Legal trade body warns conveyancers over ‘sloppy’ work
Boss of Council for Licensed Conveyancers is worried that too often conveyancers don't finish their work on home sales, leaving vendors and buyers in limbo.
Conveyancers have been warned by their own trade body to improve the quality of their work.
The surprising comments come from the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) which says it is worried that too many of its members are failing to finish off home sale post-completion paperwork and in particular title change applications.
The CLC says in its latest Risk Agenda report that conveyancers can fall into the trap of ignoring the need to finish off a transaction after it has completed and they have taken their fee.
Its report brings together a list of the biggest risks faced by the CLC’s regulated community, which emerged during the regulator’s monitoring and inspection work throughout the year, along with advice to help practices stay on the right side of compliance.
But this is the first time that the organisation has had to warn its members over post-completion work, although more regular gripes also feature including anti-money laundering, sanctions, conflicts of interest and complaints handling.
HMLR delays
The CLC recognises that delays at HM Land Registry do not help the situation, but still says these are ‘made worse’ by slow or sloppy title change applications from conveyancers.
“The data that the CLC receives from HM Land Registry on requisition rates gives cause for concern that some practices are not taking their responsibility seriously or are using HM Land Registry to check their work rather than making an effort to ensure that it is accurate to begin with,” the reports says.
“Some seem to treat post-completion matters as an afterthought as it is undertaken after they collect their fee.
“The reality is that clients have been charged for this work and there is an obligation to perform it promptly and with diligence.
“Taking the fee and not completing the work is a breach of the Accounts Code and demonstrates a lack of integrity.
CLC chief executive Sheila Kumar says: “The good news for consumers is that licensed conveyancers are dedicated professionals who our monitoring shows provide excellent services under often stressful circumstances.
“But trip wires abound in the modern legal landscape and the Risk Agenda is part of our work to ensure the lawyers the CLC regulates not fall over them.”
