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Conveyancing, updates and chasing
Conveyancing client update email template: the short, predictable update the Legal Ombudsman asks for, filled in from the stage
Pick the stage, who you are waiting on and the next update date, and get a four-paragraph client update with a file note, in the shape the Ombudsman recommends.
"Client care letter conveyancing" and "how to manage a small law firm" are typed by the partner; "why is my conveyancing taking so long" is typed by the client. The two meet in the update email, and the complaint statistics say firms are losing that meeting. This template writes the update from the stage of the matter, in the shape the Ombudsman recommends, for the fee earner to check and send.
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Conveyancing client update writer: the short, predictable update the Legal Ombudsman asks for, even when nothing has moved
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The four paragraphs
Where we are. One sentence naming the stage in plain words, and one saying whether that is normal. "Your searches are with the council and the water company; results take two to four weeks and nothing is held up at our end." A client who knows the stage stops ringing to find out.
What we did since the last update. Chased on Monday and Thursday; reviewed the replies; raised two further enquiries. The Landmark survey found conveyancers spend 43% of the day chasing or being chased, and the client never sees that work unless it is written down.
What happens next, and on whom it depends. The next step sits with the seller's solicitors, the lender, the council. Naming the party is not blame; it tells the client where to direct their own chasing if they want to, and it stops the fee earner being blamed for a delay that is not theirs. If no completion date is fixed, the template says so and why: a date given early is the commonest cause of disappointment.
AI staff and workflows for high-street solicitors. Starting with conveyancing client updates.See what we would set upWhen you will next hear from me. A date, and the promise that the update comes whether or not anything has changed. This is the line the Ombudsman's advice turns on: the complaint is rarely the delay itself, it is the silence during it.
Why the stage drives the wording
Each stage has its own normal timescale and its own holder. The template carries a sentence for each (searches, contract pack, enquiries raised, replies received, mortgage offer, report on title, exchange, completion, nothing new) so the fee earner does not rewrite the same explanation thirty times a week. The "nothing new" stage exists on purpose: it is the update most often skipped and the one the Ombudsman most wants sent.
The file note
The template prints a one-line file note with the stage, who is being waited on and the next update date, and a space for the supervising solicitor's initials. The note is the firm's evidence, when a complaint arrives, that the client was kept informed; the Ombudsman reads the file, not the inbox.
The regulated line
A draft is a draft. The fee earner reads it against the file, changes what the template could not know, and sends it from their own mailbox; the supervising solicitor's review is how the SRA's Code 3.5 duty to supervise is met, and the SRA's August 2026 warning notice on AI says the same about any tool's output. The template holds no client data after the page is closed and sends nothing itself.
Fewer updates by phone
The firms with the lowest complaint rates in this category are not the ones that send fewer updates; they are the ones whose updates arrive on a fixed day. A Thursday email that says "nothing new, chasing again Monday" costs two minutes and pre-empts the Friday phone call that costs fifteen. The chasing workflow guide sets out the fixed-day pattern; the file-opening checklist covers what the client care letter should have promised about updates in the first place.
An AI Matter Updater set up by Overlyft drafts this email for every live conveyancing file on its update day, from the case management system's stage and the last chaser sent, and puts it in the fee earner's drafts for review. This is general information, not legal advice.
Short answers from this page
How often should a conveyancer update a client?
On a fixed day each week, even when nothing has changed. The Legal Ombudsman took 647 residential conveyancing complaints in the third quarter of 2025/26, up 18% on the year and 36% of everything it handled, and its advice to firms was short, predictable updates. The average purchase now takes about 17 weeks, which is a long time to hear nothing.
Source: Legal Ombudsman quarterly data and guidance, read 1 October 2026
Where this comes from: Law Gazette, "Conveyancers should contact clients even if there are no updates" (2 April 2026, Legal Ombudsman figures and advice); Landmark Information Group survey of 100 conveyancers via Legal Futures (October 2024, 43% of the day spent chasing or being chased); read 2026-10-01. Tested in headless Edge 2026-10-01.
AEO Lookup editorial team
We write practical guides for people who run small UK firms, and we check every fact against its source on the date shown. Read how we review, or tell us if something has changed.
