A four-strong real estate team from the Birmingham office of law firm Harrison Clark Rickerbys (hcr) have joined digital law firm arch.law to launch a new service that aims to disrupt the market for buy-to-let conveyancing.
Led by former hcr partner and head of Real Estate, Martin McQueen, arch.ia provide investment property acquisition services to UK and overseas investors in the UK investment and buy-to-let markets. The team - which also includes operations director Lindsey McQueen, Aura Persad, Ciara Morris and Rebecca Oxley - focuses on the volume acquisition of new-build residential property and has pioneered a new model known as ‘reverse plot sales’
Instead of acting for the developer of a new-build scheme, they act for the buyers – in some cases as many as 100 at a time – which enables them to exercise economies of scale and speeds up the process for both sides. It also enables arch.ia to get ‘under the skin’ of a development in a way that few residential conveyancers can achieve.
Martin McQueen says the move to arch.law will enable the team to further develop its offering:
“We are scaling up the national reach of the team to meet the increasing demand for new build investment property acting for the ultimate buyers of new build property on a volume basis. We enable economies to ensure each buyer receives a first-class service, but at a fraction of the cost. A key attraction for our team is the technology-enabled platforms arch.law provides together with a very attractive business model and way of working.”
arch.ia’s differentiated market offering provides clients with a complete digital onboarding process. This creates a real advantage for overseas investors in reducing delays whilst ensuring the compliance and regulatory due diligence is adhered to, particularly in relation to money laundering. For clients utilising the UK banking system arch.ia connect directly with their bank to effect quick exchanges.
Initially recommended by the property developer or sales agent, typically before a project has broken ground, arch.ia’s ultimate clients are the buyer investors. arch.ia are typically engaged on 50-unit upward projects with values ranging from £100,000 to £700,000 plus, and from houses through to studio apartments and penthouses.
“We act for the investor but understanding the developer, the project and their combined goals ensures our buy to let clients can purchase off plan, typically well within the developer’s exchange timescales. This enables arch.ia to stand out from our competitors as we identify and solve issues before the buyers – and often the developers – are even aware there was one,”
adds Martin McQueen.
This latest team acquisition brings together over 50 lawyers and advisors in the UK and Australia for arch.law with a core focus on providing leading edge technology with high quality lawyers delivering legal solutions differently for its clients.
Andrew Leaitherland, founder and CEO of arch.law adds:
“We’re delighted to welcome Martin and the new arch.ia team. We have taken a very traditional process of conveyancing for residential property investors and are delivering a different legal solution by combining great legal advisors with leading-edge technology solutions.”