Over the last three years our sector has faced challenging times. First, keeping businesses afloat when the housing market was brought to a complete stop. Then, serving clients effectively and meeting legal and regulatory requirements under pandemic restrictions. After that, we had the pressure of the stamp duty land tax (SDLT) holiday deadlines and all of that was on top of the pent-up demand for home-moving and the flight to the suburbs and country out of the cities.
Now, we face an uncertain outlook for the global economy.
However, what has remained consistent has been the need to ensure that firms operate in the best interests of their clients. Just like the other regulators in the legal sector, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) has in place controls that are before the delivery of the legal service, during the delivery of the legal service, and after the legal service has been delivered. In our case, the legal services we regulate are conveyancing and probate.
Prevention vs enforcement
There are essentially two sides to regulation, prevention and enforcement. Different regulators across different sectors take different approaches. At the CLC we take a preventative approach, reflecting determination to support innovation and growth while we maintain high standards of consumer protection. This approach, which we refer to as assisted compliance, allows us to help the entities we regulate to implement new ways to meet customer needs and grow their businesses. We strongly believe that helping businesses to understand how they can meet regulatory outcomes and not binding them into inflexible forms of compliance, is the best way of providing consumer protection and choice.
Our approach isn’t about simplifying the rules or expectations, it’s about helping regulated firms and individuals to meet their regulator’s expectations and the requirements of the law. In an ideal world, regulators would not be necessary to impose disciplinary action, following client harm actually having occurred, because the harm should be prevented. But sometimes action is necessary, and in those cases it is important that steps are taken quickly and decisively in order to manage the situation and protect consumers’ best interests.
Once we know that whatever breach has occurred, our next objective, wherever it’s possible, is to agree on a plan to bring that practice back into compliance. We always expect that plan to be completed within an agreed and generally quite a short, albeit realistic, timeframe. Where that isn’t achieved disciplinary action could follow.
Our approach to regulation is quite intensive, and even before practices are licensed, we have to be satisfied that they are going to achieve compliance from day one. New practices need to demonstrate that appropriate policies and procedures are being built, that the staff are being trained, and that everybody knows how their service delivery will meet our standards of consumer protection.
We look at the regulated community as a whole as well as at individual practices and lawyers. We have very constructive relationships with the practices that we regulate and the individual lawyers. We expect openness and candour so that we can make progress quickly when problems arise. If we don’t see progress, or if we don’t see good and open cooperation with the regulator, then very often, that’s when firms will find themselves going down the disciplinary route.
As the industry moves into yet another challenging period, firms will rely on their regulator more than ever to not only help guide them but to help them flourish. Such proactive engagement will support the innovation needed to propel the industry forward.
Stephen Ward, director of strategy and external relations, Council for Licensed Conveyancers
