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Of the ways to speed up conveyancing I would suggest - and I copy some from the previous posts for which I take no credit for:

1. When selling, instruct a solicitor/conveyancer when the property is put on the market so that a ‘pre-contract sale pack’ can be prepared. We never charge extra, nor would we bother to charge our time if the seller changed their mind.

2. Make sure buyers have ‘in principle’ mortgage offers before making an offer.

3. Legislate the removal of Chancel Repair liability and stating after how many years a breach of a restrictive covenant becomes unenforceable, as so many conveyancers are unwilling to take advice form their own litigation departments

4. deem obligations in section 106 agreements incapable of being enforced against individual owners of dwellings on housing developments

5. re-do the TA6 form to add:
- are you aware of any breaches of the covenants in the property deeds preventing actions/requiring actions on your part?
- have you had any difficulty in using any rights granted to you in your deeds, or the use of any footpath road or other accessway serving the property
- make it clearer that sellers need to disclose any building works they are aware of at their own home, not just during their ownership

6. ban referral fees, and (to get around sneaky ways to still pay a referral fee) require conveyancing firms to make an annual declaration of any expenditure paid to any estate agent for any reason (bar client commission) and if higher than £x, they lose their ability to offer conveyancing

7. Three regulatory bodies to agree a single Protocol which must be adhered to, with a breach hotline with teeth, to include:
- require sellers to supply conditional planning permissions however old
- require conveyancers not to wait for money on account on a freehold sale
- require contracts to be despatched the day a memo of Sale is received…with TA forms to follow ….not the usual two weeks afterwards
- ban letters being sent if they have no enclosures
- require all conveyancers to publicise on their websites every single conveyancer with email and telephone contact details, with the senior partner and conveyancing head clearly identified
- remove the need for electrical and gas/oil certificates to be handed to the buyer, making the point that they are contracts (old ones) between seller and engineer, and do not afford a buyer any protection
- ban personal searches
- requires a standard contract, as we still have law firms adding their own superflous and one sided clauses
- stating after how many years a breach of restrictive covenant is no longer a worry

8. Three regulatory bodies to have a single Lexcel equivalent where conveyancers are actually visited and assessed, with an Ofsted like grade which must be publicised on all literature.

9. Change the fact that anyone – even the office cleaner – can be badged a conveyancer, with no legal training. There needs to be a minimum standard/licence/annual physical exam which the senior partner envisages (trusting that the SP does not commit fraud)

10. Render breaches of environmental legislation unenforceable against individual home owners

11. Require conveyancers to disclose right at the start which mortgage panels they are not on and the costs implication to the public if the conveyancer is nevertheless instructed

12. All three regulatory bodies to ban acting for both seller and buyer.

13. Ban contract dispatch by email as they are always more defective

14. Ban legal indemnity insurance - as such policies mask ill trained ‘conveyancers’

15. Conveyancing firms to be required to publish complaints and PI claims every 6 months and to positively draw clients attention to it

16. As conveyancing impacts employment law, trusts, wills, litigation etc, every conveyancing practice must have experienced and qualified staff in those areas too, if they are to be able to trade to the public

17. Require insurers to state clearly on the insurance schedule that the policy is or is not CML compliant

18. Simplify the Help2Buy paperwork, as it is far too verbose and repetitive, time consuming to the deal with and nit picking.

I could go on, though none would mention technology, as that is a complete red herring. Instead just raise the standard of the average conveyancer and property deals will start to move with great pace.