This week's Today's Conveyancer podcast features a topical discussion about the growing complexity of conveyancing, and the expectations consumers, estate agents, lenders and brokers as to the role of the conveyancer.
Is it fair, or right, that we face calls to add to the wealth of due diligence we already undertake? How can we be expected to be legal experts one minute, environmental scientists the next, and climate change soothsayers all in the same day?
This "mission creep" is evident in, for example, the increasingly non-legal special conditions in mortgage instructions; should it be the solicitor's responsibility to provide a buildings insurance certificate, or credit cards are paid off before completion?
Tackling the issue is Philip Armstrong, Managing Partner of Armstrong Solicitors. Philip contends that to expect conveyancers to understand all the complexities of the home move is unrealistic, and not unlike something like a medical procedure, there are various moving parts each with their own specialist required to ensure the safety of the patient.
In Philip's view home movers need at least 2 specialists in their corner to advise on the transaction. The conveyancing practitioner for the legal and reserved work, and a surveyor for the building/structural/environmental risks.
As Philip says
“There needs to be a narrative nationwide to say that if you’re buying a property, you need a surveyor and you need a solicitor.”
However, according to a RICS report in 2020, only 22% of purchasers instruct their own survey.
Listen in to this latest Today's Conveyancer podcast to hear this thought-provoking and important discussion in full.
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