The Partnership Newsletter - August 2011

"I'm sticking with you ... 'cos I'm made out of glue ..."

It seems the Velvet Underground had a point. We often hear from agents that they suffer the consequences of their client's choice of lawyer. Whether it is a low-cost internet-based firm that cannot afford to take their telephone calls or a traditional solicitors' practice that refuses to, all too often, the outcome is poor communication and deals slowed or put at risk.
However, we are finding agents refusing to take instructions if they feel the client's choice of lawyer may stand in the way of a successful outcome. The problem is that clients often feel intimidated by the threat of abortive fees and refuse to change. Hopefully the introduction of greater competition later this year will overcome this and we'll see them making decisions to change lawyers if they don't get the service they need.

Japanese knotweed causes concern for sellers
Until recently, Japanese Knotweed was a problem that was restricted to gardeners trying to halt its path. However, many people are not aware that landowners have a legal obligation under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 not to cause it to spread if it occurs on their land. Due to this risk, we are now receiving an increasing number of lawyers asking about the presence of this weed in their preliminary enquiries, and we are advising sellers to deal with the issue before they put their properties on the market.

Recent case highlights problem of leaving child out of a Will
When Heather Ilott left home at 17 and refused to stay in touch with her father, despite his best efforts, he decided to exclude her from his Will. However, after his death, Ms Ilott contested the Will, and was awarded £50,000. Ms Ilott felt that this figure wasn't high enough and successfully appealed. Although the Supreme Court is due to hear this case later this year, currently, anyone considering cutting out a child from their Will should be aware that potentially, the courts may not uphold their wishes.

The Partnership League Launches in September
Over the past few months, we have been working with a small number of agents testing our new Partnership League system. This unique, web-based application enables agents to compete against their colleagues and competitors, with the most successful winning vouchers for websites and shops of their choice. Please email us for more information about how to join the League.

Nothing new here then ...

Looks like we've been causing a bit of a storm when it comes to referral fees.

In the days of Home Information Packs we were extremely vocal that paying referral fees was nothing less than the work of the devil. Indeed, we even did a piece for Channel 4 news exposing the story. The problem that we had with the issue is that clients were not being given a choice in the provision of Home Information Packs and just knew that they had to buy them, so our view was that providers were manipulating the market by paying fees to agents.

However, our launch of The Partnership League, a marketing incentive to encourage agents to include us in their recommendation lists to clients for conveyancing, has been picked up by the trade press (The Negotiator Magazine, that we have somehow changed our stance.

However, we believe in competition and know that agents always give clients a choice - we don't pass on any costs to clients and it is an excellent marketing idea. Well we think so anyway!

If you're an agent and want to know more about The Partnership League, please just email us and we'll let you know.