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Tech Adoption

The stamp duty holiday created a huge surge in conveyancing work. It stretched conveyancers to their limit but also accelerated conveyancers’ adoption of technology by five years and led to fees going up for the first time in many years.

Volume of work
Stress levels
Tech adoption
Fees

Stress levels

Capacity
Efficiency
  • By Christmas 2020, 50% of conveyancers wanted to leave the profession.
  • The 40% of the conveyancing market that is delivered by the 5,000 smallest firms was key to there being enough flexibility to cope with demand.

“For over 12 months, conveyancers across the sector have probably been running at 140% or 150% of normal capacity in an environment where, for many, their processing efficiency has been compromised because working from home has forced different ways of working.”

Mark Montgomery

Chief strategy officer, Simplify

Fees

  • Conveyancing fees rose by an average of 44% during peak demand periods.
  • Fees have since fallen back, but it is unclear yet whether they will continue to fall.
  • Understanding that face-to-face meetings aren’t essential has enabled many conveyancers to dramatically increase their client base, as geographic restrictions no longer apply.

Tech adoption

Enhanced collaboration opportunities
Increased capacity
Greater efficiency
Superior strategising
Improved risk management

“How do we create an industry that can do this kind of volume and capacity in a more efficient way?”

Andrew Lloyd

Managing director, Search Acumen

“This immediate shift from hybrid online and face-to-face work to lockdown and fully online sparked a tremendous amount of digitisation. The pace of services opening up and joining up advanced five years in five months, to the extent that even competing platforms connected up to provide a shared view of a transaction’s data to their users.”

John Reynolds

Chief operating officer, Coadjute

“Innovation is not an end in itself, but we see major potential for it to improve consumer protection and how the housing market functions.”

Stephen Ward

Director of strategy and external relations, Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC)

  • Conveyancers need to become intelligent tech consumers to accelerate healthy change.
  • Tech adoption has become essential to the conveyancing market’s resilience.
  • Conveyancing firms need to understand that tech is an ongoing cost and commitment, not a one-off investment.
  • Many conveyancers feel overwhelmed by the range of tech options, meaning that a more human-centred design approach is required.
  • Tech that improves firms’ risk management and mitigates cyber risks could lower the cost of professional indemnity insurance and wider operating costs.

Learn more and get in touch

During 2022, the CLC has committed to supporting our regulated community in embracing tech and the benefits it can bring.

We’ve set up a dedicated mailbox for all your tech-related queries innovation@clc-uk.org

We will also be holding a webinar later this year where a panel of experts will be answering your questions, sharing their insights and comparing the different products on the market today.

We spoke to tech-first firms about leading innovation in the industry and what advice they would give others. Read what they had to say here www.clc-uk.org/case-studies2

We've issued a joint statement on the adoption of digital ID checking tools: https://resources.lawtechuk.io/files/digital-id.pdf

We're showing how to use client reviews and review websites: www.clc-uk.org/lawyers/using-online-review-sites/

And we've developed a guide to conveyancing tech: www.clc-uk.org/clc-conveyancing-tech-guide/

There's also a practice note on electronic signatures accepted by the Land Registry: www.gov.uk/government/publications/electronic-signatures-accepted-by-hm-land-registry-pg82/practice-guide-82-electronic-signatures-accepted-by-hm-land-registry

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