The sunny side of the street

We can all gaze into a crystal ball and come up with different answers, but the bleak future of conveyancing painted by Andrew Lund is not one I can share ('Exile on main street', Solicitors Journal 155/6, 15 February 2011).

From the anecdotal evidence gleaned recently I detect more positive enthusiasm from property lawyers than I have ever seen before.

Andrew is right to suggest that the two largest operators in the market are licensed conveyancers and not solicitors. While that may be true they still hold only a fraction of the market. Solicitors hold well over 90 per cent of it. Even if much of the work is undertaken by non-solicitors it must, as a matter of professional practice, be supervised by them. Solicitors take responsibility when things go wrong and the clients are backed up fully by professional indemnity insurance and ultimately the compensation fund.

Real rewards

The perceived value of the work is relatively low. Solicitors themselves have not valued it so how can we expect others to do so? We must educate the public that the job is more than pushing paper around. There is real risk and real liability. Real skill can bring good service and rewards for the client.

For many firms conveyancing is part of a holistic service. How many people when using a solicitor take the opportunity to make a will? How many people who have never been in contact with a solicitor previously realise that there are other services which may help them, perhaps employment or matrimonial law?

Prices have been driven down to a very low level, sometimes below cost. Nobody advocates going to the cheapest dentist, though many of those closely associated with our profession think the price is the only thing we can and should compete on. This is not in any way to underestimate the challenging times ahead, but we have faced many challenges over the years. Solicitor's firms are some of the most adaptable businesses to be found.

Title insurance is suggested as a solution. Insurance products in our market are nothing new. Lenders are of course interested in ensuring that their security is indeed secure. However, that is only part of the market. A statistic recently quoted in a national newspaper indicated that 45 per cent of homeowners do not have a mortgage.

If you were to survey homebuyers and ask 'Would you prefer to know if there are disputes or notices or would you simply like to insure against it?' the answer will be obvious. Insurance can help you with monetary loss, but cannot deal with the bargain that you have made or the comfort of your surroundings. Disappointment or frustration cannot just be compensated in financial terms.

Different focus

The incredible diversity of housing stock means that a 'one size fits all' solution will be cumbersome and expensive, providing unnecessary cover for many and unsatisfactory cover for others.

A lender's focus is demonstrably different from the buyers and sellers in this respect.

The ability of lenders to buy and sell loans, to secure them, chop them up, or have them is only because of the conveyancing market, not in spite of it. Each large loan book starts and continues with many smaller loans taken out by individuals to purchase residential property. Buyers may buy with their heads, but also with their hearts.

While the loans may be a commodity, the buyers and sellers won't buy, sell, borrow or redeem because the lenders want them to. Confidence in the market is a complicated matter, scarcity of funding may be the largest factor, but soaring unemployment, and long-term unemployment for younger people together with student debt, is not conducive to finding new first-time buyers.

Some of the reckless lending which ended in the 2008 recession was the problem. Easing up lending again is not a solution '“ predictably night will follow day.

It is now 30 years ago that I attended a lecture given by Austin Mitchell, the MP for Hull. He told the assembled crowd that within a few years solicitors would not be doing conveyancing. We have heard it repeated many times over the years and each time it has turned out to be wrong. Some solicitors may not see their future in providing the service and are welcome to exit the market. Those that are interested in doing it have the tools to give excellent service to their clients and the unparallel protection which our profession provides.