House buying times slashed by eight weeks, claims conveyancing chief

A new PropTech platform set up by a major figure in the conveyancing industry claims to slash the typical time for a transaction by up to eight weeks. 

YouConvey says it is “allowing home movers to take control of the lengthy conveyancing process, resulting in a quicker and more transparent transaction” by automating administrative tasks or handing them to non-conveyancer Home Mover Advisors, rather than being handled by conveyancers directly.

YouConvey customers will be given access to documentation to complete on the first day of their transaction without having to wait for conveyancers to provide it. 

The platform says customers will still be able to rely on professional support for all legal aspects of the transaction from regulated conveyancers but the Home Mover Advisors will be used to guide customers through the process “and help them feel more engaged in the process.”  

YouConvey is the brainchild of Eddie Goldsmith, a former chair of the Conveyancing Association, and PropTech company Nova, headed by Andy Davidson. 

Goldsmith says: "I have worked in the conveyancing sector throughout my career and understand the activities that slow the process down and what a stressful experience moving home is. By providing our customers with direct access to property documentation and with the help of our Home Mover Advisors we are looking to improve the customer experience, reduce the timescales of a typical transaction and work better with all the stakeholders in what is generally accepted as an extremely stressful experience for home movers. 

“We will be able to significantly reduce the time between offer and exchange by working with all the parties collaboratively to shorten what is an unnecessarily long and protracted process”.

And Davidson adds: "We discovered that there was a problem with the conveyancing sector that could be solved with an innovative new platform. We're delighted that YouConvey has received Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme funding to co-found this venture and look forward to developing it over the next nine months."

The conveyancing initiative has come just as new research by professional services firm Stipendium shows that for the vast majority of buyers, purchasing a property is regarded as more stressful than other life events such as contracting Covid, enduring Brexit, or taking a driving test.

For over a quarter there was a more serious side to the stress caused by moving, with many saying it exacerbated an existing mental health issue, while others said it caused their mental health to deteriorate. 

The lack of certainty around when their purchase would complete ranked top for homebuyers when it came to the stress inducing factors of buying a home. And the total time it takes to buy a home in the UK ranked as the second most stressful aspect, while the fact that a transaction can collapse at any point until the sale has completed was understandably the next biggest worry.