With the conveyancing industry at its limits, should the end of the Stamp Duty holiday be a time to make processes smarter?
Access Legal have written a feature on whether the end of the Stamp Duty holiday, with the conveyancing industry at its limits, should be a time to make processes smarter?
According to Rightmove [1], in early June there were 700,000 property transactions nearing completion – making it the highest number of sales subject to contract at any time that the website has seen in the past 10 years.
Homebuyers were frantically trying to beat the June Stamp Duty Holiday deadline, and there are still those aiming to beat the final September deadline for properties up to £250,000. It has put unprecedented pressure on conveyancers this year, with some stating ‘stress and strain’ levels had never been so high, while others claim to have seen colleagues working at 3:30am just to try to get through a logjam of cases. Practitioners have been working out of hours, all hours and too many hours to try and meet the demand.
The completions to instructions ratio published in The Landmark Information Group’s quarterly Property Trends Report[2] provides a barometer for identifying pressure on conveyancers. In 2019 it was at ‘69’ per cent, this year the ratio hit ‘115’ per cent in June, indicating the high volumes of cases compared with the usual workload practitioners face.
Some may point out that the surge in activity in the market created by the Stamp Duty Holiday isn’t forever, but It has provided many questions about the traditional processes and practices in the industry and whether things need to be streamlined to support the workloads of conveyancers, especially during peak times. When the final deadline hits at the end of September it may be a good time (after many in the industry take some well-deserved holiday) for conveyancers to review their fees, technology, practices and models to help teams avoid burnout, boost efficiency and to maximise income.
Transforming a typical day
Speaking to conveyancers on a regular basis we know just how busy they are when cases wrack up. Solicitor Kate Atkinson[3], head of legal practice at The Partnership, recently documented how relentless pressure has been this year. She stated that she has been receiving around 200 emails a day, having to start at 7:15am just to get some work done before the phones begin ringing at 9am – which rarely stopped till 5pm – and then carrying on till 9pm to get through her tasks for the day. It’s a routine that resonates with so many in the industry and one that needs to change to support the general wellbeing of people above all else.
So what does need to change? With lenders, estate agents, councils, clients and other key stakeholders to liaise and coordinate with, a host of documentation to keep on top of and strict compliance procedures to adhere to, time is an extremely stretched commodity for conveyancers. Law firms need to find a way to free up time and investing in technology is one of the best options with case management, practice management, compliance and training software all out there and available to conveyancers. Any one of these, or a combination, provide tools which can speed up processes, reduce mundane admin tasks and speed-up compliance protocols – all to give precious moments back to conveyancers who want to put more energy into improving client experience or their own development – such as areas of work they are passionate about but rarely have time to even think about, no matter do.
Finding the right tech partner
In May, Raconteur[4] called out the conveyancing side of the property sector as lagging behind in its digital adoption and claimed that those in the industry should embrace technology now so as not to be left behind competitors.
Yet as rightly highlighted, it is often not opposition to change that has seen slow take-up of tech in conveyancing but firms can find it a struggle to understand which solution from the variety available is the right one. They don’t want to make the wrong, costly decision.
For any conveyancing business that plans to review its processes following the pressure the Stamp Duty Holiday has put on its teams, it needs to consider looking for the right technology partner first, before deciding on the solutions needed – but what does the right partner look like for you?
The right provider should be able to not only offer you a broad range of solutions that integrate across your business to improve collaboration, break down silos and boost productivity and efficiency in each team, but they should also give you guidance and advice on the best options for you – on an ongoing basis.
They should be taking technology off your list so you don’t have to worry about how it’s going to develop and evolve with your business and the industry, that’s their job to do and keep you informed on. These are becoming must-haves of technology partners rather than nice to haves, as technology doesn’t just provide a function, it provides means to growth, attracting and retaining talent and reducing stress and boosting wellbeing of practitioners.
After the stress and strain conveyancers have faced in the last year, trying to wade through the amount of cases while keeping clients and all key stakeholders happy, they will want to see their typical day change – I think following the end of the Stamp Duty Holiday is the right time to make that happen.
Written by Darren Gower, Sales Director at Access Legal
[2] https://www.landmark.co.uk/news-insights/industry-reports/landmark-property-trends-report-july-2021/
[4] https://www.raconteur.net/legal/why-conveyancing-needs-to-embrace-tech/
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Main photo courtesy of Pixabay
