Today's Conveyancer Podcast Today's Conveyancer

The latest Today's Conveyancer podcast is an extended edition as part of National Conveyancing Week 2023. 

Host David Opie is joined by a panel of professionals from across the conveyancing sector to discuss the increasingly complex world of property due diligence and searches. 
Andrew Prismall, Chair of the Association of Independent Search AgentsJames Sherwood-Rogers, Independent Chair of the Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO)Chris Loaring, Managing Director, Landmark Legal and founding member of the Conveyancing Information Executive (CIE)Laura Burkinshaw, Head of Legal Practice, Convey Law and member of Bold Legal GroupSimon Law, Head of Legal Practice DC Law & JS Law and Chair, Society of Licensed Conveyancers (SLC)In a previous podcast we have discussed the inclusion of climate change data as "the straw that breaks the camel's back" as conveyancers are expected to report on an increasing range of potential environmental and physical factors that could affect the property which they are for the mostpart untrained to do.

There is understandable push back and in this podcast we discuss the current position of practitioners and data providers, as well as explore some of the history behind property data and searches to help us understand how we've got the position we have; with searches containing upwards of 40-50 pages of content. 

The discussion focuses on the current direction of travel and explores views on technology, accessing live data rather than snippets in time and the ability to refresh information, product roadmaps for the data providers, and the issue of climate change. 

Listen in to this entertaining podcast to hear the panel's views. 
 The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.

National Conveyancing Week is an initiative designed to raise the profile of the conveyancing profession in the home moving industry. From 20th-24th March 2023 a series of on and offline events will showcase the work of the profession and encourage collaboration across the home moving community. 

In this latest Today’s Conveyancer Podcast host David Opie is joined by Simon Brown and Ben Marley,  CEO and Commercial Director of review specialists The ESTAS to discuss the ins and out of review platforms. 

Increasingly review and recommendation platforms dominate many of our buying decisions. Think about booking.com and TripAdvisor for holidays,  Facebook and LinkedIn for recommendations,  and of course Google reviews for many of our day-to-day consumer needs. 

And it is increasingly on the agenda for our regulators, whose efforts to create greater transparency has resulted in the requirement to provide more information around fees on our websites. Indeed falling foul of these regulatory responsibilities will land you with financial penalties. 

So why hasn't the legal sector bought in to review platforms in the same way that, for example, the estate agency sector has; where 70-80% of estate agents are now using at least one online review platform. For conveyancers, review platforms remain a "nice to have" rather than a necessity. 

Providing their insight into this conundrum Simon and Ben share some frightening statistics which should encourage practitioners to  consider the potential impact on their business.
Only 1 in 4 verbal recommendations result in direct contact 70% of a consumer’s buying decision has already been made before they contact you because of the availability of online due diligence. Listen in to this entertaining discussion to explore more about the real truth of review platforms. 
 The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.

The Today's Conveyancer podcast welcomes Clare Yates to the latest episode to discuss the art of communication and client relationship management. Clare is a communications and sales trainer with experience in both the estate agency and conveyancing sectors, bringing cross-sector experience to the discussion.

At a time when transaction volumes will normalise and the profession will have to go out and win work again, Clare discusses how client relationship management starts in the very first client interaction.

 Challenged on how conveyancers can set out their stall to truly differentiate their service offering Clare reminds us that every transaction is a human story, and that treating it as such should be paramount to professionals.

Whatever the situation, whether it's an exciting dream home move, a sale due to separation or divorce, or the sale of a loved one's property, conveyancers specialise in helping people people move in and move on. For so many, the initial conversation is a real deal-breaker if the conveyancer gets it wrong.

Alongside the importance of the maintenance of this relationship ("plan our calls so that calls don't plan our day") Clare goes on to talk about her experience of working with firms to improve their communication ("no update is an update"/ "speak in a language clients understand") and how firms need to be training staff to better deal with difficult clients.   

Clare also discusses the differences between the relationship between the client and their estate agent, and the client and their conveyancer; a source of frustration for many conveyancers who are often left to pick up the pieces of broken promises made without the conveyancer's agreement, and estate agent's understanding of the nuances of the legal process.

With a raft of anecdotes drawn from her experience as a trainer with estate agents and conveyancers, Clare brings a healthy dose of realism and practicality to the discussion.

The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.

This week's Today's Conveyancer podcast features a topical discussion about the growing complexity of conveyancing, and the expectations consumers, estate agents, lenders and brokers as to the role of the conveyancer. 

Is it fair, or right, that we face calls to add to the wealth of due diligence we already undertake? How can we be expected to be legal experts one minute, environmental scientists the next, and climate change soothsayers all in the same day?

This "mission creep" is evident in, for example, the increasingly non-legal special conditions in mortgage instructions; should it be the solicitor's responsibility to provide a buildings insurance certificate, or credit cards are paid off before completion?

Tackling the issue is Philip Armstrong, Managing Partner of Armstrong Solicitors. Philip contends that to expect conveyancers to understand all the complexities of the home move is unrealistic, and not unlike something like a medical procedure, there are various moving parts each with their own specialist required to ensure the safety of the patient. 

In Philip's view home movers need at least 2 specialists in their corner to advise on the transaction. The conveyancing practitioner for the legal and reserved work, and a surveyor for the building/structural/environmental risks.

As Philip says
“There needs to be a narrative nationwide to say that if you’re buying a property, you need a surveyor and you need a solicitor.”
However, according to a RICS report in 2020, only 22% of purchasers instruct their own survey.

Listen in to this latest Today's Conveyancer podcast to hear this thought-provoking and important discussion in full.

The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.

The latest Today’s Conveyancer podcast welcomes industry expert Kate Faulkner OBE to deliver her verdict on the current state of the property market, the ills of the home moving process, ROPA, Up front information and the work being done by the Home Buying and Selling Group to improve the experience for all.

Since starting her career in food Kate has since become a respected commentator and consumer champion in the property industry. She has launched a property portal, worked in relocation, part exchange and new build and now runs a communications agency, helping consumers with their property projects. 

Kate delivers a typically honest appraisal of the current state of the market ("the truth is, we don't know"), regulation of estate agency ("I am shouting from the rooftops we have to regulate estate agents. Everybody around the agents is regulated in some form or another, so we need to tick that box) and progress on some of the initiatives launched by the Home Buying and Selling Group ("we need mandation to make further progress")

But she is buoyant about the progress to date and fervently believes that change is coming. Discussing the work done previously she says she doesn't believe in missed opportunities, rather that the timing wasn't right. 
"We’re in the right time (now), we’ve got the right people, we are making changes to the home buying a selling process that we couldn’t do before. You learn why it didn’t happen and you put it right."

The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.

In this latest Today's Conveyancer podcast host David Opie is joined by Richard Hinton. Known to many for his years in marketing and business development in the legal services sector, both in house and as a supplier, Richard discusses the “vacuum of market intelligence” that conveyancers face when it comes to using data to drive their businesses forward.

Despite a blip during Covid where the number of firms increased to cope with demands, the home moving industry continues to see a contraction in the number of practices undertaking conveyancing work. The larger firms are getting larger as smaller ones exit no doubt because of the increasing risk and PI premiums.

"It's ironic," says Richard, "lawyers train to eradicate risk and rely on certainty, and yet as leaders of conveyancing businesses, we're making decisions on conjecture and gut feel. "

Conveyancers need to be able to use data to drill into their relative position in their geographic. They need to be able to understand what their opportunities are. If they are thinking about a new marketing campaign or a new office what is the competition and what is the strength of the referral market, particularly estate agents as an example.

Data is also a powerful sales tool; enabling firms to demonstrate their expertise in a particular type of property, tenure, or location; and highlighting transaction speeds and turnarounds.

Powered by TwentyCi who have extensive experience in the estate agency market, TwentyConvey has been launched to provide more quantitative and qualitative insight into the property market.

The Today's Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.