Coronavirus and Conveyancing

Hush, whisper it softly, but you may have heard there’s a bug going round. Keep it to yourself or everyone will want one. Actually with the fashion for self-isolating seemingly unstoppable everyone does seem to have it. Just don’t get caught out shopping down the high street when you’re meant to be tucked up in bed.

However, joking apart there is a serious side to the practical implications of the demic be it “pan” or “epi” when it comes to buying and selling of flats and houses.

There is anecdotal evidence that people are reluctant to put their properties on the market scared (unreasonably some may say) that by having hordes of strangers nosing around the scullery that they are putting themselves at risk of infection. Even if they get over this and a sale is agreed a case of self-isolation may affect the ability of a buyer to arrange for a surveyor to visit the property. And what happens if the disease is contracted after exchange of contracts but before completion?

These are undoubtedly testing times for clients and their advisors but we are nothing if not resilient and inventive. How we respond to the challenges is what is important. There are moves afoot to deal with the issues through the use of contractual terms. While these may have a part to play our hope as a firm is that all the parties to a transaction be they solicitors, conveyancers, buyers, sellers, lenders, surveyors or estate agents will work together to bring about a successful conclusion.

By taking a more pragmatic and sympathetic approach we are sure that the buying and selling process can be made a little stressful than it already is. If we are successful then maybe, just maybe, lessons can be learned that we can take into the future when some kind of normality returns.

Whatever our clients are faced with they can be sure that everyone at Pearson Hards is on hand to help.

Now where did I put that mask………………….?

Written by Jonathan Throp, Partner, Residential Conveyancing