Why advisers should be at the centre of the conveyancing process

Indeed, advisers might have been more likely to say, “I have no choice”, when weighing up the work they should take on, the products they should offer, and the ways and means by which they might secure clients. I’m not saying that today heralds a period when we have too much choice in terms of the sectors we advise on, or the clientele we target, but firms can certainly view the possibilities out in the market and make an educated decision.

Let me however be the first to say that, just because you have choices and opportunities, doesn’t necessarily mean you should take them. Not all advisers want to be later life specialists, not all want to provide a ‘robo advice’ offering, not all want to take the qualifications that are necessary to move into certain areas. That is up to them.

But, what about those sectors/areas which provide a real option, a real choice, and require very little in terms of what is required to offer them to clients? What about conveyancing advice, for example?

Just recently, I was asked about adviser involvement in the provision of conveyancing advice, and I was pleased to say that – from our own perspective – it’s grown a considerable amount over the past 12-18 months. Advisers are simply much more aware of the benefits, not just from an income perspective, but in terms of what it can mean to clients who may have little idea where to secure their conveyancing from, or indeed, how much it should be costing them?

Recommending in this sector also of course puts advisers at the centre of the conveyancing process, which can be very reassuring to clients, who might feel they are flying blind especially when it comes to securing updates on where in the process their case might be.

And yet, of course there are large numbers of advisers (and firms) who do not get involved in the conveyancing process. That is their choice but what might be the reason for this, especially when – via our own platform – the ability to give such advice is very simple, it is likely to place clients with very experienced solicitor firms, and it will potentially have a positive impact on firm revenues.

My own feeling is that advisers might be wary of conveyancing – in effect, by doing this they are opting to involve themselves in a part of the process which could go wrong. And it could go wrong when it has absolutely nothing to do with them. They perhaps fear being blamed for this by the client and they might end up losing that client because of something out of their control.

So, what can we do to alleviate that concern? Clearly, we need to assure them that it won’t go wrong, and we have plenty of historical data and ultra-satisfied advisers and clients to do that, but we also perhaps need to point out that – by not providing conveyancing advice – the chances of the client using a firm which is not a specialist, or does not have the resources, or is unfamiliar with a certain part of the market, are increased and the chances of it going wrong will also be heightened.

Indeed, the advantages of this firmly outweigh any potential negatives, however slim. Would you, for instance, send a first-time buyer off to sort out their conveyancing on their own, if they’d already expressed how little they knew about it? Would you allow a landlord completing a limited company buy-to-let for the first time to choose a conveyancing firm that had no specialism in this area? What about the older client looking at their later life lending options? Is it right to allow them to muddle through and hope they get the right conveyancing support?

In fact, for every type of client in every situation, the belief has to be that they would rather you provide the advice and recommendation rather than simply crossing your fingers that they’re going to make the right choice. They may well get there, but there’s also a greater chance that they won’t.

In that sense, and certainly if you’ve not provided conveyancing advice before, now is the time to try us out. See how the process goes, does it live up to your expectations and what reaction does it get from your client? You may surprise yourself – and we will definitely surprise you – and the positive benefits of doing that should be felt for many years to come.