Passport to freedom

Residential conveyancing is facing the most comprehensive set of challenges and threats since the dawn of registered land. The recession, increased regulation, panel managers' demands, ABSs, reduced or restricted lenders' panels, increasing PI premiums and competition are but a few of the forces lining up against the high street solicitor. It is how we respond to these challenges that will shape or break conveyancing practices.

At the end of 2010, the Law Society threw into the cauldron the Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS). From the several thousand firms undertaking conveyancing, 1,229 had applied to join by 22 August and 500 had been accredited. This leaves the Law Society's estimate that they would have just 600 CQS members by December 2011 a little pessimistic.

Many potential aspirants, the doubters and the sceptics still wait in the wings, application form in hand. They are not sure of the benefits or the eventual outcome of the scheme. Will the prized accreditation number (ours is 364) be stamped upon us like a prisoner in the penitentiary or will it be a passport to freedom?

As with all new ideas, the voices for and against are lined up on either side of the divide. According to the Law Society: 'The scheme will ensure that the public, lenders and insurers will be able to identify CQS practices with the knowledge that the service offered will be of a truly excellent standard.' Others say the CQS is too little, too late. The horse, laden with millions of pounds (over a billion if reports are to be believed) of ill-gotten mortgage fraud, has already bolted and the lenders will be taking security into their own hands.

Will a CQS accreditation consolidate the conveyancing solicitor's position in the market? If we knew the answer, the number of applications would be zero or 10,000. As with all new schemes, many are convinced of the future benefits, while others join for defensive reasons and some stand firm, confident that the initiative will fail.

Those who have spent their time writing the scheme are, by the very nature of their job, not at the conveyancing coal face. The rules they have laid down cannot deal with the practicalities of everyday life.

Anyone acting for a client in a hurry will experience frustrations with the other party's conveyancer. It is interesting to note how many law firms' websites scream foolishly about their speed of service, knowing full well they cannot guarantee delivery as there are other parties involved. I do not see any websites trumpeting their speed of response to fellow solicitors '“ usually the most fundamental part of the job when time is of the essence.

Indeed, many firms with 'quality' marks deal with calls and emails much more slowly than very competent and efficient solicitors with no such accreditation. Do clients want a 24-7 'service' when for 17 hours of the day nothing is being done to progress their case or do they want a nine-to-five firm that will advance their transaction efficiently? The rules cannot deal with these fundamental practical issues, but they do address the important matters on which the foundations of good practice are built.

'Reliable and efficient service'

The CQS draws together essential processes and procedures that were previously unwritten for most conveyancing solicitors into a comprehensive set of rules. If applied correctly, these will provide the basis of 'a genuinely secure, reliable and efficient conveyancing service to home buyers and their lenders'. It is difficult to predict whether the lenders agree and how other participants in the market will react.

On a separate but related issue, the era of ABSs is almost upon us. As with the decision to join the CQS, some have already nailed their colours to one mast or another, to defend against the threat of big businesses with huge marketing budgets and tiny margins. I would not be so bold as to predict whether fireworks or the proverbial damp squib will ensue, but even the latter is dangerous. There is no easy solution, as we all operate in different markets.

Maintaining the volumes and fees coming into our conveyancing operations will be a hard starting point. Unless we have the solid foundations of the CQS, combined, in our case, with modern systems and a personal, professional and local service, we may as well order the packing cases. On the other hand, if your basics are right, it is time to stake a claim for your share of the market.