looking to move house where reasonably necessary. This was positive news for everyone in the property industry.
Sadly, that same industry was brought down to earth with a bump the following morning, when the front pages of newspapers, and the radio and television news all advised people not to move house.
These media stories were based on advice the government had released saying that, where possible, people should not move – somewhat contradicting what they had enacted in law a few hours earlier. However, they did suggest that for those people that did need to move, then flexibility was key.
So what should lawyers do?
The mere suggestion by conveyancing solicitors that they would continue to help their clients move towards exchange brought angry exchanges online. Commentators who had previously bemoaned the lack of urgency from lawyers, now condemned those as irresponsible for carrying on working.
Lawyers are caught between a rock and a hard place – to continue to work and keep deals moving or not?
We are aware of lawyers following the Law Society’s advice and are not helping their clients move towards exchange. The argument is based on the idea that if a client cannot meet the agreed completion date, the lawyer should have advised them not to exchange. The other, more depressing question, is what happens if people die between exchange and completion.
The fundamental problem with both these arguments, is that these conditions exist and are dealt with during normal day to day conveyancing – legally, the current, albeit terrible situation is no different.
For example, when buying a newbuild property, completion dates are, by the very nature of development, constantly changing, and there are standard mechanisms in place already to deal with these.
Sadly, people do die between exchange and completion (indeed, in December 2019, we had to deal with two cases) and again, there are standard processes and procedures that are followed in such cases.
The reality of the situation is this. Our clients want to move house and it is our job to help them achieve this. Obviously, we must ensure they are following guidelines to reduce the risk of spreading the virus and not putting people’s lives at risk but that does not mean that we should stop working for them.
Conclusion
We believe those lawyers that have chosen to stop working and are not helping their clients through the process, are not acting in their best interests, and that is unacceptable.
Whilst we are damned if we do, and damned if we don’t, we believe it is in everyone’s interests for lawyers to continue working towards exchange of contracts. There are standard mechanisms in place such as completing “on notice” and simple clauses that can be used to help give our clients the certainty and protection they need. Last week, we have been sharing these with agents to give to lawyers who don’t know how to draft them, and this has helped them get deals over the line.
We believe 100% in following government guidance, but like the carrots, things are rarely as black and white as the media would like to make it.
* Peter Ambrose is the owner and managing director of The Partnership specialising in the delivery of conveyancing service
Comments (16)
Point well made Peter. Conveyancing continues like before, just more slowly, as every employer is now witnessing how unproductive ‘working from home’ is compared to being in the office- only one law firm so far has taken their own personal stance over their client’s and refused to exchange, despite the fact that no one is asking for anything other than a simultaneous exchange and completion anyway.
Actually the Coronavirus rider is trying to trade hands – several versions are in circulation- all having PII claims written all over them.
So, not much else to say, keep going conveyancers, there will be the slowbies who want to consider lock-down as a holiday, and there will be members of the public who confuse the conveyancer with the client – the conveyancer does not exchange, they are not the ones moving home, we take our instructions from a client, whose decision we respect.
The country has not shut down, the Government are not telling conveyancers to stop, so don’t force it/them to.
Thank you!!
( With all the noise at the moment sometimes you do wonder if you are the only person who doesn’t get why there’s nothing new to see here.
Yes it’s going to be slower but shutting up shop should not be an option for anyone that cares about the industry….
Well I passionately care about the profession (industry is an interesting choice of word) and more importantly I care about the clients especially those who are at the mercy in such unprecedented times of poor conveyancers. I guess we will have to beg to differ, but please don’t assume I don’t care about the profession because my opinion is polarised to your own. Just a guess (though speaking from experience)but I would suggest I care far more than yourself which is why I made my original comment. Doesn’t make either of us right you are just lucky enough to have been allowed to write what is basically a propaganda piece which gives an opinion rather than any facts.
As an opinion piece I would have thought that a responsible website would also have, at the same time as publishing this article, allowed another view point to be put forward. Mine will probably be viewed in a negative light but I feel it needs to be said since Mr Ambrose has been allowed to basically write a publicity advert on behalf of his firm.
Moreover from a man who recently wrote on another site ” maybe now wasn’t the time to be denigrating people but working together, right now, more than ever, “if you haven’t got anything nice to say – don’t say it” surely the line “We believe those lawyers that have chosen to stop working and are not helping their clients through the process, are not acting in their best interests, and that is unacceptable” goes against what he has said elsewhere?
So I am sure I will attract criticism for this but I feel as strongly as he does. I have heard many comments from my colleagues in conveyancing in recent days that the only reason they are progressing files through exchange is to keep their introducing Agents happy and to protect cashflow. I am not saying everyone is doing that but other comments online suggest so, one Solicitor actually stated the property industry should be in line for a Government bailout. Stand in line for that but at least he made his priorities known. Another comment crazily suggested conveyancers are key workers!
In everything I read about Solicitors staying open they claim the reason is to provide the best service for their clients in these difficult times. Odd then that in recent years customer service is something that has been at the bottom of the list when providing conveyancing for clients who have become nothing better than a file number. So it is extremely difficult to take seriously comments along those lines from partners and directors of firms who probably had to look up the definition of customer service in a dictionary in the last few days. One can become very cynical at seeing such statements after years in the industry being frustrated by firms who now claim to on the side of the consumer.
I can understand why clients selling properties would be desperate to exchange. But nobody should really be exchanging contracts on a purchase file in my opinion. If clients really must progress their transactions, then they should consider the following of their conveyancer first.
1. Did they work through the last recession from 2008 onwards? If they did then they should have a better perspective on what may happen in future, and what may happen if you exchange now and commit your hard earned deposit to a purchase. There are some Solicitors who do not seem to know their history.
2. Do not take any advice from a case handler. Find the Solicitor leading the ‘Team” (argh that word!) and seek out his opinion. Don’t take no for an answer and go as high as you need to. Advice at this time on something as important to your future shouldn’t be taken from someone who is only filling in a tick sheet.
3. Use a local Solicitor. That person will be better placed to advise you on local market conditions and what might happen when the lockdown ends and the conveyancing profession gets back to normal. (though to be fair nobody really knows and should not profess to)
Unlike the opinion piece I am not claiming I am right I am just providing an alternative opinion people should consider. If even one potential exchanger reads this and decides not to go ahead I will consider job done.
Exchanging contracts on a purchase it should be remembered fixes a price.Good for a seller but nobody knows how long this pandemic is going to last. Nobody should be attempting to second guess that length of time, but if the previous recession is anything to go by, house prices will drop. We do not know for certain but when advising clients we have to look to history when giving them all the information they need to consider whether to proceed at this time. Just glibly fixing an exchange date sometime in the future is not a good idea because the longer the pandemic stops life as we know it the more the certainty that prices will probably reduce. In the last recession the firm where I worked had a new build purchase department where clients who had exchanged in some cases one year before were allowing their deposits to be forfeited as it was cheaper than actually proceeding to buy a house valued considerably less than their contract price. Prices were going through the floor. Yet here we are potentially seeing history repeat itself, conveyancers appear to be exchanging contracts and exposing their clients to exactly the same risk as above. That is acceptable conveyancing? The excuse that we just advise and it is the clients decision is just that, if the client has received the right advice they would not be committing themselves to purchases.
It is somewhat unfortunate that this situation has arisen at a time when conveyancing standards are at their lowest for at least thirty years leaving clients exposed to perilous situations in terms of their future finances. Business as usual has become the buzzphrase to justify those practices. I have always put my clients first and I am appalled at what I am seeing, my emotions over the last week have ranged from tearful to anger. Well remember that phrase business as usual has other connotations too. A bad firm of conveyancers is still a bad firm even if they are lucky enough to be able to have all their staff work from home, probably more so. Be very careful what you all wish for.
IMHO everything should be held until we really are back to normal. Prices can stabilise and clients can decide whether or not the original negotiated price is really still fair. If they have not exchanged they are not being committed to what in a worse case scenario could be a purchase straight into negative equity. For those of you not around in the last recession you might wish to look up that phrase too, I have a feeling it is a situation which could be returning in a few months time.
You always need experienced agents and solicitor/conveyancing firms if you want to get the job done.
This list below can be broken down even further to see where the kink in the chain will be.
-Agent
-Mortgage Broker
-Bank
-Surveyor
-EPC’s
-Asbestos Reports – commercials commercial
-Fire Risk Safety – commercials
-Solicitor
-Local Authority Search
-Water & Draining Search
-Other related searches
-Management Companies
-Land Registry
Etc….
And that’s why when we are post Covid only the experienced of firms will thrive & survive.
So in the meantime, arm your yourself with property knowledge and keep helping and doing your bit from wherever that may be.
Peace and Love to you all!!
Best bit or the article for me was:
“Last week, we have been sharing these with agents to give to lawyers who don’t know how to draft them, and this has helped them get deals over the line” 🙂
Thank you!
If we can’t share potential solutions with people then really, what are we here for?
I just cannot endorse allowing innocent clients in very very difficult situations to be the victims of preciousness from lawyers.
Now, more than ever, is the time for lawyers to sort out deals.
You love a Second World War analogy, Peter! Frustrated historian? 🙂
Anyway – really good article. Thanks. If clients in a chain (I do believe that clients must be driving any exchanges at the moment) want to exchange then there are ways of doing so reasonably safely. Each transaction is different though and good Conveyancers will offset the risks that apply, not just insert standard clauses.
Each Firm faces their own challenges, of course, but any Firm that have stopped progressing files entirely are taking a chance. The Government funds will only last as long as this crisis does. Even with this help, a lot of coffers will be empty. Any Firm without a pipeline ready to complete at that stage will have to navigate a tricky period whilst they catch up.
Ha – I DO love a good lesson from history!!
I absolutely agree with you about those firms arbitrarily stopping work taking a chance. I took a call from a seller tonight whose law firm has just stopped communicating with him and he has been left high and dry. His mortgage offer currently has 29 days left but the lender has said that they will extend it by 90 days.
Who knows if this is long enough ( you would hope so!) but he is in a terrible state and we want to help out if we can. There are no good answers but ignoring him is not one of them.
I have not seen any general Law Society advice telling lawyers not to help their clients move to exchange. Any advice that has been given simply echos the advice given by Public Health England and the Government.
If you have exchanged and completion is likely to take place while measures are in place to fight Coronavirus in accordance with Government guidance, try to defer completion and vary the contract.
If you’ve not already exchanged and you want to exchange, agree a sensible completion date, but if measures are in still place to fight Coronavirus in accordance with Government guidance when that completion date gets near, consider varying the contract then.
I agree 100% Rob ( as always!!)
Sadly, we had three lawyers today who refused to progress their cases “on the advice of the Law Society”
(Their words not mine)
What can I say ….
Great article, please do more. Whilst the estate of a deceased person has a contractual obligation to complete and fulfill the contract, presumably lenders have no obligation to provide funding.
So what happens then? What do the lenders do and what happens to the contractual obligation on the estate?
Thank you Lance!
I do write every month trying to engage in informing people what is going on on the front lines …
It’s a complicated messy world out there ..!!
What a superb article – both beautifully written, positive and insightful. A great start to the day!
Good article, enjoyed that. On point. No completion dates (yet) but continuing to progress clients can only serve us well. Plenty of us will be grateful to chains and solicitors who are very, very ready to go once ‘lockdown’ is lifted. Lawyers, agents, movers, surveyors, every party involved will most certainly be keen for revenue. Having clients either exchange or absolutely ready to, will get the entire enconomy back up and running quicker.
Thank you for your kind comments – we are living in such uncertain situations right now. We ignore the need to protect our clients and jobs at our peril don’t we…
Very difficult balance to strike but vital to try !