Following a turbulent period in the legal sector as a whole, and conveyancing services have been no exception, will 2014 be the year when things ‘settle down’?
Well, no... the view of the specialist financial media is that 2014 will herald a significant up-turn in the property market – if that’s the case then we’ll all have a ‘nice’ problem to address – increasing volumes.
Traditionally conveyancers, like all lawyers, have been reluctant to turn work down. However, in an expanding market I would argue that conveyancers need to take a more responsible approach than to just ‘always say yes’ to the business proposals they receive. Proposals should be evaluated, reviewing not only business potential but also capacity to deliver.
The mature conveyancer will take the braver course of action and decline work which is beyond their levels of resource or which will not be profitable for their business model. After all each broker and client wants to have the confidence that their matter will be dealt with in a timely manner, and if high volumes adversely affect service levels the conveyancer’s reputation could be called into question.
But the market is picking up – and so conveyancers also need to gear themselves up to handle these increased volumes. For many this will provoke a review of their operational practices as they look to maintain profitability whilst increasing capacity.
Turning back to my crystal ball I’ll now look at the changes coming up this year and how I believe they will affect the way conveyancing is done. In the latter part of 2013 two significant new initiatives were highlighted which are relevant here.
Firstly there is the proposal from the Law Society to revolutionise residential conveyancing by handling transactions online. Their conveyancing web portal, set to go live during 2014, will streamline the conveyancing process and improve communications between all the parties involved in the transaction thereby saving cost and time.
The second development is spearheaded by the Conveyancing Association who launched their protocols in December of last year. Designed to collate guidance from the Law Society, the Council of Licensed Conveyancers, the Legal Ombudsman, the Council of Mortgage Lenders and case law into one single point of reference for best practice these protocols could shorten the conveyancing process by up to five working days.
Collectively these two new approaches will enable conveyancers to increase capacity and progress matters more efficiently and effectively thereby also improving profitability.
Brokers – when selecting conveyancers to work with during 2014 look for those who take a responsible approach to referrals and who are harnessing these developments to offer efficient, streamlined services. Avoid those who like to ‘always say yes’ – they are not only their own worst enemy, they are your worst enemy too!
