A day in the life of a conveyancer

If you’ve ever wondered what you’re paying for when you instruct a conveyancing solicitor, wonder no longer! In this blog, Katharina Vidojevic, a Conveyancing Solicitor specialising in shared ownership matters, shares a typical – and very busy! – day in her life as she looks after her clients’ various property transactions.

8.30am

I like to get into the office early. I catch up on my emails from last night and make myself a cup of coffee. I then make my to-do list for the day, prioritising my most urgent jobs.

9am

I have some completions to deal with this morning, which I try to get over the line quickly and efficiently so that my clients can get on with moving into their new home. I also need to make sure that all the post-completion formalities are complied with, so I am prioritising this for the morning. 

9:45am

Between completions, I quickly review a title with potential access issues. I want to know more about this so I carry out some research and discuss the issue with a colleague. I email the seller’s solicitors with my enquiries and contact my client to let them know I’m on top of things and actively seeking a solution.

11am

Myself and my colleague in our Lease Enfranchisement department, Salvatore Amico, visit a local estate agency to provide a training seminar on key issues to look out for in the lease extension process. I also give a short talk about the shared ownership scheme and how it works.

I really enjoy working with other businesses in our community, it’s a great feeling to be able to support other local companies and I always feel we can learn so much from each other. 

1pm

When I get back from the meeting, I meet with a few of my colleagues and off we go for a short lunchtime walk. As a member of our Social Wellbeing Committee, part of my role is to ensure everyone’s taking healthy breaks and we are so lucky with the location of our offices. We have been able to do some lovely scenic routes, including a riverside walk from our Hertford office!

1.30pm

When we get back, I send out an email organising our next office Book Club meet. I also see that I’ve received an invite from a local Sixth Form college to attend a careers event and arrange a presentation for their students about legal work. I will definitely be attending so I RSVP and pop a note in my calendar.

2pm

I receive some enquiries relating to a client’s purchase, which I review and respond to. I need my client’s input on some of the enquiries, so I write them an email outlining the enquiries (with helpful comments to help them decipher some of the confusing terminology) and send a holding email to the seller’s solicitor telling them I’m awaiting my client’s responses.

3pm

I join a training session on the latest Building Safety Act developments. It’s absolutely vital that our conveyancers stay on top of all the latest legislative changes so that we can provide the most up-to-date legal advice for our clients. As a firm, we’re currently updating our policies and procedures to reflect the new developments. 

4pm

I deal with a last-minute exchange of contracts for a client who was eager to get their purchase over the line and set in stone. I quickly expedited the file and took everyone’s authority to proceed, resulting in a very happy client who finally had some security regarding their completion date!

4:45pm

Mortgage lenders seem to be forever changing their requirements, so I check on behalf of one of my clients to make doubly sure that we’ve complied with everything we need to.

5pm

Towards the end of each day, I always spend a few minutes getting myself prepared for tomorrow, reviewing my meetings and seeing whether there are any urgent matters I’ll need to prioritise. I update my to-do list so that I know where to start in the morning.

5:20pm

Home time! As always, the day has absolutely flown by. I always find that the variety of my job keeps things interesting and makes the hours go by so quickly – and I wouldn’t change a thing.