Marsons pulls out of factory conveyancing

By Neil RoseOne of the country's leading bulk conveyancing law firms has quit residential conveyancing, saying the factory concept neither works for the client nor makes any money.Bromley-based Marsons will continue to receive work as an agent for First Title Insurance and then, after arranging title insurance, farm the file out to a network of as many as 1,000 law firms around the country.The firm is negotiating with four unnamed major lenders and estate agents to handle their conveyancing referrals.

A pilot may start in February.

Marsons recently turned down an offer from one lender to deal with 10,000 files a month because it could not cope.Chairman Brian Marson said factory conveyancing 'does not work for the consumer' because it fails to provide local knowledge and connections.

There were also problems with hostility from other solicitors and recruiting good staff.

'It's a case of being honest,' he said.

'We knew that our service standards were slipping.' He also conceded that the individual nature of each transaction made it hard to keep unit costs down, especially with the pressure from lenders to reduce fees.

'It wasn't economic,' he said.Several large national law firms offer factory conveyancing for lender clients, such as Hammond Suddards Edge,Eversheds, and Shoosmiths.Mr Marson plans for around 80 firms in the network to handle high volumes of work, but up to 1,000 could be involved for smaller volumes in their localities.

Clients will be offered a choice of firms in their area.

The only criteria to join the network are sufficient IT and quality standards.

There will be no fee to join and firms can charge their normal rates.Leeds firm Fox Hayes is the first to join.

Others include Barnetts in Southport and Langleys in York and Lincoln.Marsons will retain and increase its straightforward bulk remortgaging work.

The property division will be split off and, subject to approval, be renamed First Title Legal.

It will make money out of selling title insurance policies.

Mr Marson is also chairman of First Title.Michael King, chairman of the Law Society's conveyancing and land law committee, said: 'IT is fine up to a point, but when you harness it in this way, it doesn't work.' This is down to the lack of a personal touch, he said, and the absence of a professional relationship between solicitor and client given the call centre nature of factory conveyancing.Lucci Dammone, chief executive of HammondsDirect, Hammond Suddards Edge's volume conveyancing arm, said the concept could work if firms sell a quality service.

'You have to have the ability to invest significantly in technology,' he said, adding that consumers are not keen on the personal touch if it means time off work visiting a solicitor.See Editorial, page 12