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Teamwork makes the dream work

Written by

Services

Published on

March 22, 2023

As part of National Conveyancing week, residential property partner Laura Maggs discusses the importance of a good working relationship between lawyers and estate agents during the conveyancing process and how she and her conveyancing team have achieved this.

Teamwork makes the dream work, or in our case, ‘teamwork makes the transaction go as smoothly and as stress-free as possible’. Recently, there has been a lot of chat and discussion in the conveyancing industry about how greater collaboration between law firms and estate agents would greatly benefit the client and potentially reduce transaction timeframes.

I couldn’t agree with this more! I’ve always had a good working relationship with the estate agents I work with. Of course, that is helped by the fact that I’ve worked with them for nearly 20 years, and they trust me to get the job done. I was also an estate agent for seven years before I trained and qualified as a Licensed Conveyancer, so I know their job, albeit it has changed a fair amount since then.

I’m not about to teach anyone how to ‘suck eggs’, but the following points have always helped me and my team collaborate with the agents we work with.

  • Pick up the phone – yes, it actually works; stop hiding behind emails and speak to each other. Actual conversation builds relationships and trust.  Emails can often be misconstrued and taken in the wrong context.
  • Seek to understand their world – it really does help if you can understand their role in the transaction and I always found that in turn they sought to understand mine. This has meant that if I told them there was a particular reason that something could not happen, they didn’t question me because they knew if it could be done, I would have already done it.
  • Ask them to get as much information from the seller upfront – I’m aware that this is being addressed by way of material information (as set out in The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and the BASPI dataset of the Home Buying and Selling Group) but even before then I would ask them if there was anything more about the seller’s situation that I hadn’t been made aware of.  This helped me no end when having initial conversations with the sellers; it also meant that I could address these issues before they became a reason for the delay in the chain.
  • Ask them for full details of the chain – Yes, we know of course, that conveyancers only need to worry about our client’s particular sale or purchase, but I always found it helped if I understood how long the chain was and what time frames everyone has. Nothing is more frustrating than getting to the point of exchange on your matter only to discover that the top of the chain is still waiting on replies to enquiries or that the buyers are still waiting for their mortgage offer. Keeping an eye on the chain in the background helps to manage your client’s expectations.
  • Ask for their help – We are in this together and so it makes sense that if we help each other out, as it’s going to benefit everyone.
  • Keep the agent updated – Here at Amphlett Lissimore, we pride ourselves on our excellent communication with our clients and extend this to the agent. Everything is so much easier when everyone is on the same page.

By working together, lawyers and estate agents can speed up the conveyancing process, avoid nasty surprises in the chain, and ensure that the transaction progresses smoothly with minimal stress.

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