Rob Hailstone, founder of Bold Legal Group, held the first roadshow for his Conveyancing Information Collective on 23rd September 2026 in Solihull, with 120 conveyancers expressing interest in joining or establishing regional satellites. The practitioner-led group has identified three initial targets: cutting unnecessary enquiries, resolving lender inconsistency on mortgagee protection clauses in leasehold transactions, and examining Modern Method of Auction practices. Membership is free and open to anyone in the home buying and selling process, according to Hailstone.
The question for conveyancers and agents is whether CIC can deliver operational fixes where trade bodies have issued guidance but failed to embed lasting change. The test will be whether the collective produces actionable standards within six months or becomes another networking exercise competing for practitioner time.
What CIC must deliver to matter
If this collective is to justify practitioner time, it needs to move beyond discussion and produce usable outputs. That means a standardised enquiry list that conveyancers can adopt without bilateral negotiation, or a lender matrix clarifying which institutions require mortgagee protection clauses and under what lease terms. The Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme, the Home Buying and Selling Group, and the Conveyancing Association's Protocol have all attempted to standardise practice. None have resolved the enquiry problem or persuaded lenders to harmonise requirements.
The mortgagee protection clause issue is particularly acute. Lenders apply different criteria to identical lease terms, forcing conveyancers to seek confirmation on a case-by-case basis even when the lease appears compliant. This creates a bottleneck in leasehold transactions, where agents and landlords report deals stalling or collapsing because a buyer's lender demands clause amendments that the freeholder refuses or delays. If CIC can secure agreement from UK Finance members on standardised thresholds, it would deliver measurable time and cost savings.
The Modern Method of Auction workstream is harder to assess. MMoA volumes grew significantly post-pandemic, but conveyancers report confusion over reservation fees and non-refundable deposits, with clients sometimes unaware they have committed to a binding contract. If CIC seeks to clarify disclosure requirements or establish voluntary standards, it risks stepping into regulated territory where the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team and the Advertising Standards Authority already have jurisdiction. The scope and authority of any CIC intervention here remains undefined.
The commercial read for vendors and agents
For proptech vendors, CIC's trajectory matters if it produces formal guidance or templates that require updates to case management systems. A standardised enquiry protocol would need embedding in workflow software. A lender matrix would require integration into compliance checks. If CIC gains traction and issues outputs endorsed by lenders or regulators, vendors face an adaptation cycle. If it remains a discussion forum, they can ignore it.
Estate agents operating in leasehold-heavy markets should monitor whether CIC secures lender engagement on mortgagee protection clauses. Transaction delays and aborted sales on leasehold properties impose real costs on agents through extended marketing periods and lost commission. Any standardisation that reduces lender-driven delays would improve conversion rates and shorten time to completion.
The risk is duplication and dilution. The conveyancing sector already has the Law Society, the CLC, the Conveyancing Association, the Home Buying and Selling Group, and the Conveyancing and Property Selling Evidence forum. None have resolved the enquiry or lender inconsistency problems at scale. Hailstone's claim that CIC is 'practitioner-led' and focused on 'workable operational improvements' implies existing bodies are not, but he has provided no evidence of formal partnerships, regulatory endorsement or commitments from lenders to engage with any proposed standards.
The 120 expressions of interest lack context. No breakdown of firm size, geographic spread or commitment level has been provided. Interest in attending a roadshow is not the same as willingness to implement new protocols or contribute to working groups. Regional satellites may materialise, but without a defined governance model or decision-making process, the collective risks fragmenting into localised discussion groups with no coordinating authority.