Conveyancing is a hot topic, right now.

What may not usually be the most exciting part of the moving process could quite easily be a spectator sport these days, as the excitement of the ‘Will it?  Won’t it?’ race to meet various buyer incentive deadlines combines with a growing desperation for distracting entertainment during lockdown.

Towards the end of 2020, the BBC reported on house sales falling through due to property searches suffering pandemic-related delays, even going so far as to reveal wait times of 30 or 40 days for local searches to be carried out in some local authorities, causing a damaging backlog.  What makes this lengthy wait all the more concerning is Mortgage Solutions’ report that some solicitors are cashing in on the increased demand and doubling their prices for routine conveyancing work, with Chris Sykes, Director and Mortgage Consultant at Private Finance noting that “if the client wants to complete within the stamp duty deadline [it] seems to trigger additional fees”.

The conveyancing stage can be frustrating for buyers at the best of times, largely due to the work seemingly being conducted by a mysterious wizard behind a giant curtain, such is the lack of transparency.  It can also be slightly unnerving waiting for something that could impact the purchase.  Both of these frustrations are likely to be heightened by longer wait times and increased costs.

This, in turn, can hit developers where it hurts, if it causes sales to fall through, at worst, or delay completions, at best.

This is something we have been considering for a while now, even stretching back to before the pandemic (remember those blissful times?!).

Whenever we develop a new product, we consider how it can save the developer time and money, while making the homebuying process as stress-free and enjoyable as possible for the buyer.  Our bespoke reservation manuals have helped hundreds of developers guide their customers through the various stages up to legal completion, and achieve final sales quicker.

We have recently taken this to the next level by building the My Journey feature into our award-winning Spaciable portal.  This digital handholding tool breaks the entire homebuying journey up into bitesize chunks, informing the buyer what is required of them at each stage before they can mark it as complete and move to the next one.

To create a comprehensive feature that actively speeds up the buying process, we have partnered with a leading tech conveyancing company to develop Spaciable Legal.  This new feature takes conveyancing online by combining the technological advantages of our respective companies.  Spaciable Legal allows homebuyers to obtain quotes for conveyancing, view local search results, exchange contracts and much more, without even needing to leave Spaciable.

The added transparency allows buyers to view real-time updates, including time estimates, minimising frustration at their end, while allowing developers to track progress without needing to waste time chasing buyers and solicitors.

What’s more, a quote comparison tool helps buyers avoid the pitfall of paying premium prices from opportunistic solicitors.

Through Spaciable Legal, search results can be obtained much quicker than the usual 7 to 10 day period, let alone the ballooned 40 day wait, thereby speeding up completions and maximising customer satisfaction.

This is the future of conveyancing.  Why expect buyers to shell out for a process shrouded in mystery, potentially causing completely avoidable delays, when it can be automated and accessed through an app or webpage?

And why expect them to spend 30 days walking down the yellow brick road to get an answer from the Wonderful Wizard of Conveyancing when Spaciable Legal has already pulled back the curtain and provided the information on an app you can access anywhere – even in Kansas?

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