AI coworker

Conveyancing updates for a small Scottish law firm

In a residential purchase or sale, the legal work is not what fills most of the week. What fills it is the work around the file: a client asking where things have got to, a Home Report or titles still outstanding, a survey or mortgage offer that has not been chased, a qualified acceptance sitting unanswered, or a date of entry that has not been confirmed. After settlement, there is another question waiting — whether the application has gone to Registers of Scotland, and what usually happens next.

None of those updates is difficult. Together they keep the fee-earner who should be dealing with the titles, or the missives, on the chase instead.

Lorework is an AI coworker for that work. It works through the web systems you already use, on its own computer. The wider coworker model for a Scottish firm is set out on the solicitors page. Identity checks, source-of-funds collection and the terms of business letter sit on the client intake page and are not repeated at length here. This page is about keeping the conveyancing file, and the client, moving after the matter is open.

Book a 30-minute demo

Instruction, the Home Report and the titles

The file starts with an instruction. Before an offer goes in, the buyer will usually need the Home Report, and both sides will need the titles in view.

mygov.scot describes the Home Report as a document in three parts: a single survey and valuation, a property questionnaire, and an energy report. If it is public knowledge that the house is for sale, it should have a Home Report. A seller or selling agent must provide it within nine days of a request. If they do not, the would-be buyer can contact the local council's trading standards service. Some types of property do not need a Home Report — including certain new-build and off-plan sales — but the seller must still provide an Energy Performance Certificate. The Law Society of Scotland's glossary uses the same three-part description, and defines titles, or title deeds, as the documentation of ownership.

The professional work — reading the report, advising on the titles, deciding whether a specialist report is needed — stays with the solicitor. The admin is the request that has not gone out, the document that has not come back, and the short note to the client that it is now on the file.

Offers, missives and the duty not to delay

mygov.scot sets out the usual path. If the buyer is happy with the Home Report, their solicitor formally notes interest with the seller. If several people note interest, the seller may set a closing date for offers. A formal offer is a letter from the solicitor. If the seller is willing to proceed, their solicitor sends a qualified acceptance — an acceptance subject to conditions. The solicitors then exchange further letters negotiating those conditions. Those letters are the missives. Once the terms are agreed, there is a binding contract.

The Society's glossary defines missives as the contract between buyer and seller — the offer, the qualified acceptance, and any subsequent formal letters exchanged by their solicitors — and "concluding missives" as putting that contract in place. Its guidance on avoidance of delay in concluding missives (last reviewed 16 March 2022) says it is common, in residential transactions, for missives to remain unconcluded until shortly before or even at the date of entry. Solicitors acting for purchasers and sellers nonetheless have a professional duty to conclude missives without undue delay, and clients should be advised of that duty and of the consequences. If there is a delay, the reason should be disclosed to the solicitor on the other side as soon as reasonably practicable. Typical reasons on a purchaser's side include the client's own house not yet being sold, a survey or specialist report, or funding still to be confirmed.

Lorework does not draft or conclude missives, and it does not decide what must be disclosed. The admin is the unanswered qualified acceptance, the reminder that a point is still outstanding, and the file note that the reason for a delay has been passed on, where the solicitor has instructed that.

Surveyor and lender chasing, then settlement and the keys

The same pattern continues once an offer is in. A specialist report may still be outstanding. A mortgage offer, or the standard security, may still be awaited. The date of entry — the date specified in the contract for completion, in the Society's glossary — may still need confirming with the client and the other side.

Settlement, in official terms, is when the buyer gets possession, usually on the agreed date of entry. The Society's glossary describes it as completion of the transaction, when the price is paid in return for the title deeds and the keys. The disposition is the title deed that transfers the property. After that, the title still has to be registered. Registers of Scotland describes four stages for a Land Register application: a basic examination (a one-day stage), categorisation as standard or complex, a plans examination, and a legal requirements check. Standard applications are usually completed within 35 working days. Complex applications can take up to six months. Applications can be rejected at any stage. When the application completes, Registers of Scotland sends an email with a link to the title sheet and an extract of the cadastral map.

Those official timescales are useful for a factual update to the client once an application has gone in. They are not a promise the firm can make, and this page does not invent a shorter one.

Routine client status updates

Between those formal steps, the question the office hears most often is a simple one: where has the file got to? A short, accurate status note — interest has been noted, the offer has gone in, a survey or lender point is still outstanding, missives have concluded, the date of entry is confirmed, settlement has taken place, the application is with Registers of Scotland — is what stops that question landing on the fee-earner's desk every time.

The firm already knows the answer. The bottleneck is getting it to the client, in the firm's usual words, without someone having to type it from scratch.

What an AI coworker does on conveyancing updates

Your team works with Lorework in chat. You can require approval before it writes or submits anything. Follow-ups, checks and reminders can run as scheduled, recurring tasks.

Typical starting bottlenecks on a conveyancing file are:

Requesting the Home Report or titles, and following up if they have not come back.
Confirming that interest has been noted, or that an offer or qualified acceptance has gone out.
Chasing a survey, specialist report or mortgage offer that is holding up missives.
A short status note to the client at the usual points on the file, including once missives have concluded and once a date of entry is confirmed.
After settlement, a note that the application has gone to Registers of Scotland, using the official stages and usual timescales rather than a promise of a date.
Recurring checks, such as a weekly sweep of files with no recent client update, or with a survey or lender point still outstanding.

Lorework does not give legal advice, draft or conclude missives, submit applications to Registers of Scotland, complete customer due diligence, or make a professional judgement on a file. Those stay with the firm. It takes on the admin around that work.

How you teach it the way your firm works

You do not have to write a technical specification. Your team teaches Lorework your procedures and templates, in chat, the way you would brief a new starter — a status update after a qualified acceptance, a chase to a surveyor or lender, a note once an application has gone to Registers of Scotland. You can ask it in chat, or set recurring work on a schedule.

It works in the web systems you already use, on its own computer. There is no need to rip out the case-management system you already run.

How a firm starts

Start with one routine job, such as the weekly sweep of files with no recent client update, or the chase on outstanding surveys, not a wholesale change of tools. Add the procedures and templates Lorework should follow. A 30-minute demo is enough to walk through that job and see how Lorework would take it on.

Book a 30-minute demo

Questions

What can an AI coworker do with conveyancing updates in a Scottish firm?

It takes on repetitive admin such as following up a Home Report or titles, chasing a survey or mortgage offer, and sending a short status note to the client at the usual points on the file, including after settlement when an application has gone to Registers of Scotland. Your team teaches it those processes by chat. It does not give legal advice or draft missives.

Can it draft missives, register a title, or complete ID checks?

No. Lorework is for the admin around the matter, not for legal drafting, not for submitting applications to Registers of Scotland, and not for completing or approving customer due diligence. Identity and source-of-funds collection at the start of the matter are covered on the client intake page. The firm remains responsible for that work.

Is this the same process as in England and Wales?

No. This page is about Scottish residential conveyancing. The contract is the missives, settlement is when the price is paid in return for the titles and the keys, and the title is then registered with Registers of Scotland. The Law Society of Scotland, not the Solicitors Regulation Authority, is the professional body for a Scottish firm.

What official timescales can a client be given after an application goes to Registers of Scotland?

Registers of Scotland says a basic examination is a one-day stage, standard applications are usually completed within 35 working days, and complex applications can take up to six months. Applications can be rejected at any stage. Those are official usual timescales, not a date the firm can promise.

Does a Home Report always have to be provided?

For most homes that are clearly on the market, mygov.scot says a seller or selling agent must provide the Home Report within nine days of a request. Some types of property are excepted, but an Energy Performance Certificate must still be given. The solicitor advises on the particular file. Lorework can take on the request and the follow-up.

How does a firm start?

Start with one routine job, such as the weekly sweep of files with no recent client update, or the chase on outstanding surveys, not a change of systems. A 30-minute demo is enough to walk through that job and see how Lorework would take it on.