Buying reform backed by conveyancing chief but government 'must get it right'

Just so long as the reservation agreement truly has all the measures in place to benefit those that the efforts of all involved should be focussed on - the public.

Given that it is an opportunity to destroy the scourge and stress of gazundering and people being forced to move with barely any notice hopefully this document will receive the type of attention the public would benefit from.

That being to implement the desperately needed minimum period Inbetween exchange and completion. Ideally of no less than 10 calendar days.

Up to half a million people/families every year are bounced into moving home with short notice and heaps of last minute stress due to the lack of mandated period.

Plus of course those poor souls are then further punished when they pay out millions of pounds in extra conveyancing fees and other bills solely because of the lack of notice. Something that is not their fault.

It would also contribute towards drastically lowering the fall through rate of transactions.

IF the chance is taken.

Hopefully those involved who profit from the measures currently in place and/or contribute to the angst will put self interests aside and place the public first.

Credit to HSBG on this.

What question was asked to receive the answer 'how about reservation agreements?'
What can reduce fall throughs and speed up conveyancing?

That was the most popular answer!? The one taking prime attention? Asked of how many people!?

I appreciate that there are vested interests starting in the Government working their way down, as massive profits/money is made from conveyancing but whoever is brave enough could really improve things:

Fall throughs:

1. Poor/no financial vetting of buyers - this has crept in badly over the last few years. Far more competition and desperation to take any buyer as commission is commission…but too many fall-throughs are happening because a mortgage cannot be obtained. That is more and more common. Why are buyers not financially vetted!!!

Instead make MIPs mandatory before an offer can be accepted, or proof of cash in bank/cast iron proof of access to the purchase price on a max notice of 30 days

2. Rid us of slow conveyancers - start by regulating who is permitted to be a conveyancer. At the moment, a legal office's cleaner can be badged as a conveyancer. Madness! That is why the standard among conveyancers is so low - legal errors continue, sluggish ‘I am not a confident conveyancer’ deals continue, etc


Speed up conveyancing:

1. same point above about conveyancers BUT also:
a. conveyancers should be required to be called a mandated name to be allowed to handle the legal work for a home move, and based on experience, so the public can weed out outfits farming out non-experienced ‘conveyancers’ on the public e.g ‘Conveyancer' if above 7 years experience, 'Trainee Conveyancer' if below.
b. law firms required to publish all residential conveyancing PII claims and Ombudsman upheld determinations (and self-insuring outfits to publish all complaints if they have no PII claims) against all existing staff at that business

2. And to help mortgage lenders because they must be sitting on millions of properties with defects from poor conveyancing, the CML Handbook to radically change:
a. Needs to be a Q&A section to explain typical scenarios so conveyancers have certainty what CML mean
b. CML to state more situations when they do NOT need legal indemnity insurance so conveyancers need not get stuck on daft issues scared witless to use legal knowledge/common sense because they might be told by a conveyancing outfit (with neither) that they made a mistake and legal insurance is needed.
c. More concise and helpful to the conveyancer

3. The Government to clearly prescribe/re-egislate:
a. planning and building control enforcement guidance to succinctly state when Councils can and cannot take action for breaches - none of this ‘well they could still take injunctions if..'
b. after what time covenants cannot be enforced by the courts (and actually allowing removal by the Land Registry on proof of breach however defined)
c. state when Chancel liability will now be enforceable against home owners, as the recent changes arguably did nothing “not being interests in land capable of being overriding interests anyway”
d. a far more instant registration of a cast iron easement where title deeds are silent / where access has been had over a footpath/bridleway where deeds are silent
e. who owns a boundary wall where deeds are silent (surprising there is no legal indemnity insurance for that….what out there soon will be)

4.The three legal regulators to be required to agree a single mandatory Conveyancing Protocol, form of contract and Property Information Forms (the later of which seriously needs far more questions asked and answered)....and not allowing bulldozing to dumb things down (i.e conditional planning consents always produced by the seller, none of this 20 year nonsense)

5. Ban contract packs by email/hosting. A full bundle in paper, sorry, but electronic so often means - as no one likes to looks at multiple pdfs online - it is not checked when completed by the seller, simply forwarded by the selling lawyer, corners cut by the buying lawyerwho can't face the hassle of reading it - and mistakes continue, or it is left to one side to have to find the time to print collate, and return it all for all the errors as it was not prooof read when sent out

6. No one can offer conveyancing if they do not also offer a specialist in the areas the home moving process always impacts:
a. wills
b.Trusts
c. Probate
d. Family/matrimonial
e. Litigation
f. Company

The public need all the raminfications - solutions when things go wrong - not 'conveyancing only'



Some may seem unfair - but just get it done! Make England and Wales a continuing example of how property ownership should be recorded and transferred.