I’m a retired solicitor but practised for 45 years, mostly in litigation.

I am now on the receiving end of a solicitor’s services in conveyancing, and there is nothing like being a client to realise a service’s shortcomings.

I am selling my house, in a chain, and it’s difficult to find out what is happening down the chain. Surely someone can invent an app to which all parties (professional and lay) must agree to subscribe, which could be updated by date to indicate when certain events have taken place, ie when clients have seen conveyancers or when searches have been sent off.

In theory, it would be an easy matter to see how far anyone had got and where a hold-up was. The stages in the procedure would have to be comprehensive, with completion boxes to show either ‘dates completed’ or ‘not applicable’. Is this problematic or too simple a solution to be practical? It would certainly encourage competitiveness because it would show up parties who are slowing up the chain. Maybe that’s why it wouldn’t be acceptable to the professionals.

John Clarke, Wisbech

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