Collaborate to speed up your clients’ conveyancing

Published: 25/11/2013

The latest news from the resurgent property market is that it now takes an average of just eight weeks to sell a home in the UK. With such speed at the start of the home moving process many clients might question the slower pace of the conveyancing process.

‘There have been lots of initiatives aiming to streamline the conveyancing process’ explained Eddie Goldsmith, Senior Partner at property solicitors Goldsmith Williams. ‘I’m sure many in the industry will remember the ill-fated Home Information Packs which were introduced with the aim of speeding up the conveyancing process, but then these were abandoned after a government u-turn leading to the failure of those businesses set up to provide the packs. All that now remains of this initiative are Energy Performance Certificates and the practice of assembling a preliminary pack adopted by a number of Solicitors.

Successive governments have looked overseas to Europe for examples of how to simplify the conveyancing process but, despite these good intentions, no “magic bullet” has ever emerged – not that surprising when you consider the number of parties typically involved in a house sale / purchase and how unpredictable the whole process is!

However the conveyancing industry rather than complacently accepting this situation continues to look at ways to improve the process. Here at Goldsmith Williams we are working with other legal firms and with the Conveyancing Association to address this challenge. Initiatives such as the impending launch of the Conveyancing Association Protocols together with the Law Society’s recently heralded Conveyancing Portal all will deliver improvements in the whole process and, no doubt increase the speed of some property matters.

But in the end, with the number of parties involved, communication and collaboration will always be fundamental to a successful and timely conveyancing transaction. After all there’s a strong motivation to collaborate as everyone has a common goal, to serve the client well.’

Content correct at time of publication