Email or Royal Mail?

It’s back to work with a bang after a pleasant festive break. I hear the postal service is all bunged up at the moment and has been for the last couple of weeks so I expect that will slow everything down as we all get back in to full swing.

The postal service is something we take for granted and it’s only when it doesn’t work that we realise how much we rely on it.

I’m a fan of Royal Mail most of the time, but I do think businesses need to protect themselves from the breakdown in communications that interruptions in the postal service can cause. I also think that in certain circumstances it is quicker, more convenient, more reliable and better for record keeping using email.

Certainly I believe this is the case with conveyancing where there is a lot of documentation passing between various parties and keeping a handle on it all can be difficult. Because multiple communications have to be sent between parties, using email can, over the course of the entire conveyancing process, reduce the time to do the work by a matter of weeks.

While things are ongoing, it also means that clients can use online tracking systems to see exactly where they are in the process, the work that has been completed, what remains outstanding and when things are due to be finished.

In terms of filing, an online system provides access at the touch of a button to the documents involved and means clients no longer have to worry about keeping mountains of paper and more often than not losing the one piece they need to lay their hands on at any given time.

Finding a solicitor can also be a daunting process for clients and if a broker can point them in the direction of an online conveyancer, then surely this has to make life easier for the client and at the same time result in a referral fee for the broker.

By doing the legal work online, record keeping is automatically taken care of, the process is completed more quickly and so reduces the chances of a transaction falling through, and clients can eliminate the risk of having to pay for legal work should the sale or purchase not complete.

What’s not to like about a service that is faster, cheaper and more efficient? And for those clients who still like a hard copy of the documentation, this can be sent out in the mail. Hopefully their contact lenses will have arrived in time for them to be able to read it.

Duncan Samuel is managing director at Convex Conveyancing

The views expressed in this article are those of its author and do not necessarily represent those of IFAonline or any other Incisive Media affiliated organisation.