Conveyancing is built on process. For your clients, it’s built on emotion. By the time a transaction starts to slow, most people have already spent weeks worrying; about timings, about money, about whether everything will fall apart at the last hurdle.
That anxiety doesn’t disappear. It builds, and sooner or later, it comes to you.
According to Landmark Information Group’s 2026 market research, the average transaction takes 123 days from instruction to completion. Conveyancers spend 41% of their working day chasing or being chased for updates. And 42% cite slow transaction times as their number one professional frustration.
Behind every one of those delays is a client who doesn’t fully understand what’s happening, why it’s taking so long, or whether it’s still going to complete at all. That uncertainty is where anxiety takes hold.
Mental Health Awareness Week feels like the right moment to address this directly; not with platitudes, but with something practical.
What the guide covers
We’ve put together a free whitepaper: Managing Client Anxiety Through a Transaction. It’s written for conveyancers who want to manage the human side of a transaction as competently as the legal side, without it consuming more of your day than it already does.
The guide covers five areas:
- Why delays hit clients so hard: and why the anxiety response is rational, not irrational
- What anxious clients actually need: which is often not what they say they need
- Communication habits that reduce anxiety without adding to your workload
- Looking after yourself: because practitioner wellbeing matters too, and it’s under-discussed in this industry
- A quick-reference checklist: a clean pull-out you can keep to hand or share with your team
This isn’t a therapy guide, and it isn’t a sales presentation. It’s the kind of thing you might work through with a colleague over coffee – practical, direct, and grounded in how conveyancing actually works.
Why we wrote it
Delays aren’t always avoidable. But the anxiety they create often is… or at least, it can be reduced significantly with the right communication habits and a clear head about what clients actually need from you.
That’s a conversation worth having, and Mental Health Awareness Week is a good prompt to have it.
Managing Client Anxiety Through a Transaction is free to access: no form to fill in, no follow-up sequence.
Uncertainty isn’t new to the housing market, but in 2026 it feels closer to the surface.
Affordability pressures, shifting mortgage conditions, and broader economic headwinds mean buyers and sellers are hesitating for longer and thinking harder before committing.
That hesitation has a knock-on effect for conveyancers. Transactions take longer to progress, confidence can fluctuate mid-process, and the risk of late-stage disruption increases.
In a recent podcast conversation, OneSearch Managing Director Liz Jarvis was joined by Millar & Bryce Managing Director Richard Hepburn to explore how that uncertainty is showing up in today’s market, and why one factor matters more than most when it comes to keeping transactions on track: clear, upfront information about the property.
Confidence is built early, or it isn’t built at all.
When buyers feel uncertain – about affordability, their finances, or the property itself – they pause. And when transactions pause, momentum is lost.
As Liz puts it: “The biggest thing that drives the market is how confident people feel.”
For conveyancers, this makes the early stages of a transaction critical. The more unknowns that sit unresolved at the start, the greater the chance they resurface later as friction, delay, or a deal-breaker. Upfront information helps remove that uncertainty sooner, before emotional and financial investment deepens.
A slower market doesn’t automatically mean weaker transactions.
An important distinction worth holding onto: a quieter market doesn’t automatically mean poorer outcomes. As Liz notes, “What we’re seeing now is fewer buyers, but they’re committed buyers.”
Those still active are people who need to move, not casual browsers. That means transactions are often more likely to complete, but only if unexpected issues don’t surface late in the journey.
Time is where risk creeps in.
Longer transaction timelines give uncertainty more room to grow. The more time that passes between offer and completion, the more chance there is for circumstances to change, priorities to shift, or doubts to set in. In England and Wales, where extended timelines are already the norm, that window of vulnerability is wider than most.
Why upfront information matters now.
Upfront information isn’t about adding friction at the start of a transaction. It’s about helping buyers and sellers make informed decisions sooner, so they commit with confidence rather than assumptions.
Liz summarises it simply: “It’s allowing people to get access to information around the property… before they move further into the process.”
When clarity comes late, trust erodes quickly. When it comes early, transactions tend to feel calmer, more predictable, and more resilient.
If keeping transactions on track matters to your firm this year, the full conversation with Liz and Richard is worth twenty-five minutes of your time.
👉 Watch or listen here:
The first quarter of the year is always a pressure test for conveyancing teams.
Instructions from January are hitting their critical middle stage, client patience is thinning, and the industry’s average instruction-to-completion time of 123 days means the calendar is already working against you.
But in 2026, there’s a sharper edge to that pressure. It isn’t just workload – it’s the compounding effect of unreliable information. Missing details, inconsistent datasets, and errors that should never have made it through create a different kind of drag: one that’s harder to plan for and harder to explain to clients.
At the core of most preventable delays lies a single, underappreciated factor: data integrity.
Conveyancers are absorbing the cost of poor data.
Research shows conveyancers now spend 41% of their working day following up on updates, correcting inconsistencies, or chasing missing details – all consequences of inaccurate or incomplete data reaching them in the first place.
That’s not a workflow problem. It’s a data problem presenting as a workflow problem.
When so much time is consumed fixing issues that shouldn’t exist, the knock-on effects are predictable: slower progress, more enquiries, frustrated clients, and a rising risk of transactions falling through. And even a single misallocated or incorrect data point can derail what should be a straightforward case.
Why this matters more than most realise.
Across the sector, Landmark research has identified the data challenges that consistently create friction for conveyancing firms: poor system integration and interoperability (cited by 37% of firms), security and compliance concerns (37%), legacy systems and limited IT bandwidth (36%), and inconsistent formats that make data difficult to reconcile.
Each of these feeds the same outcome: fragmented files, unexpected queries, and delays that compound across complex chains.
The rise of digital tools has brought genuine efficiencies – 78% of firms now use AI to assist fee earners – but technology is only as reliable as the information feeding it. Better tools with unreliable data still produce unreliable outcomes.
What conveyancers actually need.
The conveyancers who handle high-pressure periods most effectively aren’t necessarily those with the fastest turnaround times. They’re the ones who aren’t constantly firefighting.
What makes the difference, consistently, is information that arrives complete, accurate, and early enough to act on. The evidence backs this up: 73% of conveyancers say early insights give buyers more confidence, 69% say it speeds up the transaction overall, and 61% say it reduces the number of enquiries raised.
Clear, early data doesn’t add friction at the start of a transaction – it removes it from everywhere else.
When data goes wrong, the ripple is wide.
The consequences of poor-quality data rarely stay contained. A minor discrepancy caught late can collapse a deal. Incorrect property attributes introduce risk for buyers. Outdated environmental data can expose clients to liabilities they weren’t warned about. Extra enquiries lengthen timelines and increase administrative load. And throughout, the conveyancer’s professional reputation absorbs the strain.
In a market where clients expect clarity and estate agents are monitoring progress closely, even small data failures carry outsized consequences.
What a good data partnership looks like in practice.
The strongest advantage a search provider can offer in 2026 isn’t speed alone – it’s accuracy you can rely on, delivered early enough to change outcomes rather than just document them.
That means verified, consistently reliable datasets. It means reducing the time spent on avoidable administrative work. It means insights that support better client conversations, not ones that generate more questions. And it means acting as a genuine extension of the conveyancing team – not a detached supplier that creates extra steps.
With caseloads under pressure and timelines stretching, the difference between a partner and a vendor is whether they make your workload lighter or heavier.
For conveyancers navigating a demanding market, data integrity isn’t a technical concern sitting somewhere in the background – it’s the foundation every smooth transaction is built on.
The property market is showing resilience but global pressures and affordability constraints are hampering home moving activity.
Supply and early activity are rising, but it remains a buyer’s market, with listing volumes not translating into completed transactions yet.
Our parent company Landmark’s latest Residential Property Trends Report is now available, featuring the most recent data on listings, SSTC/SSTM activity, search orders and completion volumes across England, Wales and Scotland.
Our Q1 2026 analysis shows that early‑stage activity strengthened as pent‑up supply returned to the market following the hesitation surrounding the Autumn Budget. However, progression remains slow, with affordability pressures and process friction continuing to weigh on overall transaction volumes.
England & Wales
- Listing volumes in Q1 2026 were up 3% compared to Q1 2025.
- SSTC volumes in Q1 2026 were down 8% compared to Q1 2025.
- Search order volumes were down 1% in Q1 2026 vs Q1 2025.
- Completion volumes in Q1 2026 were down 18% vs Q1 2025.
View the report for the latest trends affecting the residential sector in Q1 2026.
There are over thirty World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom – from the Giant’s Causeway to Stonehenge, from Bath’s Georgian cityscape to the industrial valleys of South Wales.
These are places of outstanding universal value, recognised by UNESCO and protected by a framework that sits alongside – and sometimes above – the ordinary planning system. For anyone buying property within or near a World Heritage Site, understanding how that designation works in practice is an important part of making an informed decision.
What is a World Heritage Site?
A World Heritage Site is a place designated by UNESCO – the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – as having outstanding universal value to humanity. Designation is based on specific criteria covering natural, cultural and mixed heritage, and reflects a judgement that the site is of such significance that its protection is a matter of international as well as national importance.
In the UK, World Heritage Sites are nominated by the government and managed through a combination of national planning policy, local planning authority oversight, and site management plans drawn up by the relevant authorities. Unlike some other designations, World Heritage Site status isn’t a single boundary on a map – it typically comprises a core site area and a buffer zone that surrounds it.
What is the buffer zone?
The buffer zone is the area immediately surrounding the designated World Heritage Site itself. It isn’t part of the core designation, but it exists to protect the setting and integrity of the site from development that, while outside the boundary, could still harm its outstanding universal value.
Buffer zones vary significantly in size and character depending on the nature of the site. Around an urban World Heritage Site like Bath or Liverpool’s historic waterfront, the buffer zone may extend through densely developed residential and commercial areas. Around a landscape site like Stonehenge or the Lake District, it may cover a wide area of open countryside.
Planning applications within a buffer zone are assessed with particular attention to their potential impact on the World Heritage Site. Historic England is a statutory consultee for applications in or near World Heritage Sites, and local planning policies will typically set out how the setting of the site is to be protected.
What does this mean for property owners?
Owning a property within a World Heritage Site or its buffer zone doesn’t prevent development – but it adds a layer of scrutiny to the planning process that buyers should be aware of. The key practical implications include:
- Planning applications – proposals for extensions, new development or changes of use within or near a World Heritage Site will be assessed for their impact on the site’s outstanding universal value and its setting. Applications that are straightforward elsewhere may attract Historic England’s attention and additional conditions
- Permitted development restrictions – many World Heritage Sites and their buffer zones overlap with conservation areas, where permitted development rights are already significantly restricted. Even where they don’t, the policy framework around World Heritage Sites can influence what is and isn’t permissible without full planning consent
- Design expectations – where development is permitted, design standards are typically high. Materials, scale, massing and visual impact are all likely to be scrutinised with reference to the character and integrity of the designated site
- Tourism and visitor pressure – properties within World Heritage Sites, particularly those in rural or historic settings, can be affected by visitor footfall, management arrangements and restrictions on commercial use linked to the site’s management plan
How is World Heritage Site proximity identified?
The boundary of each World Heritage Site and its buffer zone is defined in the relevant site management plan, and should be reflected in the local planning authority’s local development plan. A CON29O optional enquiry can surface information held by the local authority about World Heritage Site designations affecting or near a property.
For buyers considering properties in areas associated with known World Heritage Sites – a Georgian townhouse in Bath, a rural property near Hadrian’s Wall, a home in the Cornish Mining Landscape – it’s worth confirming the precise position of both the core designation and the buffer zone before exchange.
Does World Heritage designation affect value?
The evidence on value impact is mixed and location -specific. In some contexts – Bath being the obvious example – World Heritage status is associated with a premium, reflecting the desirability of living in an internationally recognised historic environment. In others, the restrictions that come with the designation may be a factor that some buyers weigh carefully.
For buyers who value architectural character, historic setting and the protections that come with a carefully managed environment, a World Heritage Site location can be genuinely appealing. For buyers with ambitious development plans, it’s worth understanding the framework clearly before committing.
World Heritage designation is a mark of exceptional significance – but it’s also a planning consideration with real, practical consequences for property owners within and around the designated area. Knowing whether a property sits inside the core site, within the buffer zone, or simply near the boundary matters – because the implications differ across each. It’s the kind of detail that a CON29O enquiry is designed to surface, and exactly the kind of thing worth knowing before exchange.
Public footpaths are a much -loved feature of the English and Welsh countryside – but they don’t always stay where they started.
When development takes place, existing rights of way can be in the way of new buildings, roads or infrastructure. Section 257 of the Town and Country Planning Act provides the mechanism for diverting or extinguishing those paths as part of the planning process.
For buyers, understanding whether a footpath diversion has taken place – or is planned – near a property can matter more than they might expect. So, without any diversions, lets take a deep dive into the topic in five minutes:
What is a Section 257 diversion?
When a developer is granted planning permission for a scheme that affects an existing public right of way, they can apply to the local planning authority to have that path diverted or stopped up under Section 257 of the Town and Country Planning Act. Unlike other footpath diversion orders – which go through the highway authority – Section 257 orders are made by the local planning authority as part of the planning process, often running alongside the main planning consent.
The effect is to legally redirect a footpath from its recorded route on the definitive map to a new alignment that works around the development. The old route is extinguished. The new route, once the order is confirmed and the path is open, becomes the legal right of way.
Why does this matter for buyers?
A footpath diversion that hasn’t been properly completed can create a legal grey area. If a development has been built over an existing right of way but the diversion order hasn’t been confirmed and the new path hasn’t been opened, the original right of way technically remains in place – even if there’s now a building sitting on top of it.
For buyers, this can matter in several ways:
- Access rights – members of the public retain the legal right to use the original path until a diversion is properly confirmed, which can create an awkward situation where the theoretical right of access conflicts with the physical reality of a built development
- Title complications – where a diversion hasn’t been completed, title to land that was previously subject to the right of way may be encumbered until the order is finalised
- New path maintenance – once a diverted path is open, the new route is subject to the same public access rights as the original, and landowners have obligations in relation to its maintenance and condition
- Developer obligations – where a diversion order is part of a planning consent, the developer may have obligations to complete the new path before or alongside the development. Whether those obligations have been fulfilled is worth checking
How are Section 257 diversions identified?
Information about footpath diversion orders made under Section 257 can be held by the local planning authority as part of the planning history of a development site, and by the highway authority which maintains the definitive map of public rights of way. A CON29O optional enquiry covering public rights of way amendments can surface changes to the definitive map in the vicinity of a property.
Where a property is near a recent development – a new housing estate, a commercial scheme, or a road improvement – it’s worth asking whether any rights of way in the area have been subject to diversion orders as part of that development.
What’s the difference between a Section 257 order and other path diversions?
There are several legislative routes for diverting a public right of way. Section 119 of the Highways Act allows a highway authority to divert a path in the interests of the landowner or the public. Section 257 is specific to situations where the diversion is needed to facilitate development with planning permission. The practical difference for buyers is mainly about which authority holds the relevant records – though both types of diversion should ultimately appear on the definitive map once confirmed.
Footpath diversions are a routine part of how development happens alongside existing rights of way – but routine doesn’t mean automatic. A diversion order that hasn’t been completed, a new path that hasn’t been opened, or a change to the definitive map that hasn’t yet been recorded can all create complications that a careful conveyancer will want to identify and resolve. It’s one of a number of reasons why enquiries about rights of way near a property are worth raising, particularly where any recent development has taken place in the vicinity.