As the CA celebrates its first birthday since its launch in September 2010, Mr Goldsmith believes that with lenders under pressure to reduce the risk of mortgage fraud, they will look for more quality assurance from conveyancers beyond existing accreditation schemes. ]
He claims that alternative business structures and new regulation will also shake up the legal sector later this year.
Goldsmith says: “It’s now more than ever that firms who are serious about conveyancing need to sit up and take action.
"Lenders, insurers and the Solicitors Regulation Authority are all demanding more from our members at a time when volumes are low and competition is likely to increase.
"So it’s not enough to sit back and take a ‘wait and see’ attitude.
“When we launched last year we recognised the challenges in the industry and we have since been joined by many more firms over the last 12 months to help them navigate the thorny problems they face in the current economic climate, from the Legal Services Act to new regulatory approaches.”
He added: “The CA has been working constructively with all the organisations involved in these changes to mitigate the threats to our members and their businesses. We will continue this work in our second year and aim to increase the recognition among stakeholders of the quality work that our members perform.”
The Conveyancing Association now has almost 50 members that are serious about conveyancing, including licensed conveyancers and solicitors. CA members now carry out 95 percent of the remortgaging work done by firms, and ten percent of transactional conveyancing.
