HOME TRUTHS Is there a future for solicitors in 'factory conveyancing' or any future in conveyancing at all?Certainly the experience of Kent law firm Marsons suggests that the consumers of conveyancing services expect more than an efficient IT system to help them move home.

They also want 'local knowledge and connections'.

But, according to Lucci Dammone from Hammond Suddards, factory conveyancing 'could work if firms sell a quality service' (see [2001] Gazette, 5 January, 1).The factory conveyancing concept is built on the premise that conveyancing is, like many other commodities, a product that can he bought off the shelf, ready made, and ready to go.

Buying and selling a house should be akin to buying a tin of beans from the local supermarket, so the theory goes.

But, as any conveyancer will tell you, conveyancing has always been much more than a simple form-filling exercise.The 'quality' of a convey-ancing service has as much to do with local knowledge and personal services as it does with efficient use of IT.

They are not mutually exclusive.

Quality also needs to be measured in terms of price.

Even in today's active property market, conveyancing fees are low by European standards - a fact which the media and consumer lobby consistently ignores.Home transfer is important - it is part of our national life.

In the minds of the public, solicitors and moving home are intrinsically linked.

This should give solicitors the edge in any marketing initiatives.

Home ownership also accounts for a large proportion of the nation's private wealth.

This needs to be protected and solicitors have managed through a system of flexible but enforceable undertakings to ensure that public interest criteria remain at the core of the home transfer process.

The market is changing rapidly.

Improvements will be made with the roll-out of the national land information service, online conveyancing facilities, and the provision of compulsory advance information in the form of sellers' packages.

It is more likely than not that we will see a convergence of the roles of the conveyancer and estate agent.

After all, both are essential components in moving home.

The Law Society's support for multi-disciplinary partnerships (MDP) business structures might see solicitors and estate agents working in partnership.

Alternatively, solicitors could seize the initiative and embrace property selling as a core function within their own practices.Surely, now is the time for solicitors to work together to protect their share of the conveyancing market and to pioneer improvements in the home transfer process that will benefit the consumer.

Consumers, in turn, have responsibilities.

They must recognise that buying a house is a little more complex than buying that tin of beans and that quality service comes at a price.

Anthony Bogan, Law Society Council member for Surrey