Who Chooses The Conveyancer And Why Speed Follows

Most transactions are delayed in the legal stage rather than the marketing one. The choice made in the first week determines much of what follows.

Both sides appoint independently

The seller instructs a conveyancer and the buyer instructs another, and the transaction proceeds at the pace of the slower of the two.

Neither party controls the other's choice, which is why a well-organised seller can still find themselves waiting on the other side of the transaction.

What a seller can control is their own firm, their own paperwork and the speed with which they answer enquiries when they arrive.

Referral arrangements shape the choice

Estate agents commonly recommend conveyancers, and those recommendations may carry a referral fee, which should be disclosed under the rules that apply locally.

A recommended firm may be excellent, and agents have a genuine interest in transactions completing. The recommendation is nonetheless not disinterested.

The useful test is capacity and communication rather than price, since a saving on fees is easily lost to weeks of delay in a chain.

Fee structures affect behaviour

Fixed low fees are usually built on volume, which means large caseloads per fee earner and less time available for any individual transaction.

Some arrangements charge nothing if the transaction fails, which is attractive to clients and shifts risk onto the firm, with predictable effects on how work is prioritised.

Neither model is wrong, but a client should know which they have bought, because it predicts how quickly a query will be picked up.

What actually causes the delays

The recurring causes are waiting for search results, waiting for a leasehold management pack, unanswered enquiries, missing certificates and coordinating a chain's dates.

Several of these can be started before a buyer is found, and a seller who assembles documents during the marketing period removes weeks from the timetable.

Procedures, the documents required and who provides them vary by jurisdiction and change, so the list should be obtained from the appointed firm at the outset.

Managing the relationship

Clear instructions about how and how often the client wants updates prevent the most common complaint, which is silence rather than slowness.

Responding to a request for information the same week is the single largest contribution a client can make, since enquiries frequently sit waiting on their answer.

Where a chain exists, the agents coordinate between the parties, and a seller who keeps their own side moving becomes the transaction that is not holding everyone up.