Property transactions can be completed within a week in corporate property trading and show the wider property market how it can be done, according to Shane Miller-Bourke (pictured), Co-CEO of house buying and selling platform, Spring.
Despite the digitisation of some aspects of the process, Landmark’s research shows transaction timelines are still growing. The average time from conveyancer instruction to completion is now 123 days — an 18% increase since 2019 and 64% longer than in 2007.
Miller-Bourke told Today’s Conveyancer, though, that: “The real bottleneck is behavioural, not technical. Buyers, and more importantly, their conveyancers and lenders, face no meaningful incentive to move faster.
If anything, the system rewards caution, delay, and box ticking over efficiency.”
“If anything, the system rewards caution, delay, and box ticking over efficiency. Reforms such as seller packs and digitising Land Registry processes are sensible initiatives in isolation.
“They may even shave a few days off the edges of the process. But they are not the reason transactions drag on, with conveyancing alone often consuming four months or more.”
No alternative
He adds that when sellers become frustrated by slow progress, their only practical option is to return to the market and restart the process, placing them back inside the same framework. There is little competitive pressure forcing the slowest parts of the chain to accelerate.
Corporate transactions operate differently. Miller-Bourke says: “We use commercially minded solicitors, streamlined enquiries and expedited searches so idle time is designed out of the process.
“The difference is discipline. We remove the gaps between stages – searches, enquiries and funding are coordinated instead of happening in sequence.
“We ensure everyone is committed to completing efficiently, then use expedited searches and search indemnities… This ensures everyone knows what is outstanding and who needs to provide it at every point of the journey, rather than wasting time with endless calls and emails chasing each other in circles.”
There are, however, some key differences between corporate purchases and mainstream home sales, with chains, mortgage underwriting and management or leasehold structures adding complexity to the process.
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