Now that the dust is beginning to settle on the recent government claim that home buying and selling is to become quicker and cheaper and will provide more power to leaseholders, I thought I would put my head above the parapet.
The press release says: One of the key reasons the buying and selling process can be long and frustrating is a lack of digitalisation. It is a reason certainly, but my opinion and it would appear the opinion of many others is that it is not necessarily a key reason.
However, other reasons that many do agree upon are manyfold of course, but my view is that the sheer number of additional tasks that a 21st century conveyancer (as opposed to a 20th century conveyancer) has to carry out is definitely a key reason. Their workload has become almost unsustainable. A few examples of those additional tasks are, AML, source of funds, climate issues, complicated SDLT requirements, and the Building Safety Act 2022. Add to that ever-growing list a shortage of experienced conveyancers and a dearth of new young conveyancers entering the profession and some of the current problems will continue to escalate over the coming years.
Some of the other key reasons are that management companies can, and often do, slow things to a grinding halt; there are chronic delays with certain local authorities; there are Estate Service Charge issues; Help to Buy delays; new build and developer problems; lenders not adopting a uniform approach and, dare I say it, the thorny question of referral fees. Whether you agree with referral fees or not, estate agents should not be recommending firms to their buyers and sellers to instruct that they would not themselves instruct. Let’s point the finger inwards also and be honest that some of the bigger firms and some antiquated high street firms do not help matters with their procedures.
Housing and planning minister Matthew Pennycook thinks that the government will be streamlining the cumbersome home buying process so that it is fit for the twenty-first century. He needs to think again, streaming the home buying process is probably a thousand-mile journey and these latest “major new plans” welcome as they may or may not be, probably only represent a few small steps.
If the housing and planning minister really wants to crack this nut, he should spend some time in a room listening to a broad church of currently active and forward-thinking conveyancers, estate agents, and lenders, etc.
Rob Hailstone is CEO of Bold Legal Group
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