Relationships between conveyancers and estate agents have improved since the busy stamp duty-fuelled days of the pandemic, but it is the opposite for members of the public who are often more demanding “fuelled by the very buoyant property market”, according to Conveyancing foundation chairman Lloyd Davies.

Speaking during a webinar, which you can view below, hosted by the charity to mark Stress Awareness Month, Davies, who is also managing director of Convey Law, said: “Clients’ behaviour during the Pandemic was quite good in many respects. They were quite patient because they understood the problems we had. I think less so this year.

“It just seems that they are now very, very demanding which is putting a lot of pressure on our teams. That again is fuelled by the very buoyant property market. People are very impatient now because they know that house prices are going up and they may get gazumped so there is very little tolerance in the market which is putting a lot of pressure on all conveyancers.”

Meanwhile, Davies said that he believed the ‘Be Kind We Care’ campaign launched by the not-for-profit Conveyancing Foundation during the Pandemic, prompted by growing reports of aggressive professional behaviour in the property, conveyancing and legal sectors, had encouraged many working in those industries to consider and manage their dealings with each other to ensure more kindness:

He continued: “I believe that relationships with others in the property world like estate agents and introducers of business have become a lot better. They are not quite as aggressive and are far more understanding of our predicament as conveyancers which is a good thing. Of course, it’s also all down to supply and demand: if they are nasty to us, we don’t work for them! It’s quid pro quo!

“We do think that we are raising standards with ‘Be Kind We Care’ and I hope everyone can keep going in that respect. It is so important to be nice and pleasant to each other in terms of stress. A nasty comment can ruin someone’s day. I also believe that employers do understand that if they don’t treat their staff well, they will walk.”

Davies also said conveyancing was still very busy in the aftermath of the pandemic and living through a period of “peaks and troughs”.

He explained: “We are in a little bit of a situation in the conveyancing world. The industry has had a very busy and difficult time with people working from home but also the stresses within our environments with the SDLT deadlines which gave us false set of waves throughout last year leading up to September was hugely stressful.

“I don’t think they have quite gone away and certainly the volume of instructions coming through is quite considerable and managing capacity and the amount of work is an important factor. We had a dip in completions at the beginning of the year but we were back to a high at the end of last month. We are living through a series of peaks and troughs and we need a more level playing field!”