Veronica Cowan puts the relationship between conveyancing solicitors & professional indemnity insurers under the spotlight
- Insurers are exercising caution when dealing with conveyancing law firms, a trend heightened by Dreamvar.
Conveyancing is the riskiest area for professional indemnity insurers (PII), and those conveyancing lawyers yet to renew will be burnishing their risk profiles in the wake of Dreamvar v Mishcon de Reya and ors [2018] EWCA Civ 1082. In Dreamvar, the Court of Appeal spread the loss, sustained after a fraudster pretended to sell a property, between the solicitors for both buyer and seller because both were insured. Consequently, conveyancers’ PIIs may well want to see risk management measures in place when conducting due diligence on sellers, if they didn’t already.
Observers note that questions asked by purchasers’ solicitors, on property information forms and similar documents, have already become more intrusive and searching in recent times. ‘We have seen an increase in the number of enquiries raised by buyers’ solicitors and there is definitely an increased reliance on the seller’s
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