The Conveyancing Association (CA) has launched its 2025 Lender Survey to get feedback on a series of areas which might potentially cause issues between property market stakeholders.

For 2025, the CA is asking its members for input to improve collaboration during the conveyancing transaction with surveyors, valuers, valuation panels, valuation software providers, RICS, and lenders, and to also share working practices and identify how post-offer queries might be reduced.

RANKING

Conveyancers completing the survey will be asked to rank various lenders’ in a number of areas including: receipt, method of delivery and clarity of mortgage instructions; waiting and response times; consistency of response; and obtaining registration information from HM Land Registry,

It also asks conveyancers to provide information on raising post-offer queries, receiving amended offers or those which were withdrawn, and the nature of this activity, plus how they deal with issues and escalate problems.

Finally, it asks survey respondents for their views on the changes they believe would help speed up the post-mortgage offer process, and what changes to the UK Finance and BSA Handbooks might deliver a more efficient service; the good news being that UK Finance are in the middle of a project to digitise the Handbook.

The survey is open until 14 February and the CA is urging all its member firms, and the entire conveyancing industry, to complete the questions in order to provide full results on what is happening at the ‘coal face’ of the sector.

All those who respond and wish to provide their e-mail address will be entered into a prize draw.

The full results of the survey will be collated and discussed with stakeholders at CA events taking place throughout the year.

Beth Rudolf, director of delivery of the Conveyancing Association, said: “We regularly run our Lender Survey to try to help everyone improve the way we work together to get the client moved. We have found post-offer queries to be a big bugbear for all concerned in the past, and our workshops with the lenders and valuation technology partners were able to help reduce them.

“One prime example of this was when Santander didn’t include middle names on the pre-printed mortgage deed; as a result they were constantly getting post-offer queries. However, once made aware, they were able to update their systems to include middle names and the queries stopped – a win-win for everyone.

“We are urging all those who work in the conveyancing sector to once again tell us what is going on, so that we have the fullest range of responses possible and we hear from a wide range of practitioner conveyancers.

“Knowing what is happening at the ‘coal face’ is vital in order to help us continue our collaboration with other stakeholders, and to highlight the issues that exist, how they arise, and solutions that might be put in place in order to stop these at source.

“We do hope as many conveyancers as possible will complete the survey and also share it with all their colleagues and contacts in other firms. There’s even £100 of Amazon vouchers to be won as a thank you, given we know how busy everyone is with the SDLT deadline looming.

“Respondents could perhaps fill out the survey while waiting on hold for confirmation funds have been released; hopefully that lender will then listen to the feedback and they won’t have to wait on hold again.”