Working under pressure is something that later life advisers, and indeed everyone in the property market, have to deal with constantly, and it is the ability to manage this pressure, cope with consumer expectations and then deliver a positive outcome that tends to sort the advisory wheat from the chaff.
That is a particular requirement given the current environment, where we are seeing perhaps a more time-sensitive later life lending market than we have ever seen.
As Peter Barton of Barton Law pointed out in a recent ‘Breakfast with Stuart’ meeting, the biggest and most overwhelming pressure that solicitors and conveyancers in the later life space are facing, is getting deals completed.
Now, of course, you might suggest this is a constant pressure and one that the legal profession should be able to deal with, however there is a different dimension to this and of course it comes with the current funding and lending environment, the length of offer time and the time it takes to secure completion.
Again, understandably, the big focus is getting deals completed before the offer runs out, and before a rate is lost, because the chances of that same deal/rate being available after the offer period has ended, is increasingly unlikely.
Again, as Peter mentioned, offers being issued right now may very well not hold, and there is a skill to both managing the client’s expectations, and working with the client’s and lender’s solicitor in order to get the case completed in the desired timescale.
Add in the other ‘sludgey’ elements that all advisers/solicitors/clients are currently facing – HM Land Registry being slow, for example, – and it is taking a long time to get to completion, while working against the offer countdown clock which doesn’t offer a lot of time.
Some lenders’ solicitors, for example, are requiring 20 days in advance of an offer date deadline to complete their work, which when some offers are only valid for 42 days, and where a client’s solicitor might not even get the offer for between five to 10 days, means everyone is already working in a tight situation and is very much up against it from the start.
At this time of year, there is also a further deadline set in many people’s minds, in terms of Christmas and wanting/needing to try and get a case completed before the market closes down for a period.
It is a tricky period for all, and of course I have some sympathy for lenders here because, in the not so recent past, they would have been able to extend an offer and there would have been no discernable change in the rate they were offering. Now, of course it is incredibly difficult to extend an offer in a rising interest rate environment, especially one which has been as volatile as the most recent period.
However, the priority should remain the customer and that is certainly what advisers will have front and centre in this situation. And, we cannot get away from the fact there are a number of roadblocks in front of advisers and their clients which could look insurmountable.
The easy thing here would be to get angry and play the blame game, but ultimately that’s not going to get a case completed, so we really need to work with all stakeholders to try and move things along as quickly as possible. That means having all the necessary paperwork from the client upfront, it means getting that offer to the client’s solicitors in a shorter timescale so they can get on with their job, and it means being on top of all aspects of the case to give it the very best chance of completing within the offer period.
I know this is easier said than done. We have involved ourselves in a number of cases to try and help a case through, and we will continue to do so wherever possible. In that sense, if you are an Air Group member then do utilise our resources and connections if you feel it could help a case along.
However, the situation could be like this for some time to come and managing the client will be vital here, as will having a degree of flexibility and a potential plan B or C if A does not come off as envisaged. Time is going to continue to be a premium but, if we can all work together and make the most of every minute, then we will give the client every chance of securing the finance they need within the required timescale.
Stuart Wilson is CEO at Air Group
