As we come to the end of the year, I want to share a short…
As we reach the close of another demanding year for you, our member firms, I think it’s worth pausing to look at what has shaped the CA’s work recently and what will shape it even more in the months ahead.
Few years have matched this one for the volume of policy activity aimed at changing the way homes are bought and sold. Alongside the day-to-day pressures of casework, firms are currently having to absorb two major Government consultations that are far-reaching in both scope and effect.
These consultations – one on reforming the home buying and selling process, and the other on the use of material information in property listings – as we know will influence the future of our sector for a long time to come.
Both consultations close to responses on the 29th December, which means these last couple of weeks ahead matter. As your representative body we want to give a response that reflects the experience of those who work at the front line, and this can only be done with strong input from member firms.
Our draft responses have been shared with members and set out the issues in depth; with some time still remaining we continue to reshape them following the views you have already shared.
The online roundtable held last week brought out further points that are now being worked into the documents, and I want to thank everyone who took part and attended. The insight given by the panel which included a practising conveyancer, estate agency body and advisory trade body was practical, honest and very clear about what works and what will not work in real cases.
Across both consultations, our focus stays the same. We want Government to understand the practical steps needed for change, and the limits of what the market can manage without a clear framework.
The draft responses draw heavily on your expertise, whether that concerns the reality of fragmented data, the absence of enforcement in parts of the property sector, the increased scope of work that will fall on conveyancers, or the value of trusted digital systems that link directly to authoritative data sources. They also highlight that reforms must be tested against evidence and that long-term decisions need solid scrutiny.
A strong theme running through the draft responses is the need for information to be available upfront, not in a piecemeal way but in a form that is reliable and verifiable. This is central to both consultations. Without it, transactions will continue to face delay, uncertainty and failure. With it, we stand a real chance of reducing friction across the system.
But the practicalities must be understood. The task will involve new processes, early involvement of conveyancers, and better data standards across all parts of the market. It will also require fair recognition of the extra work placed on member firms. These points come directly from member feedback and will stay central to the CA’s final position.
The next step is refinement. We are now asking all members to review the draft responses and send in comments by 15th December. This is a hard deadline for us, in order to submit the final CA responses before the deadline.
We will share those final response with all member firms, who are very welcome to use our final wording in their own submissions. In fact, a strong chorus of aligned responses will help show the weight of support for the conveyancing sector’s views.
As we look towards the end of December, I must also acknowledge the pressure many of you have been under this year. The market has slowed at points, and the extended period of uncertainty around the Budget did not help. However, there is more certainty now, and I would expect those who have been waiting to see what the Budget would bring, are now much more likely to act in the weeks and months ahead.
Finally, this will be my last blog of the year, so I want to end on a personal note. I know how hard this year has been and how much effort has gone in across our member firms.
I hope that you all have a chance to rest over Christmas, spend time with those close to you, and step back from the constant pace of work. We look forward to seeing many of you at our Conference in the new year and to continuing our work together as the next stage of reform takes shape.
And, on that note, may I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Nicky Heathcote is Non-Executive Chair at The Conveyancing Association