UK Law Society Proposes Conveyancing Reform
The Law Society – a British organisation representing the interests of solicitors – has published a paper lately, which is called “Improving Residential Conveyancing†and which is aimed at the improvement of the process of selling and buying properties (conveyancing) that has not been revised since 1925 (the year the Home Information Pack Regulations were introduced).
However, if the paper is assessed critically, it becomes clear that the conveyancing reform, for which the Law Society is calling upon, is not supposed to benefit consumers.
Rather, it is aimed at securing the financial interest of UK solicitors, who might find themselves disadvantaged next year, when Tesco, Sainsbury, and the likes will be allowed to offer conveyancing services.
The conveyancing reform, proposed by the Law Society, includes several points: first, the body suggests that all UK solicitors, regardless of their locations, use the same forms and procedures so that no delays, added costs or duplication of information occur.
Second, the introduction of a so-called “completion ready pack†is being offered by the organisation. The idea implies the participation of a solicitor at all stages of property marketing rather than at final stages only. This why, the solicitor will be able to represent the client more effectively and to speed up the conveyancing process. Moreover, the Law Society is ready to engage into the development of a specialist IT system that will simplify the compilation of these packs.
No wonder, HIP experts criticise the conveyancing reforms offered by the Law Society. In their opinion, HIP provides solicitors, sellers and buyers with all the information needed. They also say that best UK solicitors, whose aim is good conveyancing work, do market HIPs rather than rave about them.
Another important problem with the conveyancing reform, in the opinion of HIP experts, is the exclusion of consumers’ benefits. If consumers’ needs and expectations are addressed by solicitors, consumers will be unlikely to turn to other suppliers of legal services.
Entries (RSS)
It is a sad indictment on the solicitors’ industry that a whole HIP business and indeed industry was spawned by Home Information Pack providers.
Despite what the Law Society says in terms of the number of solicitors providing Home Information Packs, Fridays Property Lawyers very few conveyancing firms to provide Home Information Packs. I would guess that less than 5 per cent of Home Information Packs are actually prepared by solicitors.
The fact remains that property solicitors buried their heads in the sand when it came to Home Information Packs. The Home Information Pack contains legal documentation (save for the Energy Performance Report) that would have been required as part of the conveyancing process. No doubt the pedantic solicitor may well point out the fact that a HIP Index and Sale Statement are not part of the conveyancing process. In other words, Home Information Packs could have easily been absorbed within the conveyancing process.
[Reply]
Simon Reply:
October 8th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Whilst I agree with some of what Simon Seaton is saying, the major problem for solicitors trying to produce HIPS is the cost. I work for a conveyancing firm and we produce HIPS. The cost of our HIPS is almost double that of your non solicitor internet provider and we only charge for the components, there is no profit in it for us. The reason is simple. The cheap HIP providers often carry out their own personal search and in some cases are able to carry out the EPC also. Solicitors cannot do this.
Another issue that myself and numerous other solicitors have with HIPs is that those provided by non-lawyers are quite often incorrect and lack detail. For example, personal searches with no reference to rear access, incorrect title information and in some cases searches made on completely the wrong property.
I personally feel that HIP’s do not really help the conveyancing process at this time, although I am a firm believer that if produced correctly they are a useful tool. I 100% agree that more solicitors should be involved in the production of HIPs. I think you could be right that many solicitors did “stick their head in the sand” and many are still of the opinion that HIPS might magically disappear. Instead they should be concentrating on decent marketing strategies to encourage sellers to use their services rather than the cheaper options available.
[Reply]