Only 2.4% of Property Lawyers Are Registered Conveyancing Firms

When You Move, the leading proptech disruptor, recently launched a new nationally representative report revealing the sentiments of a population of 2006 current and future homeowners, in addition to property minded consumers. The sentiments are launched amidst the fact that only 2.4% are registered property specialists, registered with CLC – the specialist association for property law specialists.

Adding altitudinal context to the disconcerting deficit of scale and capacity available to the UK’s select community of property professionals, a quarter of Brits say that lawyers – property or otherwise – offer the lowest level of customer service they’ve encountered during any of life’s major transactions.

The top line stats revealed:

• 16% felt that all property lawyers provide the same level of service and expertise when buying or selling a home.
• 15% felt that due to their property purchase or sale being of a lesser value, it was not prioritised by their lawyer.
• 29% of respondents said that during the sale or purchase of their property, they had to speed up the process themselves by chasing for updates and pushing through on processes.
• -21% would not use the same lawyer that they’ve used previously due to their poor customer service.
• 12% of Brits wanted to buy or sell a home for a while, but instead chose not to, as they were put off by a long and arduous legal process.
• 25% – a quarter of Brits – found that lawyers offered the lowest level of customer service that they encountered during life’s major transactions.
• 17% say that they trust the opinions of online reviews and customer feedback, over that of their friends and family, when looking to hire the services of a property lawyer.
• 18% of people have had to take time off work (or spent their own personal time), to chase up the administration of their home purchase.
• 36% said that they found the legal processing of their property transaction the most dissatisfying part of buying and selling a home. This dropped to 29% for 18-34 year olds, but rose to 39% amongst 35-54 year olds and 38% amongst those aged 55 and over.

 Consumers pay the price

• 18% of people have had to take time off work (or spent their own personal time), to chase up the administration of their home purchase, with this rising to a quarter for those aged 35-54.
• 29% of respondents said that during the sale or purchase of their property, they had to speed up the process themselves by chasing for updates and pushing through on processes.
• Eight million people still just go with the referral from their estate agent for a property lawyer as – sourcing one themselves is inconvenient and time consuming.

With previous When You Move research revealing that the home buying/selling process takes, on average, seven weeks longer than the projected completion date; today’s new body of data was commissioned to pinpoint where and how the process goes wrong.

Simon Bath, CEO and founder of When You Move, said: “With a clear mission to revolutionise the process of buying and selling property for agents, brokers and consumers, When You Move is the perfect example of disruptive tech creating a more, not less, humanised experience for consumers. With the results showing a clear deficit between the choice available and the trust people have in making the right decision, this report should serve as a call to action across the industry to bring about a more reliable delivery of customer service.”

(Source: When You Move)