LAW
But looming deadline prompts
WORDS : DAVE ROBSON
‘ don ’ t delay ’ warning PICTURE : CHRIS BOOTH
Moving house has rarely been more challenging
than in 2020 – but a Teesside law firm has continuously adapted to help people along the way .
From the nightmare of lockdown to the current “ stamp duty holiday ” rush , Punch Robson ’ s conveyancing team has had to quickly respond to each situation in a year like no other .
With the housing market now lively again – helped by time-limited government incentives – meeting the needs of hundreds of clients has been a challenge .
But it ’ s a challenge Punch Robson has risen to , and one that ’ s likely to increase again as people hurry to take advantage of those incentives before they end on March 31 .
Last year , Punch Robson – established in 1877 – used its vast experience to help more than 1,000 clients buy or sell their home , and advised many more on propertyrelated transactions and queries .
Partner and head of residential conveyancing , Katherine Eaton , thought she ’ d seen it all since starting as a trainee in 2002 .
But Katherine says no-one could have envisaged the turbulence 2020 would bring .
She told Tees Business : “ Before Covid , we had a busy start to the year and were ramping up towards Easter and the summer holidays . They ’ re the times people want to move , to coincide with the nice weather , and it was looking really good .
“ But then Covid hit us all out of the blue . Most support staff were furloughed and when lockdown came , from a conveyancing perspective , nobody could move , so many things ground to a halt .
“ We had to quickly assess where we were – we needed everyone to say what they had in the pipeline and what contracts had been exchanged . And would that mean any clients being in a “ breach of contract ” situation ? Did they have recently completed cases to register at Land Registry within a time limit ? Did they have anything coming up that had a deadline where , for example , a mortgage offer was going to expire ? And if so , could we negotiate an extension of the deadline ?
“ The only contracts exchanged were people moving into new builds or empty properties – we could still proceed to contract completion with those . But many were in a chain and therefore couldn ’ t move because the government said they couldn ’ t .
“ Almost everything was put on hold . Priorities and deadlines were really difficult to juggle .”
Mid-lockdown , she said , they continued with “ behindthe-scenes stuff no-one sees ” and did get some moves completed , although largely those where people didn ’ t have to move in immediately .
And with no viewings or face-to-face meetings , it meant the use of digital technology accelerated .
She said : “ Take the Land Registry , for example . Traditionally it has wanted ‘ wet ink ’ witnessed signatures , but it ’ s now saying it will move towards digital signatures and witnessing , and I ’ m sure that will become more normal in the future .
“ We ’ ve come from a time where you were mostly ‘ post-driven ’ to moving towards mainly electronic communication . We ’ ve seen the benefits of working digitally and the reality of e-conveyancing .”
There ’ s always the potential for internet scams , of course : “ You have to be massively vigilant when dealing with people remotely . There are scams out there but we are geared up to look for those .”
And Katherine admits the lifting of lockdown brought its own challenges .
“ It was awful ! It was just dumped on us . One evening we ’ re suddenly told ‘ people can move again from tomorrow ’ and even though we still had lots of people furloughed , suddenly the phone is ringing off the hook .”
One reason for the demand surge is the government ’ s stamp duty land tax ‘ holiday ”, where anyone completing on a main residence up to £ 500,000 before March 31 won ’ t pay any stamp duty .
The average stamp duty bill will drop by £ 4,500 , with nearly nine out of 10 people buying a main home paying no stamp duty at all . But as that March 31 deadline gets nearer , so , too , will the numbers of people desperate to complete in time . And Katherine ’ s advice ? Simple – don ’ t hang around . She said : “ It has ignited the flame and got the property market active again . There was a pent-up demand anyway , but then the government ’ s effectively telling us we can save money if we move now .
“ If anyone was asking me , I ’ d say ‘ get cracking ’. We ’ ve seen transactions take three or four times as long as usual because of the Covid situation . And as March 31 approaches , it could be a very frustrating time , especially in that last month . The property market is going to be really busy , so get started now .”
She ’ s also advising people buying new-build homes to take advantage of help-to-buy equity loans before they change to a new system in 2021 . And she says she ’ s seen more auction and repossession sales recently as the past few months take their toll .
Calling the market “ very volatile ” she said : “ Someone can be buying a property one day , then the next day they lose their job and everything changes . But properties are selling quickly because the market is so active now . I had a client where the buyer pulled out and we had a new buyer within 24 hours – you can ’ t afford to drag your heels if you ’ re ready to go now .”
Her advice to house buyers or sellers is to “ keep in contact with everybody , don ’ t delay your side of things and be open and honest about everything . And don ’ t sit on your hands doing nothing now because you could miss the boat .”
And she says Punch Robson ’ s conveyancing section is as ready as it can be to help people navigate the legalities .
“ Everyone is feeling their way through this . If the last eight months have taught us anything , it ’ s to expect the unexpected . There ’ ll be delays so if you ’ ve done this before , don ’ t expect the process to be as fast this time .
“ But we ’ re ramped up for it and hope to get everybody through in time .”
The voice of business in the Tees region | 51