Technology will help - but 'we need to work together' to improve conveyancing: MAE London

“Nothing has changed – we have had digitisation but very little else, so how can we make that process better?”, continued Karen Rodrigues, sales director of Smoove, speaking to an audience in the Financial Reporter Futures theatre. 

Rodrigues stressed that much-needed change was on the horizon. 

The Government are in consultation with The Law Society on a number of changes to the property buying process, including considering reservation agreements which would guarantee compensation should either side pull out of a transaction. In a move which Rodrigues called ‘a lovely aspiration, but a challenge’, consultation is also underway on ensuring local authorities complete searches within a 10-day deadline and holding those which fail to do so to account. 

Rodrigues said conveyancers themselves were pushing for change. 

“What we want is data being made available to conveyancers upfront,” she continued. “The process of conveyancing right now is backwards. When someone puts the property on the market they have no info – lease information, ground rent, all manner of relevant information, and it is very much left to conveyancers to check that with land registry. Wouldn’t it help conveyancing if that information was all available up front? That’s what we need to move toward.” 

She cited technological advances such as Open Banking and digital ID verification as ways in which data was already being shared in the homebuying process and said similar was possible for conveyancing, with other ideas – such as kitemarks to increase trust and raise standards in the sector – designed to improve consumer trust and understanding. 

Rodrigues also urged brokers to explain the conveyancing process to their clients clearly in order to help manage expectations: 

“That education start with you as the broker. It’s really important to set the scene in regards to contact. A lot more calls and emails are going in to conveyancers and it doesn’t help that we have both sides of a couple and a broker and an estate agency progressor ringing for updates. It’s important to talk to your customer and set the scene, establish what kind of timelines they will be looking at.” 

She ended the session with a plea to brokers:

“Please be kind to conveyancers – they are working incredibly hard. It will get better – yes, there is pain and friction, but it will get better if we work together.”