Buying and selling houses has always been listed as one of the top ten most stressful things we will go through in adult life.
Most sales go through without issue, but we have all heard tales of horror when things do not go to plan, leading to delays, heart ache and sales that ultimately fall through.
From the agents agreeing the sale, to the vendors and the buyers desperate to get into their new homes and the conveyancer that’s working hard to get them all there, we all understand a need for communication and speed through this process. No one wants to have to start again, delays often lead to cold feet and the fear that someone will pull out of the process.
On average, conveyancing time across the UK is at 4 months and there can be many reasons why a sale may take this length of time, but the question the majority of us are asking is why does it take so long when the conveyancing process in most cases can be done more quickly?
It seems strange that within such a fast-paced industry, elements of the conveyancing process can still take so much time, when in reality they shouldn’t. The delays usually come down to lack of communication between all parties and there is large acceptance across the industry that this is ‘just how it is’.
Estate Agents rely on and often advocate conveyancing firms to their clients, the two go hand in hand, often this comes down to proximity and habit. With many agents multi-tasking so many aspects of their business, they may not have the time or the resources of some larger agencies to dedicate large parts of the day to chasing the progression of their sales. In reality is ‘the status quo’ mentality harming their business?
Advancement within the tech industry means more forward-thinking agents are looking for ways to improve communication between themselves, their clients and the conveyancer. Solutions that streamline communication and connect all parties online are growing in popularity.
Conveyancing portals are becoming more common place within an estate agents tool bag. Providing them with much needed communication and control of the conveyancing process from start to finish, everything in one place from quotations to regular sales progression updates.
The best conveyancing portals will have a water tight service level agreement between themselves and the conveyancing firms they work with, something to check with the portal provider if you’ve thought about moving your business in this direction. The service level agreement dictates the partner conveyancing firm must proactively work through their client’s files at least every 7 days, provide online updates as the case progresses and email communication with all parties. This promotes files being actively worked on and stops files being left for weeks at a time, only being reviewed when prompted by the agent or client. Ultimately monitoring the communication between all parties shaves several weeks off the whole conveyancing process.
It’s promising to see this technology becoming more widely utilized by the property sector, over the last year, the pandemic has shown how quickly the industry can adapt and take on board new ways to keep communicating. It will be interesting to see how the market adapts once the restrictions have been lifted, will we fall into habits of the past or will we look to use technology that will help to regrow business when it’s most needed?