Barclays Friday Chaos – Well Done All!
New Managing Director of Convey Law, Janine Wellington, commented on the Barclays outage and the industry reaction last Friday.
So many property transactions would have been affected by the Barclays banking outage on Friday 30th January 2025. It became a day of chaos, upset and a reality check of the importance of relying on the banking system in a conveyancing transaction.
Barclays started to incur problems at approximately 10.30am last Friday it appears, and whatever the problem was, it wasn’t fully fixed until Sunday 2nd February 2025. Monies were stuck in systems; clients were waiting in removal vans and the success of property chains were hopelessly at the peril of the banking system…or a great Conveyancer or two it seems!
When matters are outside our control, as Conveyancers, we must assess risk and do the lawyering, using the law and tools available to us. What was great on Friday was that the vast majority of our fellow Conveyancers reacted immediately and appropriately, and in their clients’ best interests, and organised their occupation of their new properties, pending the arrival of funds.
I was surprised to hear that a few Conveyancers were unwilling to move clients into their new homes using the Standard Conditions of Sale 5th Edition. Clause 5.2 allows for early occupation, on a licensee basis, pending completion on the terms set out within that clause.
I have used Clause 5.2 confidently and successfully (perhaps with the addition of a legal undertaking here and there) on many such occasions during my conveyancing career. The clause covers what is needed to protect the parties to the contract and allows for immediate occupation of the property in such circumstances.
It was truly inspiring to see the industry come together to ensure that a banking glitch did not spoil the moving day experience for our clients and cause huge inconvenience, upset and additional costs. I dare say that Barclays will have a very large compensation bill to pay for late completions, and in support of those few Conveyancers who didn’t use Clause 5.2 for their clients or their purchasers.
Let’s hope that, should (or ‘when’) a banking system fails our conveyancing transaction next, we once again all pull together, use our legal heads, and provide immediate, practical short-term remedies for our clients – Clause 5.2! Well done everybody and thank you for your wonderful support on such a difficult conveyancing day!
February 7, 2025