With a 50 year career in property (he claims to have started when he was 3!) there is little Michael Day hasn’t seen or heard.
In this latest episode of the Today’s Conveyancer Podcast, Day sits down with David Opie to discuss a career which has taken him to the very top of estate agency and conveyancing operations as board member at Connells and becoming heavily involved in building one of the UK’s earliest large‑scale, panel‑based conveyancing businesses.
Day even remembers the days before the internet and mobile phones; but he says, the fundamentals of the home‑buying process remain much the same.
Despite the technological evolution of both the estate agency and conveyancing sector, the persistent lack of integration continues to hamper progress; borne out in extended transaction timescales.
All the talk of instructing solicitors at the point of listing is not new… Day gives a compelling example from Connells where they cut transaction times from 13 to 10 weeks by instructing their panel firms at listing; allowing the business to turn its pipeline faster and adding £8 million to the bottom line. The fact the industry is still debating early instruction 25 years later, he says, highlights how fragmented the sector remains. He fears unless the government mandates structural changes, such as upfront information or compulsory early instruction, progress will remain painfully slow.
On referral fees you’d expect the estate agent in him to provide a robust defence, but with caveats. He argues referral fees can be justified when the agent genuinely adds value through marketing and onboarding work. The problem, he says, is that many agents simply pass over a phone number and expect to earn a fee. At the same time, excessive referral fees have squeezed conveyancers’ margins so tightly that service quality, investment in people, and technology have inevitably suffered. Transparency, he says, is essential, and the industry has not always delivered it.
Training, standards, fees, technology, management and Rightmove are all on the agenda in this fascinating discussion with one of the property industry’s most experienced, and colourful characters.
The Today’s Conveyancer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast provider and also at www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk. Subscribe and listen in for all the latest conveyancing industry news and views.
You can listen to the Podcast here
