Moving house ranks as one of the most stressful periods in life. So if you find someone to relieve the pressure, simplify the process and protect you from the vagaries of the housing market – you will be on to a winner!

At Frettens Solicitors, the rationale is simple: managing the house-buying process to keep things moving as fast as possible and keep everyone involved informed and up to date. Senior Partner and Head of Conveyancing at Frettens, Ian Fretten, has worked in Conveyancing for many years, setting up the firm in 1978. He comments "Until recent times, conveyancing laws had barely altered: 19th century practices were having to be applied in the 20th and 21st centuries. Client’s expectations have moved on and outdated practices caused difficulties and frustration. Home Information Packs (HIPs) were introduced to try and update the system, making it more transparent for all parties involved and reducing the number of abortive sales, which of course is the biggest cause of disappointment for clients if the sale collapses”.

Home Information Packs (HIPs)

So what about HIPs? Have they improved the process or made it even more complicated? Conveyancing Associate David Walton, who is now based in the firm’s New Forest office in New Milton, has been instrumental in developing the firm’s HIP production system in the last year. As such he has followed the proposals, regulations and changes to the regulations with great interest and spoken at length to estate agents all over Dorset and Hampshire about HIPs. David says “HIPs haven’t been quite as revolutionary as they were intended to be, but they are certainly not making the system any worse as many estate agents feared they would. One of the biggest worries to agents was that they would be delayed in marketing the property, but we have a HIP ready in 48 hours in most cases, so the property can be marketed for sale very quickly. Part of the content provided in the HIP comprises various searches that were already required in the process, but now they are ordered up front, so anything that could put a buyer off can be seen before they make an offer, thus reducing the chances of chains collapsing because someone pulls out. More searches could be included that would be useful to buyers, but it is possible they will be introduced at a later date. Another element of the HIP is the Energy Performance Certificate. This is an independent rating of the energy efficiency of the property and this is the only element of a HIP that adds additional expense to the transaction. However, at £299 (inclusive of disbursements and VAT) a Frettens HIP proves that unnecessary expense is not being heaped onto consumers.”

Simplifying the conveyancing process

Frettens Conveyancing Team operates an electronic process-driven case management system to reduce paper work for clients. Senior Conveyancing Executive, Helen Jones explains “This means that all the information is within easy access to all of our conveyancers, so when a client calls to ask a question, all of us can find the answer on our computers if their particular conveyancer is unavailable. We are also going through a process with our Marketing Manager to improve the forms that clients are sent initially, to eliminate repetition and form filling wherever possible. All of our conveyancers are trained in using Plain English and, when jargon is unavoidable, providing an explanation!”

Knowing what’s happening with the conveyancing transaction

Frettens keep clients up to date by email so that they are always aware of what is happening. Cheryl Phimister, Conveyancing Executive at Frettens, says “Much of the stress and frustration that clients can feel when they are moving house is when they don’t actually know what is happening. We email them everytime we receive documentation such as searches and correspondence from the other solicitor, and this is also copied to the agent, so they are kept in the loop too. We obviously contact them by phone or letter regularly when appropriate, but email is simple, fast and cost-effective. As conveyancers we do spend substantial time on the phone each day. This means clients can find it hard to speak to the right person everytime but our computerised system means that any of the team can answer most questions quickly and accurately. Reassurance over the phone about what something means or an update on the situation can be so important for clients!”

Recommended conveyancing solicitors

Kate Butler believes that the client’s trust in their agent is transferred to the firms that they recommend. She comments “In addtion to repeat instructions from existing clients a large number of our conveyancing instructions come from intermediary referrals, such as estate agents, mortgage brokers and IFAs. It is a great endorsement for us that so many of the agents we work with recommend us to their clients. Clients generally appreciate the opinion of their estate agent, broker or IFA and as they all work with so many different firms of solicitors their support of a particular firm is a good guide to the client. For us, we enjoy working regularly with the same agents, brokers and IFAs because we build a good working relationship with them and this in turn helps to speed up the transaction.”

Experienced conveyancing solicitors

All of our Senior Conveyancers have worked in conveyancing for many years and they are supported by a great team with years of relevant experience. Michelle Petersen says “We have worked in this industry for many years and have built up a wealth of knowledge. Our experience helps us to anticipate problems and deal with them before they arise, and because we are specialists our professional advice can be relied upon. Most importantly, we are a friendly bunch and sometimes that’s the best stress reliever going – knowing that the person you are dealing with knows what they are doing and that you can actually talk easily with them makes a big difference!”

Take the stress out of moving house?

Ian Fretten concludes by commenting “The process of buying and / or selling a property can never really be stress free, because of the enormous emotional attachment to homes and the large amounts of money involved. Basically, it’s very important to clients and therefore tension levels run high. However choosing the right advisors to help you though the process is crucial – clients rely heavily on their mortgage broker, estate agent and solicitor at this time, to get them through it quickly and efficiently. I am proud of our team, we complete many transactions in under 12 weeks (the national average) and have great feedback from clients. Our firm’s motto is ‘If it’s important to you, it’s important to us’ and I genuinely believe that all of our staff understand the importance of what they are doing and work very hard to make it happen for the client because that is important to them as well.”

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