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You cannot get away from the fact that land law is complex and conveyancing is a job to be done with knowledge, care and skill, and should also be properly (not excessively) remunerated; unfortunately the public now expect to shop around for a lawyer as they would for the cheapest supermarket offers. Just because you can make a process electronic or "digital" doesn't mean that the underlying law is any simpler, and policy makers seem unable to understand this.

A rethink about the point at which the contract is made (such as on acceptance of offer?) may help to stamp out gazumping and timewasters, a major cause of frustration and wasted costs. Delays in provision of leasehold information by private landlords and/or their managing agents, and the unreasonable fees charged in many cases - as recently highlighted by the Conveyancing Association - also need addressing. Commonhold take-up has been poor, but it was intended to deal with problems arising in leasehold conveyancing; maybe it's time to revisit it?

Land Registry's "chain matrix" of 10 years or so ago was a simple but visually helpful device, a "tick-box" method of identifying the main stages of a transaction - without requiring detailed disclosure of data - and whether all parties in a chain had cleared those hurdles so that the cause of any hold-up was apparent at a glance.

Unfortunately, the human beings involved also cause delay and frustration, particularly by changing their minds...