The Government’s housing market reforms designed to speed up homebuying do too little to address the underlying causes of common buyer complaints, a London property law firm claims.
Tatiana Sharposhnikova, founder and chief executive of Sharpwell Property Law, says sales packs, earlier binding agreements and digitisation are all welcome reforms but they do not fix the real issues which are causing hold-ups for buyers today.
Sharpwell is instead highlighting a staffing and recruitment crisis in the wider property law sector. Since 2021, qualified solicitor numbers in residential conveyancing have fallen by 16%, with around 1,100 firms exiting the market altogether since 2021.
Sharposhnikova warns that under the existing system, no single party leads a property transaction. Law firms, estate agents and lenders each manage their own piece of the process, with no single point of co-ordination.
DRIVERLESS BUS
She says: “Buyers feel no one is driving the bus.
“The legal side of a property transaction remains reactive rather than proactive. A classic example is the seller’s solicitor sitting waiting for lender documentation – the estate agent assumes the solicitor is chasing, the lender waits for the broker to clarify, and the buyer is left in the dark, wondering what’s gone wrong. This causes transactions to stall and fail.
“There should be an expectation that law firms are responsible for pushing transactions forward, keeping clients updated throughout the process.
“This goes beyond policy, and becomes an issue that the industry needs to examine from within.”
She highlights that Sharpwell Property Law operates a “Friday rule” guarantee, providing a weekly bulletin to every client regardless of whether there has been movement, adding: “Failed transactions can often be traced back to a communications breakdown or a confidence issue with the seller. Stress reduces when people feel informed.
“Sometimes, the difference between a streamlined transaction and a costly failure can be as simple as picking up the phone instead of an email. It’s a cultural change, and one the Government should work together with industry on solving.”
