Conveyancers have always been an easy target. All you need is to speak to a friend or family member who is amidst a property sale to realise that.
But transactions drag, chains wobble, pressures build and updating clients with “no update” becomes less of a priority when multiple exchanges are due, leaving those clients waiting their turn to grow frustrated. That’s not what a client wants and, contrary to what the chap down the pub thinks, it’s not what your conveyancer wants either.
That situation considered, it can be easy to end up in a position where you don’t have time to update your clients because you’re dealing with client complaints about not updating clients! Talk about catch 22!
The legal ombudsman (LeO) has stepped in with their spotlight on residential conveyancing post, setting the standard that conveyancing clients should be updated even when there is no update.
Clearly the LeO have received enough complaints to now feel like they are part of the chain!
The reality is, most conveyancers are not sitting on files for sport. They are managing heavy caseloads, dealing with fragmented chains, waiting on lenders, local authorities, managing agents and opposing firms, while trying to keep transactions moving in a system full of delay points they do not control. Public confidence matters, but it will not be strengthened by pretending every poor client experience reflects individual professional failure.
That said, confidence does depend on standards. Under the SRA Principles, firms must act in a way which upholds public trust and confidence in the profession, act with integrity, and act in each client’s best interests. In practice, this does not require miracles. It requires clients to feel their matter is being handled competently, honestly and proactively, even where progress is limited by third parties.
This is where the profession sometimes makes life harder for itself than needed. From first hand experience as a solicitor, I have found a client can tolerate delay far better than silence. Many complaints are not really about the delay itself. They are about not knowing what is happening, why it is happening, or when they are likely to hear next. Managing expectations sounds basic, almost embarrassingly so, but it is often missed across all areas of law.
A clear explanation at the outset of the likely stages, the common causes of delay, the points no fee earner can accelerate, and the expected pattern of updates can remove much of the heat before it builds. Silence allows for clients to imagine the worst.
The LeO’s mandatory communication standards may help, provided they are sensible. The risk is imposing rigid rules without regard to workload and file volume. A requirement for meaningful, regular communication is one thing but a regime which forces fee earners to produce constant bespoke updates on static files is another. That would add administrative burden without improving the client experience in any serious way. It may also reduce time spent on actual legal work, which helps no one.
A simple automated message can do a great deal of work- again this applies to all our areas, not just conveyancing. But in the current context, if a client receives an update confirming the file remains in hand, searches are awaited, enquiries are with the other side, or no further step is possible pending a lender response, many will be reassured.
Automation, used properly, should not be seen as cold or evasive. It can support good service. A mandatory touchpoint, triggered after a set period without outward movement, can keep clients informed without forcing already stretched teams into endless manual chasing.
So it’s not fair to look at the conveyancers on the firing line and say you must simply “do better.” It is that firms should be supported to deliver better client experience in realistic ways. Public confidence is preserved not by demanding the impossible, but by requiring systems which show competence, transparency and care. Regular updates, clear onboarding, realistic timescales, and light-touch automation can achieve a surprising amount.
In the end, confidence in conveyancing will not be restored by scapegoating. It will come from recognising the pressures conveyancers work under while insisting, consistently and properly, on communication standards which clients can see and understand. Simple? Yes. Easy in practice? Not always. Effective? Very often.
For strategy and management support relating to this topic, contact JSD Legal Consulting.
Author: TOF
Leave a Reply