SortRefer has reported a busy April and a strong start to May despite the challenges Covid-19 has presented.

The conveyancing services provider has seen instruction levels match those of April 2019, with May seeing a 25% increase on instructions for the same period last year.

Completion numbers have also held strong, SortRefer said.

Kevin Tunnicliffe (pictured), CEO of SortRefer, said: “We are delighted to see that numbers are increasing throughout May having held strong over the April period. During lockdown, we’ve seen growth within our Remortgage offering, and whilst viewings and valuations remained difficult in the agency world, we’re already pleased to see a return to transactional cases being instructed after the news announced last week that estate agents can reopen.

“What we feel sets us apart is the support our in-house customer service team provides to our introducer market and panel alike. We are always on hand to advise and help progress cases and this has been utilised by our introducers during Covid-19 lockdown. Our valued panel of conveyancing firms are all working extremely hard to ensure that cases in their existing pipelines are progressing and clients are proceeding to completion quickly.

“What we have noticed during lockdown is that all parties have adapted well to the challenges posed and have been offering excellent legal services in a working from home environment. Whilst the government guidance remains to work from home where we can, we are assured that the legal services offered will remain at their high standards in this new working environment and they will continue to provide the quality legal service we have all come to rely on.”