The Law Society has warned conveyancers not to panic as the property market stagnates, but to take action to ‘trim’ themselves down.

Statistics from the Council of Mortgage Lenders show the number of mortgage transactions in the first quarter of this year was down by 41% on 2007 (from 237,600 to 140,800), which gives a stark indication of the overall decline in the housing market.

Paul Marsh, Law Society Vice-President and chairman of its ­­­e-conveyancing task force, said: ‘Those firms which are well established and with good foundations and a broad base will find things tricky, but it will be no different from what they’ve seen in past years.

‘Firms facing serious problems are those that have expanded on the back of the froth of the housing boom and growth of the referral market.’

He said some firms were closing departments or making redundancies, but advised: ‘There’s no need to panic, but take action to make sure you’re trim for the next 12 months.’

Marsh said conveyancers needed to look to build e-conveyancing solutions into their practices to reduce costs and improve efficiency.

Denis Cameron, a member of the Society’s property section executive, said: ‘There will be casualties, but it’s not all doom and gloom, and people should use this slow time to gear ­themselves up for changes.’

Edward Goldsmith, chairman of the Direct Conveyancing Association, said that, while the market was challenging, it was still big and presented opportunities for the more entrepreneurial firms.

Richard Barnett, chairman of the Law Society land law and conveyancing committee and senior partner of volume ­conveyancers Barnetts, said firms should adopt leaner models and look at ways of working together.

Barnetts is offering an outsourcing solution to firms that have downsized or closed their property departments, but still want to look after the conveyancing needs of their clients. ‘It’s not competition, but collaboration,’ he stressed.