Looking at the different factors, there is clearly much that conveyancers can improve upon, but also much that is out of the conveyancers’ control. Many of those elements would work better if we all work in partnership to achieve the right outcome.
Between the conveyancer, panel manager, broker, and lender there is much that we can do, together, to improve things for everybody – including the end customer.
Common understandings
Across ONP, we want to kick-start a drive where everybody works together to understand exactly what it is the other does and the challenges they are facing. We are passionate about creating an industry culture where we can work in greater partnership to overcome these challenges and make the process more seamless.
This should speed up the process of moving for the homebuyer while also getting the best result for other stakeholders, causing fewer headaches and letting each party move onto the next new case.
ONP actively wants to understand what the pain points are so that we can flex and adapt to make life easier, based on true understanding. We seek to alter our service processes based on what challenges and frustrations are faced, and we want others in the market to do the same.
We also have a job, along with other conveyancers, to let people know what is in our control and what isn’t. There needs to be greater visibility of where the holdups are and what can be done, in what part of the chain to overcome these.
Where challenges lie
Sometimes the pain points are indeed within the conveyancer’s processes, but other times it may be access to Land Registry data, or something that the end customer or broker can facilitate by sending key information themselves.
Where this is the case, we all need to be aware of what it is, and then make it as easy as possible for the information to reach us.
Enabling technology to ensure better communication and visibility in case tracking is fundamental to this. Case tracking where everybody in the process can see just where a case is, where any hold-up is and what actions need to be undertaken to overcome this, so nobody is left in the dark. Often, understanding what is going on itself takes away much of the frustration felt by everybody.
Being open about talking and working through the challenges and frustrations in current processes takes hard work and time, but it’s only through fostering true understanding and working together in partnership to make things better that we will all, together, actually improve things.
