One of the main reasons for a delay in a chain of transactions is obtaining the relevant information from Managing Agents - sometimes at an unnecessarily high charge.
I recently met Eddie Goldsmith, Chair of the Conveyancing Association (CA) and fellow Industry Views contributor. As a result, the CA and the Bold Legal Group (BLG) are running a management company/leasehold campaign.
Following an article in a well-known national newspaper recently, we have been in contact with the journalist who wrote the story and has discussed with her pitching the CA's/BLG's management company /leasehold campaign to the editorial team, to take on as a campaign issue which would see further articles on the subject. The journalist has agreed to do this and has given us a few weeks to get the necessary information together.
Set out below are the key elements that we'll need to send over, but we really need your help to make the best possible case - in particular is the evidence section of the bullet points.
I would be very grateful if you could provide me (directly rh@boldgroup.co.uk, or by posting your comments on EAT) with any of the following types of evidence of the problem - we will need to provide a variety of evidence to back up our assertions on the problem - this could be:
Case studies/customer profiles (perhaps finding a customer who had a problem with Management Company and was willing to go on the record)
Data on impact of costs and timescales - how does it change fees/charges, delays to the process
Specific impact on leasehold transactions, is it so bad that there's been a reduction in these types of transactions
Regional/customer specific issues - e.g. is it having a bigger impact on the London market or does it affect first time buyers and downsizers more
Other key elements the journalist is looking for include:
Being clear about the problem and its scale - what is happening, who is it damaging, what impact is it having on the sector and the industry (the more evidence we can provide about the impact it's having on the customer the better)
Potential threats if the problem isn't resolved - is the problem likely to get worse
Outcomes/objectives - the campaign needs to have some clearly defined objectives about what should be changed, how should it be changed and who has the power to change it Plus, are there preferred timescales for change
Who is supporting the campaign - What weight of support does it have/is this an issue that is shared across the sector
This issue has been causing delays and fall throughs for some time. Let's not let this opportunity slip through our fingers. I now have a number of examples from conveyancers, adding to them with examples from estate agents would be the icing on the cake!
*Rob Hailstone is founder of the Bold Legal Group
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