SDLT holiday: a double-edge sword for conveyancer firms

1.

Additional resources

Some firms recruited fee earners or brought in temporary staff to assist with the increased flow of work. If your firm put additional resource in place, it is worth drawing this to the attention of underwriters, but ensure that you also note related training and supervision, particularly for those who were new to the firm or perhaps had less experience. 

2.

Introduction of new processes and procedures

Did you review procedures and processes in response to the increased workload? If you improved or streamlined existing work practices in a way that you consider has impacted positively on the management of risk, then be sure to document this. Underwriters are always interested to know what firms have done to proactively manage risk.

3.

Monitoring and control of workloads

Were you monitoring workloads and did you put measures in place to control the flow of instructions coming in? This might have involved increasing the amount you charge clients as a means of limiting instructions or turning some potential clients away. If you have increased the fees you charge to the client it is particularly important to highlight this to underwriters, as the fee income declared by the firm may look like increased volume, when in fact you have just been charging substantially more for the work done.

4.

File audits

When fee earners know that a robust file audit process is in place, they are more likely to be deterred from taking shortcuts. File audits can also pick up on issues that have been missed and identify training and knowledge gaps or other problems that need to be addressed. Underwriters will be keen to know that your file audit regime was maintained despite the increased workload – and if your file audit process was enhanced or increased in response to the added pressure that fee earners were under, then this is definitely worth highlighting.

5.

Client management

Managing client expectations is always key. If you amended engagement letters to warn clients of the risk that transactions might not complete within the deadline, then note this in your PII proposal documentation. Underwriters will also be interested to know what approach you took if any clients were insisting they wanted to proceed without all relevant searches or inquiries being completed. These are the files where problems could arise at some later stage. Careful file notes and documented evidence of the warnings and advice given will be essential in these scenarios.

6.

Attention to physical and mental health and wellbeing of fee earners

Underwriters are becoming much more aware of the impact of physical and mental health and wellbeing on risk and PII claims. They are looking for assurances that firms have this issue on their agenda and are providing the appropriate support. They will be interested to hear about any initiatives your firm adopted to address the added stress and pressure that conveyancing teams have been under. 

7.

Absence of claims or complaints to date

If there were transactions where the 30 June deadline was missed, it is reasonable to expect that any claims or complaints will be made quite quickly. If you have reviewed those cases where the deadline was missed, nothing has emerged and you are confident that all is in order, then we recommend that you note that in your proposal documentation. Alternatively, if there are any issues and you are unsure whether a matter should be notified to insurers, then we recommend that you contact your claims handler here at Howden to discuss the position.