A revolution in conveyancing?

When Eddie Goldsmith (pictured), a former partner at conveyancing firm Goldsmith Williams, decided to come out of retirement last year, it was after a realization that he wasn’t quite done with the business.

“Nothing has really changed in conveyancing in the last 40 years,” he told Mortgage Introducer. “Technology has progressed and everybody has emails and most people use case management systems, but in terms of the service to the ultimate customer, it’s probably got worse.”

If that sounds like a damning indictment of his profession, he was quick to clarify what he meant. “I don’t want to be blasting any myths here, but conveyancing is not that difficult - and I’ll be a heretic saying that. Up to 90% of cases go through nice and smoothly. The issue is all the different stakeholders involved in the process.”

According to the industry veteran, it’s the large number of stakeholders, including lenders, mortgage brokers, estate agents and the other conveyancers who hold up the process.

“Even in a typical, straightforward transaction, there could be five or six different stakeholders involved. That’s what takes the time getting all ducks in a row. So you could have a really good conveyancer, but they’re slowed down because other stakeholders aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do.”

When he first started in the business in the mid-1980s, the transaction used to take around 12 weeks. But due to increased regulation, which now includes anti-money laundering rules, as well as environment and flood searches, the process can take almost twice as long.

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In his estimation, conveyancers also charge too little and have consequently not been able to maintain proper staffing levels to deal with the level of customer care that clients expect today.

To add to the problem, he blamed a 19th century mindset in the industry – a caveat emptor attitude – which places the onus on the buyer to spot any errors in the contract.

“That’s a process which has been with us for too long and it creates a huge amount of stress and anxiety. If you speak to somebody who’s been through the conveyancing process, you are unlikely to hear that they’ve had a great experience. And the issue that we’re facing is the fact that the government is not interested in the root and branch review of the actual process itself, which is not fit for 21st century customers,” said Goldsmith, who was also Chair of the Conveyancing Association for more than a decade.

There is no denying that the profession has been in crisis since 2011, with more than 1,000 active conveyancing firms in England and Wales disappearing in the last 10 or so years, according to figures from legal property data and technology provider, Search Acumen.

The reduction is partly due to challenging trading conditions in the conveyancing market over the last decade, but Goldsmith believes he has found a solution to streamline the entire process by placing himself directly between the customer and the conveyancer.

With that in mind, last month he launched YouConvey – the country’s first ‘collaborative conveyancing’ firm aimed at reducing the process by up to eight weeks.

Typically, customers have to wait for conveyancers to send out reams of property information forms which they then have to complete with a wet signature and send back.

According to Goldsmith, his firm will save time by providing customers with all the property information forms they need at their fingertips “so they can complete those in a day if that’s what they want to do”.

YouConvey will also fast-track the process by onboarding customers and getting all the electronic identification done. “That empowers them to start with, because they feel as if they’re in control more,” he said.

Goldsmith identified five crucial touchpoints during the transaction, including opening the file before the exchange and answering queries on the title before completion.

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The company was co-founded with tech start-up company Nova, which has helped raise investment for development and launch, although, since then, Goldsmith admitted that the launch of an app had been delayed in an effort to fine tune the service.

It’s all a far cry from when he started in the business back in 1984, when he co-founded Goldsmith Williams and eventually turned it into one of the largest conveyancers in the country.

“Back then, there were very few firms of solicitors going out marketing and most solicitors would sit in their office and wait for work to come in, and by and large it did,” he said.

“In those days, most solicitors didn’t actually understand what mortgage brokers did. When you went for a mortgage in those days, you would generally go to your local building society. When I bought my first house, lenders wouldn’t lend on a property pre-1919, and they wouldn’t lend if you had a basement or an attic.”

Goldsmith is now hoping his new firm will revolutionize the home moving process to a similar level.