Hart Brown named as one of the first firms in the UK to be accredited under the new Conveyancing Quality Scheme

Hart Brown named as one of the first firms in the UK to be accredited under the new Conveyancing Quality Scheme

Just 20 firms have been recognised for meeting the Law Society's comprehensive quality standards for residential conveyancing practices.

Hart Brown, a leading law firm with offices throughout Surrey and in London, today announced that, it is one of the first law firms to be accredited under the new Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS). Launched by the Law Society, the CQS provides a recognised quality standard for residential conveyancing practices, and will therefore enable Hart Brown to enjoy even greater credibility with its key stakeholders, including regulators, lenders, insurers and its clients. Just 20 law firms have achieved this to date.

In addition to assessing the integrity of the Hart Brown's Senior Responsible Officer and other key conveyancing staff, the CQS also examined the firm's adherence to good practice management standards generally, and to prudent and efficient conveyancing procedures. The scheme, which is supported by the Council of Mortgage Lenders, has been open for applications since December 2010.

"The aim of the CQS scheme is not only to improve the quality of conveyancing, but also to encourage the public to work with firms that have proven their ability to meet these stringent standards consistently," says David Knapp, Partner and Head of Residential Property, Hart Brown. "To be in the first batch of those accredited is a testimony to our excellent quality procedures, the staff involved in the conveyancing process, and also to our accounts team, who also needed to be carefully vetted in order for us to demonstrate compliance with CQS standards."

According to the Law Society, the aim of the scheme is not only to reinforce consistency of standards throughout the conveyancing process, but also to reduce the risk of fraud and give consumers peace of mind when it comes to home buying. Practices applying to join the scheme must undergo a robust assessment and will be required to renew their membership of the scheme each year.

In addition to improving the quality of UK conveyancing, the CQS scheme will help to create a trusted community better equipped to deter fraud. As such, although CQS membership will not guarantee acceptance onto lenders' panels, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has indicated that membership is likely to become a pre-requisite for firms wishing to join/remain on their panels in the future.

"At Hart Brown we understand that whether you are buying or selling a property, you'll want to have the process explained to you in simple and easy to understand language, be kept informed throughout the process, and have the process proceed as smoothly as possible," David Knapp continues. "Schemes like the CQS help us to highlight our expertise in all of these important areas, and to ensure that one of the most expensive purchases or sales you are likely to make is handled properly, and with clear and consistent communication throughout the entire process."

Find out more about Hart Brown's Residential Property Conveyancing department


David Knapp, Partner, Residential property conveyancing, Hart Brown

Referral fees - does the consumer benefit?

Very interesting to see the Government now pick up the issue of referral fees being paid by lawyers for information about possible personal injury claims or for such claims to be referred. Despite the majority of the legal profession being against the concept of referral fees they are permitted. The kind of issues mentioned today (false claims being made, deliberate accidents being caused and unwanted texts being received encouraging a claim) are symptomatic of referral fees. That is not to say they are the only cause - false claims have always been made and will always continue to be made.

Does the consumer benefit from a third party being paid for their claim to be passed to a solicitor? An argument in favour is that the third party has the ability to advertise people’s rights and make them alive to the fact that they might have a claim. Law firms don’t generally have the financial ability for that level of advertising. Against is that an intermediary is making a profit (which ultimately must increase the cost to the consumer or negligent party) , that matters are not always referred to the right specialist (referral agencies only refer to firms on their panel who have agreed to pay a referral fee) and firms who pay referral fees often engage junior staff to process claims as the only means of making it pay.

Good quality service comes at a price – mostly it is worth paying the extra. Keep an eye out for our articles over the next few months about referral fees paid by some law firms to estate agents for conveyancing referrals. Have you ever been told by an estate agent that you must use a certain law firm? Have you ever wondered why? Is it compulsory? Our first article on the topic will be on our website next month.

Bettina Brueggemann, Managing Partner, Hart Brown

A self fulfilling prophecy?

The prediction of a sharp drop in house prices comes as no surprise in a sluggish market lacking buyer confidence. The suggestion by pundits of a price drop becomes a self fulfilling prophesy after a while as the more that people “in the know” talk about the drop, the more that buyers seek a bargain. Interestingly the Nationwide is trying to shed a more positive slant on the market with of course their having a vested interest in seeing the market very active. Ironic therefore that one of the reasons for the lack of sales and reduced confidence is due to mortgagees, including The Nationwide, tying a very firm knot in the lending purse strings.


A temporary aspirin?

Meanwhile, having picked myself up from the floor having digested Northern Rock’s decision to provide 90% mortgages I have to question whether those in charge are really in touch with reality. One imagines that the interest rates for such loans will be high, the arrangement fees reasonably punitive and the borrowers being asked to pay a hefty premium for a mortgage protection policy. The latter should in fact be called a “protect your lender policy” as it is the lender who benefits from the policy which is taken out at the borrower’s expense.

A dip in values by 8% will prevent property owners who have a 90% mortgage at the time they bought from selling as the associated costs in professional fees will amount to 2% so in essence putting more properties into negative equity. Add in possible early redemption penalties to the equation and this band of property owners will be in real difficulty.

The sense behind a 90% lending strategy has to be really questioned. Is this a case of temporary aspirin bringing longer term headaches?

Let us know what you think.

David Knapp, Partner
Residential Property

Do estate agents provide good customer care?

In her latest trip down the high street, Mary Portas “Queen of Shops” has been targeting businesses and questioning their customer care. So far we have seen her at the door of fashions outlets, furniture stores and mobile phone shops. This week the Secret Shopper’s target was estate agents.

Public perception of estate agents seems to be that they are deceitful, unscrupulous, manipulative and un-trustworthy. So what did Mary Portas consider they could change in order to provide their clients with better customer care?

She took on a family run firm of estate agents who didn’t initially appear to think that they needed to change their ways. However, as the exercise continued Mary proved to them just how important it is for the public to have clear, concise and truthful information. After all, buying a house is probably one of the biggest financial decisions anyone will make in their lifetime and people don’t like to be misled.

Mary put the agents through their paces in a country house where, after 15 minutes of training, they took the general public on guided tours. This proved to them just how important it is to have knowledge and expertise of the particular property they were showing off.

The agents took this on board and put it to good use, embracing the issue of their property details, radically changing them to reflect both the good and the bad aspects of the properties on their books. This attitude to selling is not only upfront and honest but to potential buyers it is straightforward, accurate, honest selling. No terrible clichés, jargon or estate agents patter.

Mary surveyed the prospective buyers who had viewed properties with the benefit of the new style property details. She was amazed to hear that 100% of those prospective buyers thought they were honest, trustworthy, specialists in their field with expert knowledge of both the properties and the area generally. This was a great result.

Honesty is certainly the alternative way for estate agents to market property and it will be asking them to change the habits of a lifetime but could the industry make the change to embrace these radical ideas? Refreshing thought!

Debbie Beswick

UK house prices fell 1.3% in December 2010

Our solicitors comment on the BBC article "UK house prices fell 1.3% in December, Halifax says"

The article comes as no surprise as the last 2 or 3 months have seen pressure on prices. Clients of ours who sold in the late summer, only to lose their buyers and to re sell in November and December are having to take a reduced offer to re sell. Agents are desperate to keep buyers on board where matters have stagnated telling our sellers “you will not achieve this price in the current climate and for the foreseeable future”. Gazzundering, where buyers come in at the last minute requesting a price reduction for no reason other than the market suggests a reduction in value, is common place but does not seem to receive the press coverage expressing the out rage that accompanies the opposite, gazumping, when a seller ups the price at the last minute. Interestingly gazundering is seen as fair game but gazzumping as abhorrent.

There are no indicators as yet that the market is going to pick up at all from a price perspective in the coming 12 months and if anything is going to continue to slide downwards. This is positive from the point of view of first time buyers and those moving up market and so does not deserve the negative press that a sliding market receives. The negative press is generally generated by those having a vested interest in the market flying away upwards, estate agents and mortgage lenders.

Stability and volume is what most people in the interest would like to see.

Find out more about Hart Brown's Residential property team based in Surrey and South London