You don’t need us to tell you that the property market in the UK is big business. Though if you do need a refresher of just how big we’re talking, then perhaps you might like to consider the fact that the collective annual turnover for businesses in this industry is around £73 billion.
Whether you’re an estate agent, a property investor or a developer, you might be keen to cut yourself a bigger slice of this multi-billion-pound pie. And who would blame you? The potential for growth in the property industry is huge, and we’re always keen to support other professionals who want to take advantage of this.
One of the key ways to build traction in the profession is to enrich your offering by developing related skills. We believe that increasing your understanding of conveyancing can be a hugely beneficial way to do this.
Let’s be honest: the legalities of property transactions can be anything but simple. There are all manners of hitches and curveballs that can knock a property purchase or sale right off track. The more you know about how the process works, the better prepared you’ll be to know how to deal with it, or – better still – avoid any red flag transactions all together.
By ensuring you have a good grounding in the basics of what to expect in conveyancing, you can:
- Enhance your decision-making abilities.
- Reduce your risk.
- Improve the level of customer service you’re able to deliver.
- Save time, effort and money.
What kind of legal training are we talking?
It follows that the better informed you are, the better the service you’ll be able to offer to your clients and/or colleagues, partners and investors.
Whether you’re an estate agent or a property investor, empowering yourself with legal knowledge will enable you to better assess any potential pitfalls in the transactions ahead of you.
Learning about matters such as:
- Unregistered property.
- Restrictive covenants.
- Easements and rights of way.
- Potential pitfalls with surveys and searches.
- Energy performance certificate regulations.
- Freehold ownership VS leasehold ownership.
- Probate sales.
will give you the power to better assess what might be ahead, whether that’s in terms of deciding whether or not you should put an offer in on a property, or how you should prepare a client who is in the process of selling it.
How will this help you make more effective decisions?
The reality is that conveyancing can be incredibly unpredictable. There’s no guaranteed way of looking at a property and the associated chain of transactions and determining whether the whole thing can be done and dusted within six weeks, or if you’re more realistically looking at six months.
The good news here is that the deeper your understanding of the legal mechanisms involved, the more accurate your prediction is likely to be. With this skill under your belt, you’ll be able to spot any potential issues in plenty of time to mitigate against them. If a speedy transaction is necessary, you’ll be able to ensure investors or clients are sufficiently briefed on whether a certain property might be impossible on that timescale.
You’ll also be able to be more accurate when it comes to making offers on property yourself. This is vital in terms of meeting any of your own deadlines, and in terms of ensuring the amount you are offering takes into account any additional legal costs or time-sensitive issues.
How can this reduce your risk?
Risk is a part of life, and there’s no way to avoid it completely: in the property industry or anywhere else. With that being said, the more you know about the legal landscape of conveyancing, the better you’ll be able to effectively manage and avoid risk.
Unfortunately, there are a range of potential legal issues that can completely derail property transactions. Sometimes an issue can arise as part of a survey, search or standard enquiries that can make it untenable to continue with the transaction. Not only can this be extremely disappointing, it can also leave the individuals or businesses involved in the transaction significantly out of pocket financially with nothing much to show for it.
If you’re able to more accurately assess any potential pitfalls of a property transaction in advance – either for yourself or on behalf of your clients – then you can reduce the risk of losing time, money and energy on an unsound property transaction.
For example, as an estate agent, the more you know about conveyancing, the more pertinent questions you will be able to ask clients during the initial set up stages. If you’re able to uncover any burgeoning legal issues right at the beginning, you’ll then be able to support your client in addressing those issues up front. This will significantly lessen the likelihood of you investing time and energy finding a suitable buyer, only to find yourself back at square one if the transaction falls through due to a preventable issue.
Equally, property investors and developers with a greater threshold of conveyancing knowledge will be better placed to spot any legal knots or deal breakers before they have instructed solicitors and begun running up legal fees.
How will this benefit your clients?
As property professionals, the more information you have at your disposal, the better the service you will be able to provide to your clients. This is true whether you are involved in supporting other people through the process of buying and selling property, or whether you are buying and selling property yourself for investment and development purposes.
As we touched on above, estate agents can offer a great deal more value to their clients when they have a good understanding of conveyancing and any potential pitfalls. Quicker and smoother transactions make for much happier clients, and happy clients will recommend you to their networks.
Other types of property professionals will also benefit from being able to pass on any conveyancing advice or acumen to those they are working for or with. After all, better and more sound investments will produce quicker and more beneficial dividends for investors.
Where should you start?
At Inspired Progress, we offer a whole range of bespoke training and mentoring options that are all built around you. Whether you’re interested in some one-to-one training or you’re considering commissioning a training course for a group of colleagues, we can help.
We have several ready to go courses available on topics including:
- Shared Ownership
- The Building Safety Act
- Raising Enquiries
- Climate Change
- Build Over Agreements
And many more.
Whatever you have in mind, please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’d like to explore the possibility of legal training. hello@inspiredprogress.co.uk