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Alan Murray

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my expertise in the industry

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If it is brought back in it requires proper regulation, and needs to be offered to the right people, not everyone. For instance I know a partner in a local firm of conveyancers who used it to buy her property a few years ago. Surely that is just abusing the system? Yes she had every right to do so. No she should have been stopped somehow from qualifying. That is one reason the system became so clogged up, if it were only available to people who actually needed help to buy, it would work far better.

From: Alan Murray 30 June 2023 10:44 AM

Just wondering how many of those properties in the "conveyancing logjam" are clients recommended by Agents to those factories we all love to hate? I'm guessing it's the majority. You reap what you sow.

From: Alan Murray 29 June 2022 09:37 AM

The day-in, day-out conveyancer would not be you though would it Rob? I note you have just quoted one example again which is expected to prove the whole scenario? Good conveyancers like myself never experience many of the problems which I read about on social media. It seems to me we are trying to put processes in place to cater for the lowest common denominators in our profession, rather than attempt to put right all the serious issues which exist. This is a potential sticking plaster for a gaping wound.

From: Alan Murray 01 June 2022 11:09 AM

“There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics" Bit of a non-article really. As we all know statistics can be used to prove anything when all the facts are not revealed. What were the actual questions asked? What was the size and demographic of the study group? Without all that information we the readers cannot draw any logical conclusions from this article. Just another press release . Whilst in theory the idea of upfront information may be a good one, those of us who work in conveyancing day-in, day-out know there are any number of reasons why this is a non-starter. There are far more serious issues in conveyancing which need to be addressed and corrected first if the system is ever to work better and clients are to receive a better service.

From: Alan Murray 01 June 2022 10:41 AM

The points made by the anonymous conveyancer are spot on, and I know are in line with what many conveyancers in the profession feel. Certainly they shame people within the profession who claim to ‘regulate’ it. As for referral fees they create conflicts of interest and are not in the best interest of clients. I have a huge number of examples in my years in the profession to prove the point. Scrap them though I doubt it’s very easy to arrange.

From: Alan Murray 04 January 2022 10:05 AM

Strange I didn’t see them apologising to customers who may have been unable to take advantage of SDLT saving as a result of poor, slow Conveyancing they recommended? So will they now be reviewing their recommendation policy and sending work to conveyancers based on ability rather than how much they pay?

From: Alan Murray 23 November 2021 08:09 AM

I have read a lot of crocodile tears from people who keep saying "there but for the grace of God go I". Yet these were the same people who at the end of the SDLT holiday were coming out with comments bemoaning the long delays in matters progressing etc etc. A lot of unintelligible gibberish has been spouted by the usual suspects elsewhere so I will not say anything here which will get me called a dinosaur or troll (i am not, look it up). Though the most important point of the whole debacle has to me been missed, which is why I have approached proper journalists to get together some facts which will see the whole scandal this issue highlights brought into more public focus. I care passionately about conveyancing and do not want to head into retirement next year thinking this was the straw which broke the camel's back and was the day conveyancing died. We have the chance to do a root and branch overhaul of the whole system based on what has come to light in the last few weeks which showed the way these firms operate to be even more rotten than suspected. Clearly the CLC want to sweep the whole episode under the carpet which doesn't surprise anyone, so I would like to think there will be a proper enquiry at a much higher level which will give conveyancing a chance to be returned to the professionals again. We cannot continue allowing law firms to be run by non-professionals, referral fees to create huge chains where one firm is acting (the CLC should have already looked into their ludicrous policy of allowing the same firm to act on either side of a transaction, any proper conveyancer will tell you it cannot be done without creating a conflict of interest), and outsourcing to other continents, amongst many other things. None of it, as has been proved, is in the best interests of clients. Unfortunately these firms lost sight of that in the race to the bottom, and this is what happens.

From: Alan Murray 22 November 2021 14:40 PM

I do think the advent of working from home has added to the security risks by creating more back doors these hackers may have for gaining access. These firms also outsource to India which creates even more risk. I am not saying that is how something happened here but reduce the risk surely? So first think the CLC should be doing is banning outsourcing from today. The rest of the issues can be dealt with when the fallout settles, and there are plenty of those.

From: Alan Murray 12 November 2021 09:52 AM

As we all know technology does not speed up transactions it is all down to the quality of staff. There is a firm in the area I practice who claim to have the best tech available, and indeed I am told their case management system is second to none. Yet to deal with them is like pulling teeth and a horrendous conveyancing experience. Clearly all the money they invested in technology has left them with little to put into the most important resource, experienced, able, competent staff.

From: Alan Murray 04 March 2021 15:17 PM

I think this is more of a publicity stunt. Conveyancing is regulated by the Law Society and Council of Licenced Conveyancers. Neither of those regulators who speak fo all conveyancers in the country, have added their signatures to this letter which surely would have added more gravitas and credibility to any request? I read elsewhere that these three trade bodies are involved with the Law Society and ILEX on trying to come up with ways of improving the Conveyancing process (so much can be written on that another time) so it’s significant their working partners opted out on this letter? I think it’s more a case of being agenda/ego driven and an eleventh intervention that’s highly unlikely to succeed as they probably know. But at least they can try and claim brownie points for trying?

From: Alan Murray 01 March 2021 16:33 PM

The file did exchange, purely a commercial decision based on greed by the senior partner. To end the story I left the firm not long after that incident as I could no longer work for a firm who thought nothing about what was best for their clients. The firm crashed and burned a few years later, the culture of greed on which they existed eventually consuming them. Somewhere there is a moral to the story.

From: Alan Murray 17 November 2020 12:05 PM

I have definitely seen Estate Agents pressure Solicitors into accepting defective titles. At a firm where I worked I advised a client to withdraw from a purchase because the title was unmortgageable. A telephone call to my senior partner telling him there was a lot of work passed to our firm by the Agent that would go elsewhere if I didn't change my professional opinion led t the file being exchanged the following day. That was not an isolated instance of said Agent putting pressure on with a threat of referrals being withdrawn. Those of us with long service in the profession will all have seen examples of nefarious conduct.

From: Alan Murray 17 November 2020 10:33 AM

Whilst I accept it seems open season on conveyancers at the moment to merely brush it off as something that needs to stop misses the point in my opinion. There is considerable merit in the points being made here and sadly a lot of truth. Conveyancing standards have never been lower and unfortunately the busier than normal market conditions at this time are bringing to a head the lack of experience and competence of much of the profession. That point is unarguable. The last recession in 2008 took a generation of experienced able conveyancers out of the profession and they have never been replaced. I don’t like to see my peers constantly complaining on social media it’s unbecoming and embarrassing but it’s never ending at the moment. Those of us who have seen this before just put our heads down and crack on.

From: Alan Murray 17 November 2020 09:19 AM

A phrase involving pots and kettles springs to mind.

From: Alan Murray 28 October 2020 10:17 AM

I read posts like this all the time and they make me so angry. In all my forty years of conveyancing (during which the so called experts with all their technological advances have never once approached me or to my knowledge any one of my peers) I have never seen, and never expect to, any system which betters an experienced, competent, able human being. We are consistently told tech is out there and being used, yet standards in conveyancing are lower now than they have ever been. An interesting correlation? Certainly there is a firm near myself always keen to trumpet their use of technology, yet to (painfully) deal with them you realise they are, below the surface, nothing but a bad conveyancing firm with technology. You probably think I am a luddite. But actually I am someone passionate about conveyancing and customer service, and it's the latter I want to see people mentioning more when trying to find ways to improve conveyancing. The poor old client has been forgotten for far too long.

From: Alan Murray 20 October 2020 09:59 AM

It does seem to me it is open season on kicking conveyancers at the moment. Yes some of it is perfectly justified when aimed at the thirty or so factory outfits who cause us all problems. Though Estate Agents should not forget that those outfits exist purely because of the referral fees paid to them by Agents in the first place. So careful what you complain about. Technology is not the answer that is a red herring thrown around by the inexperienced lawyers straight out of university who want to look cool and hip, or the bandwagon jumpers who try every new idea that hits the market for the same reason. Experience and expertise from staff will always trump technology. Problem is there is a massive shortage of experienced people due to so many retiring after the last recession, and a lack of training being given to newcomers. Yes there is no doubt over the years the conveyancing profession has become complacent and a mess. Too many bad firms are allowed to proliferate unchecked and proper regulation is needed. Too many non law people and entrepreneurs have seen conveyancing as a business where they can make a fast buck. None of their investment has added anything to the profession but whilst they are making money they will not care. In a few years they will be gone with their profits but who will be around to pick up the pieces? As someone with so much experience who has seen so much I am saddened by where conveyancing is today. Unfortunately years and years of allowing experienced, able, competent conveyancers to leave the profession without listening to their concerns and asking them to give something back, and a failure to train the inadequate administrators that now are the bane of our life with their tick box conveyancing, have now caught up with the profession. There are simply very few good conveyancers left out there, and too many incapable ones. I remember back to the early noughties when I was working flat out and we were far busier then than the market is today week in week out. It is simply a fact that conveyancers today have too much time to post on social media that they are busy rather than actually deal with files, and they lack the experience and proper training to be able to properly deal with larger volumes. For instance last month I saw someone congratulating themselves on getting through a busy month and completing thirty files. In our heyday thirty completions was one busy Friday then down the pub at lunchtime and start again the following Monday. It is not necessarily the fault of conveyancers they do not know any better. As someone who cares passionately about his clients and the wider reputation of the profession I can only apologise to clients out there who are suffering due to years of greed and lethargy. Some of us out there do care, unfortunately we are the ones never asked for an opinion when it comes to putting right this mess of a profession.

From: Alan Murray 20 October 2020 09:51 AM

Strikes me that at the moment it is open season on conveyancers. Everywhere I read at the moment people are having a pop at fees, delays now this, which actually just reads like an advert for a new firm of ambulance chasers. There are a lot of things wrong with the profession at the moment but there are far worse things going on in the wider world. People need to get some perspective.

From: Alan Murray 06 October 2020 09:47 AM

Strikes me that at the moment it is open season on conveyancers. Everywhere I read at the moment people are having a pop at fees, delays etc. There are a lot of things wrong with the profession at the moment but there are far worse things going on in the wider world. People need to get some perspective.

From: Alan Murray 06 October 2020 09:44 AM

Is it just me but reading this it just basically serves to confirm the point that has previously been made sorry to say?

From: Alan Murray 22 September 2020 10:50 AM

The process used for conveyancing is age old. That is not a criticism, it has always worked to varying degrees and though creaking now it is still fit for purpose. Unfortunately many of the Firms working within that system are not, and even reading some of the comments on this subject it is extraordinary how some see themselves when the reality of dealing with them is completely different. That is the problem, many think they are doing a good job when they are not, so no adequate training is given to staff and we just continue ad nauseum in the same old cycle. Throw in a lack of leadership in the profession, which is split into governing bodies anyway and seen by too many as an industry, and it is easy to see why we are shuddering. But the criticism is harsh. I would love to know the identity of the firms the two Agents as quoted are using for their recommendations? I agree as I said yesterday the majority of conveyancers these days are bad, to be polite. Every day I find myself apologizing to clients for the standards of conveyancing from the firms on the other side of their transactions. But Estate Agents should look at themselves and wonder why that is. If they did not take the cash from Introducers then the thirty or so bad Practitioners we can all name as problem firms would hopefully not be polluting the market with their inadequate attempts to progress files. Be careful what you wish for is something they should have considered when they started taking that money. You cannot have it both ways, if you take the money you create the very issues you are now complaining about? Good conveyancers do not cause delays, only bad ones.

From: Alan Murray 22 September 2020 10:20 AM

Unfortunately it embarrasses me as a Conveyancer of forty years experience to say that standards in the profession have never been lower. Some of the efforts I am seeing at the moment that pass for professionalism and customer service are a joke - there have always been bad conveyancers but it pains me to say they are in the majority now which is causing problems in these busy times. Untrained, inexperienced, incompetent, and unhelpful people proliferate, none of whom seem to have worked in a busy market before and spend so much time on social media telling people how busy they are there is no wonder they cannot cope. There are very few experienced people like myself left who spent the early noughties working in a far busier environment and that problem will only get worse. Not helped by Agents ringing every few miniutes for updates and winding up clients if they do not hear what they wish to. And of course were it not for Agents paying referral fees to those many bad Solicitors that we know hold up the majority of our cases, then everything would be a lot smoother. So I don't really want to hear Agents criticising conveyancers when they have helped to create the monsters that are now devouring everything.

From: Alan Murray 21 September 2020 09:53 AM

The type of Lawyers that Yopa tend to use will certainly not cope. They can't now because their policies of "do it cheap, pile it high" are anathema to good service, especially when they employ people who do not know what they are doing, let alone why they are doing it. Should Agents have concerns as to whether Solicitors will cope there is an easy answer. Only work with Solicitors who offer good service and professionalism, rather than bucket shops and factories who pay the highest fees. It is a little rich for Agents to generalise when they have effectively created those beasts by taking the dollars on offer. Then they have the gall to complain about delays in chains and poor service! Be careful what you wish for.

From: Alan Murray 13 July 2020 09:33 AM

Well it is one way to get your firm's name in the media! Utterly ludicrous suggestion however which kind of says it all.

From: Alan Murray 13 July 2020 08:46 AM

I have been working in conveyancing for almost forty years. In that time the basic way the system works hasn't changed, so if it ain't broke why fix it? What people should be looking at instead is why the situation we presently have with huge delays in transactions proceeding, and poor advice being given to clients and standards being at an all time low. Estate Agents should be looking at themselves in this regard, it is after all they who chase the lucre by recommending the firms who are the problem. Those firms and their working practices never existed until a few years ago and Estate agents seemed to survive perfectly well then. So clearly banning fees paid for work would be an obvious first step to improve matters, with a hopeful knock on effect that these factory firms slowly disappear back to from where they came. That would make everybody's job easier and assist sellers and buyers. The legal qualification referred to by Tim Higham is a red herring. You can be academically brilliant but practically...useless so an exam is meaningless. What I am saying is you can gain the highest qualification you like but if you cannot put into practice then it's as much use as a chocolate fireguard... There are plenty of Solicitors out there who prove that and even more Licenced Conveyancers. There is a very long and complicated discussion to be had on how to put right the property market. Reservation Agreements are an irrelevance in my opinion only being proposed by people with a vested interest.

From: Alan Murray 27 October 2019 13:53 PM

Absolutely hilarious, you should be on the stage!!

From: Alan Murray 17 May 2019 14:02 PM

Instead of producing something gimmicky like this why can this Firm Simply not concentrate on training its staff to produce competent Conveyancing? To provide a good service and not forcing those good, professioanal conveyancers who have to deal with them to have cardiacs or tear our hair out. q. Alexa who is the worst conveyancing firm out there in the marketplace? a. ....................................................?

From: Alan Murray 17 May 2019 11:29 AM

Hopefully this is a start. There is a very very long way to go in order to get the conveyancing process back into any semblance of order, where it was when I started work many years ago. No doubt vested interests with huge amounts to lose will lobby, and somewhere along the way the Government will back down somewhat. But for the professional, competent, decent Solicitors and Agents out there, and most importantly for the clients buying their dream house, let us hope that today is the first step towards an industrial revolution that makes the factories obselete and gives conveyancing back to those of us who actually enjoy the job and take a pride in what we do. Oh yes, and actually know what we are doing, that is always a useful qualification for doing this job, but one sadly in short supply these days.

From: Alan Murray 23 January 2019 14:04 PM

Firstly that has to be one big conflict of interest since the Solicitors they recommend must be getting a large chunk of business and are certainly not going to do anything to jeopardise that arrangement. I wonder if their clients know what an important part they had to play in the growth of the Agency by being recommended not to the best Solicitors, but to the best payers? Secondly given who they are recommending, I hope these Agents never have the gall to complain about the amount of time their chains are taking to reach exchange and completion!

From: Alan Murray 23 January 2019 09:21 AM

She's thrilled? she cannot have spoken to anyone who has actually used them then, or dealt with them in any professional capacity. It's a nonsensical comment, but I guess to her their "success" proves her job title has some meaning. Another politician trying to justify their role in Government.

From: Alan Murray 22 January 2019 14:41 PM

How ironic the title of this feature, given that the Author proudly states he is the new non-executive chair of the Conveyancing Association. Which as we experienced professional Conveyancers know is the trade association that represents those conveyancing firms and factories we all love to hate, and who have come to embody all that is wrong with the current conveyancing process. Sir if you are really serious about seeing an improvement in the housebuying process, tell us how you propose raising the standards and competence of those Firms you represent, so that those of us who have to deal with them everyday have our jobs made easier, and our clients are not frustrated and upset by having their house moves delayed and threatened. How do you justify the way those Firms you represent operate? Certainly there can be no pretence that they are providing the best service possible?

From: Alan Murray 22 January 2019 14:35 PM

I think Estate Agents have made a rod for their own back by entering into referral Agreements with the very organisations who cause the delays in the first place - the factories. Take those roadblocks out of the Conveyancing process and you can probably immediately remove four weeks from the time a transaction takes start to finish. But Agents really should not complain about delays, and tar every conveyancer with the same brush, when to a great extent the monsters they have created have taken such market share and become the beasts that cannot be tamed. How many times do Agents complain about delays but continue to pass work to these organisations because their palms are being crossed with silver? Sounds to me like there is an easy answer, but if it means a drop in income people are not prepared to act? And don't get me started on Mr Higham's post. It would be great if his six points were such a panacea, but I have 37 years experience in conveyancing and can assure anybody reading that the solution is not so simple, not even close!

From: Alan Murray 22 January 2019 11:53 AM

Whilst referral fees and the conflict of interest they create should be stopped, I doubt this Government, with the mess they have made of Brexit, will be in a position to do anything to improve the mess in the conveyancing market any time soon. Unfortunately the Law Society lost control years ago and that horse has long since bolted to the Wild West.

From: Alan Murray 22 January 2019 11:46 AM

As usual from this poster pompous bs! Would be too easy to pull apart most of which this Conveyancing Oracle is saying, suffice to say most of which he says is utterly irrelevant when it comes to choosing a Lawyer. And I can say this as someone with in excess of thirty five years experience as a Conveyancer who is now self employed with no axe to grind or agenda to promote. I would suggest you would be taking pot luck with any Solicitor based on this criteria, and would be as likely to find a bad one as a good one. For what it is worth in my considerable experience CLC's are as good, in some cases better than Solicitors. Unqualified staff employed by Solicitors are usually much better than people with qualifications, and usually have less chips on their shoulders, whilst it is impossible to "seamlessly" cover holidays within a team so anyone that boasts like that is talking nonsense. Lexcel accreditation is irrelevant as it is easy to obtain judging by some firms who have it. Another red herring, and as for people being on a website what self promoting claptrap, there may be very good reasons why individuals are not on a Company website,and conveyancing/legal expertise is likely to be the last of them. Beware false prophets!!

From: Alan Murray 05 September 2018 15:41 PM

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