More than four out of five (82%) conveyancers have had to raise a post-offer query with a lender, new research published by the Conveyancing Association (CA) has revealed.

Findings from the trade body for the conveyancing industry showed that respondents had either “usually” (25%) or “sometimes” (57%) had to raise this with a lender.

The research comes from the CA’s results of its 2022 Lender Survey, which was used to identify where the industry can collaborate to improve the mortgage and conveyancing process. Within the survey, the CA also asked conveyancers to rate a number of lenders in terms of their waiting and response times, consistency of reply, clarity of mortgage instruction, and follow-up actions.

When asked what could speed up the post-mortgage offer process, 48% of conveyancers said better communication via the lender portals, 36% said securing a better response time to queries, 11% said greater consistency within UK Finance’s Lender Handbook Part 2, while 5% said the introduction of a standard post-offer referral form.

While 11% focused on the Lender Handbook, when asked whether they felt either the UK Finance or Building Societies Handbooks needed to be updated, less than half said yes.

The survey also considered views on the withdrawal of mortgage offers and how common this had now become. While 50% of respondents said they had rarely acted for a client who had a mortgage offer withdrawn or amended, 27% said this had happened “sometimes”, and other 8% said “usually”.

Director of delivery at the CA, Beth Rudolf, commented: “Post-offer queries are a major drain on all stakeholders within the process and it’s obvious from the survey results that a large number of these can be sidestepped with the greater use of upfront information at the point of marketing. 

“This is already on its way thanks to the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agent Team project to deliver material information. By having the correct details about a property at instruction, stakeholders can reduce their liability and the resources needed in dealing with the case which will improve the home moving process for all, especially the consumer.

“The most common reason for a mortgage offer being withdrawn is because of title issues, and again if this was known at the outset, then it would be possible to mitigate against such an outcome.

“We all want to see an efficient, more certain, conveyancing process in action. One that does not take the best part of five to six months, and in terms of the post-mortgage offer process, conveyancers feel better communication and quicker query response times will help significantly.”

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