Conveyancer and the conveyancing process bashing is de rigueur at the moment and has been for some while. However, maybe the first step in improving matters could (should?) come from those who usually have the first foot through the door, i.e. estate agents.
The number of I’s that need dotting a T’s that need crossing by conveyancers grow almost daily (in my opinion to a level that is virtually unsustainable), and all the help they can get and fewer interruptions they receive, would free up the time they need to carry out the legal work and would be welcomed.
My suggestions are, agents please:
Don’t take referral fees from firms you know are not particularly efficient
Provide correct and comprehensive details of the seller/s and the property
Pass on relevant information as to why the seller is moving home
Provide details of any hoped-for timescale and what the reason is for it
Highlight anything about the property that might cause a delay, new windows, new heating system, extension or recent loft conversion etc
Provide a chain sheet. Knowing which conveyancing firms are in the chain and where they are, can be a real help
Make sure your colleagues have a basic understanding of the conveyancing process and explain certain terms and phrases to them
Prime the seller as to what information and documentation (guarantees, planning permission, safety certificates etc) their conveyancer will need in order to pass on to the buyer’s conveyancer. Particularly if the property is leasehold
Explain to the seller why instructing a conveyancer before an offer has been made and accepted can help speed up their sale, and encourage them to do so
Tell the seller why completing and returning the TA6 (or other questionnaire) is important
Agree with the conveyancer a time, place, and method as to when updates on the progress of the transaction should be provided. Then pass those updates on to other interested parties
Make sure you have carried out due diligence on proof/source of funds
Rob Hailstone is founder of the Bold Group, a network of conveyancers
Comments (16)
BME – Rob Hailstone has a good list of suggestions to improve things, but sadly even after doing nearly all of those we have seen stand alone transactions take 4.5 months to complete, e.g. a vacant bungalow with a 100% cash buyer.
Some companies have offices with no professionally trained personnel, so are incapable of sorting out any problems, or the small issues you mention regarding Building Regulations, Guarantees, etc. A chain moves at the speed of the slowest element, so an unknowledgeable agent can cause delays and not assist the conveyancers as they should. Regulation of Property Agents (ROPA) would raise the bar of knowledge and not just speed up the sales process but reduce unnecessary fall throughs.
8 out of 10 of the items above can be done as soon as the instruction to sell is received. The other 4 require the detail of the buyer. If all agents did 2/3rds of Robs list above it would mean more focus could be placed on the remaining 4 when the buyer has been found.
Without legislative change to adapt the process from the feudal system stuck firmly in the 12th Century to something resembling modern times, there is no hope. Estate Agents, with no legislative clout due to (insanely in my opinion) being non licensed and thus deemed ‘non professionals’ will not make any impact. Once it hits the conveyancers desks, it is like slamming into a brick wall as they have all the control and power, which they frankly enjoy having and keeps fees inflated. Yes agents can prep better, but the brick wall needs to be dismantled and the bricks powdered to dust and blown into the wind.
“Conveyancers have all the control and power.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. They are now dictated to by lenders, regulators, and PII companies and stymied by slow searches, HMLR delays, ridiculous SDLT requirements, AML and ID checks etc etc. Back in the 20th century I had none of those issues to hold me back.
Oh, and should I encounter a relatively trivial legal issue, I could’ take a view’ and move on quickly. That is no longer an option. My report to my clients was:
“Everything is fine and, if I wanted, I would buy this property myself”. That was more than good enough for all of them. No claims or serious complaints in 30 years at the coal face.
It isn’t the 12th century process that causes the delays, it is the 21st century process.
“Take a view”; how I miss that phrase from my working day! It dates from when we were allowed to apply common sense rather than the present position where we wear straightjackets and get clouted from all sides by the other stakeholders in the transaction as the easy target.
“Trouble is, I’ve provided all this information and it’s made no difference at all. Maybe EA’s could charge Solicitors a late payment fee after three months? Might focus a few minds.”
It might make a difference if this became standard practice. And even if it hasn’t made a difference, surely it is the professional thing to do?
“On the late payment point alone, There’s no reason why late payment should occur, especially when funds are there on completion. I got paid quicker 30 years ago!”
I agree there is no (apparent) reason why agents should be paid late. I used to walk the cheque round to my local agents on the day of completion. they loved it, loved me, and I got more work from them. No referral fee requested either, no brainer:)
As a sales progressor for a long time, I would say these are all really sensible suggestions. There was many a time I saw a new property go on with our sales team, see a conservatory with no doors etc and be pretty much certain there was no way that would have got through the planning/building regs process and know it I was going to cause problems in the sales progression chain.
I think sales progressors and sales agents should also have a training session with conveyancer’s so that they really understood each other’s issues and are then able to competently explain the issues to their part of the chain. Again, so many times I had angry sellers threatening to pull out because their buyers ‘were never satisfied and asking all sorts of ridiculous questions’ and having to rationally explain that the buyers themselves were not at all worried that there were x,y or z at the property, (or perhaps the open conservatory as in the example above), but that the converyancers have to work on behalf of the mortgage company as well, and it is THEM that have to be satisfied/need the indemnities etc rather than the actual buyers requesting it.
if having training with them is not practical, maybe the conveyancer association (if there is something like that) could put together a simple (ish) training course for estate agents and sales progressors so that we all actually understood the issues and the basic procederes and so understood where the issues occur.
I honestly think if we understood more there would be less frustration and animosity.
Rob Hailstone has a good list of suggestions to improve things, but sadly even after doing nearly all of those we have seen stand alone transactions take 4.5 months to complete on a vacant bungalow and a 100% cash buyer.
Some companies have offices with no professionally trained personnel, so are incapable of sorting out any problems, or the small issues you mention regarding Building Regulations, Guarantees, etc. A chain moves at the speed of the slowest element, so an unknowledgeable agent can cause delays and not assist the conveyancers as they should. Regulation of Property Agents (ROPA) would raise the bar of knowledge and not just speed up the sales process but reduce unnecessary fall throughs.
Trouble is, I’ve provided all this information and it’s made no difference at all. Maybe EA’s could charge Solicitors a late payment fee after three months? Might focus a few minds.
On the late payment point alone, There’s no reason why late payment should occur, especially when funds are there on completion. I got paid quicker 30 years ago!
I’m a little confused by this as the Solicitor is not responsible for your fees (although agents increasingly attempt to invoice us directly). Payment of the agents’ fee is made by the Solicitor, on his client’s instructions, as a professional courtesy.
As per an agents terms of business, well ours anyway, and I suspect many others, the seller is signing to confirm that they authorise the solicitor to pay the agents fees, out of proceeds of sale upon completion. Its been fine for the last 30 years, so why should it be any different now?
And I always do settle the account on the Sellers’ behalf unless I have their specific instructions not to do so. My point is that there is no contractual relationship between agent and solicitor in this respect let alone a power for the agent to impose penalties! Invoices should be addressed to the other contractual party; in other words, the Seller and not the Solicitor.
I never raised the idea about late payment fees, my point is purely around the fact that nowadays, payment seems to take a lot longer, not in all cases I grant you, than it used too, yet with todays technology, there’s no reason why it should.
I personally find it easier to make all payments to clients and third parties on the day of completion so we are singing from the same hymn sheet. I would ask all agents to be co-operative when we call to verbally verify bank details as payment can’t be made without!
The penalty proposal was, as you say, from Highstreetblues rather than yourself
Hi Rob,All sensible suggestions, that a HIP mainly answered!
Perhaps the conveyancing authorities could get together with the various agency ombudsman to remove the requirements for agents to give clients weekly updates! That would stop agents NEEDING to ask the comveyancer for so many updates.
Finally though,this list shows really that the process is not working and needs to be completely changed.
It is the archaic system more than the individuals.