Peter Morgan is spot on in his letter (see [2007] Gazette, 6 September, 16) when he says that unless solicitors grasp the home information pack (HIP) nettle firmly and quickly, then indeed 'this represents the biggest threat to solicitors retaining their share of the conveyancing market that the legal profession has ever seen'.


The editorial he was commenting on suggested that the profession should be looking to Scotland to see how we should now be marketing our conveyancing services in tandem with selling houses. Indeed, there is a wealth of experience in Scotland on which to draw and, as SPS Solicitor Estate Agents, we have been working for a number of years to bring this together for the benefit of the profession in England and Wales.



What he does not mention directly is that apathy is the biggest threat of all. However, if the profession does act collectively, both to corner the HIP market and sell houses, then it will stand to gain hugely from the increased client interface.



The profession is at a crossroads, which requires it to proceed with caution.



Nevertheless, the journey will, as Peter Morgan points out, be over if the profession does not act. The answers are out there, but time is not on the solicitors' side.



Hector Grant, ESPC (UK) Ltd, Edinburgh