How to demonstrate best practice in post-completion duties

Guest article written by Priscilla Sinder, Property Conveyancing Consultancy Ltd (PCC)

When we talk about post-completion duties, we may think of 'administrative' and 'form-filling' tasks but to name a few. Not only is this categorically incorrect, but such a perception creates a risk to licensed conveyancer and law firms alike. 

This article discusses best practice in post-completion tasks, that are illustrated (1) in having a risk and compliance package, and (2) upskilling knowledge in post-completion duties. Both these elements should be at the forefront for any law firm that offers conveyancing services.

Today’s conveyancing is fast-paced; with regulation at its highest, introductory obligations that may not have been a requirement some 10-years ago, such as fraud restrictions and lenders now having their own management portals, are evident in most transactions. There is now transparency at the touch of a fingertip, due to application programming interfaces and extraordinary demands from clients, which all warrant a total overhaul of how post-completion must be considered as important to a firm’s growth and strategic plans as any other department in conveyancing.

Risk and compliance

To understand risk and compliance is to analyse the running of any department. Illustrated in a Law Society publication ‘Post-Completion: A Conveyancers Guide to Process, Risk and Compliance’ (2024)it suggests a gap analysis is “… a method of identifying weaknesses and omissions in existing procedures”. Any weakness and/or omission in a firm’s procedures exposes them to risk and this is why firms must regularly undergo a gap analysis of its respective departments.  

The purpose of a gap analysis is to objectively look at a firm’s policies, controls and procedures from a strategic approach, which considers overall systems. For example, how does a fee earner record a priority search that is visible to the post-completion team or indeed how does a fee-earner recall it has performed a priority search? In summary how do you record key data?

Recording data is crucial to eliminate risk especially in post-completion, where submitting applications/responding to HM Land Registry is time sensitive. Making data visible is contextualising risk and implementing a firm-wide policy for such behaviours demonstrates compliance. Where there is risk there must be a compliance policy.

A gap analysis as part of a risk and compliance package

A gap analysis should form part of your risk and compliance package and is only one way to demonstrate how a firm can combat risk. For the benefit of this article a quick synopsis of how to devise a gap analysis shall be outlined.

The Law Society’s publication, mentioned above, demonstrates three main elements to a gap analysis:

1. reviewing your current state of tasks;
2. reviewing the desired state of tasks; and
3. identifying the gap/s, if any, (between points 1 and 2).

If gaps are noticeable consider implementing new policies, education, innovative means, to name but a few, to close the areas exposed to risk.

To use a gap analysis for business planning and growth is essential so that it accounts for changes in market conditions, thus, the essence of a gap analysis is fluidity to adapt with evolving current affairs. For example, to align this point with post-completion duties, how has your firm implemented provisions of the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 (ECTEA 2022), which amends the Land Registration Act 2002 by inserting a new Schedule 4A?

Howden sees conveyancing as a high-risk area, which is reflective of PII insurers, for which a significant proportion of claims derive from post-completion matters. Indeed, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers’ 2024 Risk Agenda specifically highlighted problems arising from poor post-completion work as an issue of increasing significance for conveyancers. By presenting your firm as a candidate that reflects on its post-completion gap analysis regularly, takes a holistic approach to risk and, if identified, enforces post-completion compliance as a firm-wide policy, naturally makes a firm more desirable as a low-risk entity, and thus more attractive to PII insurers.

Education as a tool

If you have been legally trained, you may be forgiven for overlooking any post-completion training and queried whether you had any in the first place.

There is a sense in the profession that practical experience is the key to perfecting post-completion duties. Although this is correct it is only part truth. The second part to this statement is to understand how to read the official copy of register of title from a post-completion viewpoint and not only from a legal perspective. What restrictions are on the title that blocks registration and using the above example in respect of ECTEA 2022 how does your post-completion team educate themselves in identifying such entities that are caught by the ECTEA 2002?

Having foresight and pre-empting requisitions demonstrates best practice in post-completion tasks, and this can only be accomplished by enhancing one’s skillset and knowledge in the nuances of HM Land Registry requirements.

The conveyancing market is packed with new innovative products but if one digs deep enough there are specialist post-completion training providers such as PCC Education Hub, which translates all the HM Land Registry practice guides into digestible hourly webinars for your staff so they can become confident in how they submit applications to HM Land Registry, therefore capturing imperfections by avoiding requisitions and, in turn, perfecting the art of post-completion.

Conclusion

Conveyancing is very different to how it operated say 10 years ago, and with vast changes come immense adaptions that firms should be open to, in order to stay ahead of the competition.  Gone are the days where the post-completion department can be a secondary thought, it must be a primary thought for a firm to retain its position as a risk-averse client for its PII insurer.

To make sure your team never fail in this side of the transaction, a risk-averse firm undertakes best practice in post-completion tasks, which are demonstrated by having a risk and compliance package and enhancing education specifically in post-completion tasks amongst staff members.

These two pillars, when implemented together, will guarantee a superior level of how post-completion duties are conducted within your firm.

Property Conveyancing Consultancy (‘PCC’) is a UK based outsourced post-completion company. Its workforce combines solicitors, conveyancers and heavily experienced post-completion staff members. They perform all post-completion functions.

PCC’s sister company, PCC Education Hub, offers risk and compliance packages for the profession and bespoke post-completion training.

This article has been written by Priscilla Sinder, Property Conveyancing Consultancy Ltd (PCC) and the opinions and views stated in this article are those of Priscilla Sinder and not Howden Insurance Brokers Limited (“Howden”). Howden is an insurance broker and is not authorised or regulated to advise on best practice in post-completion duties. Howden shall not (i) owe or accept any duty, responsibility or liability to you or any other person; and (ii) be liable in respect of any loss, damage or expense caused by your or any other party’s reliance on this article.