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The PropTech law firms and conveyancers should invest in

Category: Blog, Case Management, Client Management 14th October 2020

With the housing market boom showing no sign of waning, it is vital that law firms have access to conveyancing prop tech that enables them to keep pace with others in the industry.

According to Zooplas’s HPI forecast, demand from buyers has been running at 30% above the five-year average since the summer of 2021, and looks set to remain heightened for the rest of 2022.

Rightmove’s extensive reporting about the state of the housing market was a prompt reminder for me that our home insurance policy was up for renewal. Gone are the days of the “your call is important to us”; in its place was a painless experience, which took less than 10 minutes to complete online. The same goes for other sectors linked to housing. Meter and water readings are easily provided through an app or portal.

This got me thinking: have conveyancing legal services kept up with the pace of development seen in other property-related sectors? Whilst progress has been made – some firms have embraced legal tech and are providing clients with a quicker and more transparent service – there is still a long way to go.

According to the comparison website Finder, the average age of a first-time buyer in the UK is 34. They are tech-savvy digital natives who can use a range of electronic devices with a great deal of ease.

And importantly, they expect to conduct everyday tasks online. Research by case generation company mmadigital found 83% of clients would rather deal with their lawyer online now. Given the pace of development seen in other sectors, we need to ensure that law firms aren’t left behind. As the saying goes, the writing is on the wall.

Conveyancing case & practice management software is essential

There are exciting developments in the industry which only emphasise the need for us to supply innovative applications to conveyancers. A prime example is HM Land Registry’s Digital Street project, which is actively exploring the use of blockchain in the property purchase process to open up property transactions and allow those involved to stay up to date digitally.

As a legal software provider, part of our role is to provide conveyancers with the means to access the latest technological advancements, as well as encouraging them to invest in legal tech. Osprey Approach provides various digital tools that help conveyancers make the most of their time, enhance client service, and stay connected across all parties.

Six ways Osprey help to speed up conveyancing processes

1. Digital signatures

Receive completed and signed documents faster with electronic signatures that remove the inconvenience of printing, scanning, and posting documents to your clients. eSignature platforms, such as DocuSign, provide a quick and effective way for clients to sign and return documents online. 83% of eSignature transactions are completed in less than 24 hours compared to the days or weeks common to traditional methods; everything from client care letters during the onboarding processes to TR1 forms.

2. Onboarding questionnaires

Speed up data collection processes with an online, secure questionnaire that switches the responsibility of data entry to the client, helping to improve accuracy and crucially save time. Pre-built questionnaires, which can be standardised across your firm to ensure the right data is collected at the right time, can be sent to clients via a secure web portal, filled out online and saved instantly back into your matter history. No more rekeying or endless email chains.

3. Digital searches and verifications

It’s important to ensure that your PCMS offers integrations with the best software and services available, which helps to reduce your stress and saves you time, whilst offering clients the seamless journey they expect. For instance, if you currently spend hours drafting your report on titles you can reduce this process to as little as 15 minutes by taking advantage of Osprey’s integration with InfoTrack’s Property Report.

By integrating your essential digital tools through Osprey, you can centralise your data and files to stay organised, improve accuracies and reduce human error

4. Automated workflows

When core conveyancing processes and tasks are streamlined and automated it provides a solid foundation that speeds up transactions. Automated workflows help you to build standardised, compliant, and efficient conveyancing processes that are followed across your business. This ensures tasks are completed when needed, data is collected and centralised, reminders are set, and client communications are scheduled. Reduce the administrative burden from your team’s processes to speed up and reduce the cost of your conveyancing transactions.

5. Online client updates

Keeping up with follow ups and updates to clients can take away hours from your day, so having clear, real-time case progression updates online help to remove endless phone calls and emails. Easily send updates to your client’s secure web portal so they can view where their transaction is and any outstanding tasks that need to be actioned. It’s a great way to increase client satisfaction too, as they have transparent, accurate data available to them when they need it without the inconvenience of checking in.

6. Real time data

Providing updates to your clients is one thing but chasing for and providing details to third parties can be painful with so many moving parts. It’s easy to get lost in endless spreadsheets or paper reports, but by digitalising your processes and centralising your data in your PCMS, you can easily and quickly run reports and view real-time dashboards for an accurate, high-level view of your firm’s performance.

Osprey enables you to connect easily to third parties via our integration with Coadjute which connects you to other conveyancers, estate agents, mortgage brokers and lenders so you can synchronise data, share documents, and connect to HM Land Registry instantly and securely in real-time.

At Osprey, we are continually looking at how we can best serve our clients. For us, that means not only ensuring law practices run efficiently on a day-to-day basis but having an eye firmly on the future.