Report backs “targeted approach” to upfront property information

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Conveyancing: Increased trust needed

A report for the Digital Property Market Steering Group (DPMSG) has outlined a “more targeted approach” to upfront property information, “focused on reducing late-stage transaction failures that waste time and effort for all parties”.

It also highlighted concerns that younger conveyancers “may not be adequately trained” for complex transactions – but at the same time “the gradual adoption of new practices by younger professionals” would help improve the system.

The researchers, from TPXimpact, said existing attempts to encourage the provision of upfront property information for home buyers had resulted in “limited adoption” and a more thorough analysis of the reasons for this was required.

“Data and statistics could be sought or gathered to identify the fields of upfront information whose absence is most likely to cause late-stage transaction failure; this may then support a more targeted approach to upfront information focused on reducing late-stage transaction failures that waste time and effort for all parties.”

TPXimpact said “partitioning upfront information into smaller reusable pieces” should also be explored.

The DPMSG is a coalition of government and industry partners that wants to accelerate digital adoption in the property sale process and said the report on data standards and interoperability “provides an evidence-based foundation for driving the adoption of common data standards and ensuring system interoperability across the property sector”.

The report noted the “cautious and risk-averse” nature of lawyers, which fuelled a fear of being sued. “Solicitors and conveyancers are trained to be cautious and look for potential mistakes, which they tend to carry over into their professional practices.

“This caution and risk aversion can lead to a focus on the legal aspects of transactions rather than providing a more comprehensive service to clients.

“This has implications for introducing change. Everyone in the industry will be concerned how new ways of working will affect their liability.”

In a section on “challenges” for conveyancers, TPXimpact said conveyancing was “a stressful business”, with practitioners feeling misunderstood.

“They are often chased by estate agents, brokers, and lenders, leading to frustration. Many are overworked.”

Researchers went on: “There are concerns that younger conveyancers may not be adequately trained or experienced to handle complex transactions. One source notes that some volume-conveyancers may train inexperienced people for only six months to a year before designating them as qualified conveyancers.”

In a section on opportunities for conveyancers, the report highlighted the use of a property logbook, potentially with Land Registry involvement, the regulation of estate agents and the use of pilot programmes to convince lawyers of the benefits of digitisation.

“Software services can help reduce the burden on solicitors, but smaller companies may need help finding the right solution and integrating it into their workflow.

“This coupled with the gradual adoption of new practices by younger professionals entering the field will eventually lead to a more efficient conveyancing process.”

Researchers identified three priorities for improving the conveyancing system – increased trust, greater digitisation and better incentives.

Increased trust would “particularly facilitate decreasing the prevalence of duplication of effort and double checking throughout the transaction process”.

While the immediate benefits of greater digitisation included fewer manual errors, the “real value lies in enabling transformative innovations such as AI [artificial intelligence] and fully automated systems”.

Better incentives were needed “to move work in parallel rather than sequentially, to innovate, and to adopt innovation from other parties and governments”.

This would facilitate “greater interoperability between parties, which will speed up individual processes as well as making subsequent tasks and activities more efficient and trustworthy”.

The DPMSG said the report represented a “critical milestone in the transformation of England and Wales property market towards a more efficient, transparent, and digitally enabled system”.

The DPMSG said it was committed to supporting the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government pilot project to drive common data standards adoption, and the report would act as “a foundation for ongoing consultation”.