We hope you and your family are keeping safe and well. We wanted again to reach out, as we have done throughout the pandemic, just to give an update particularly in light of recent amendments to the restriction levels.

Our offices are now in Level 4 however, we do not anticipate that this should result in any significant change to the way we deal with anything on your behalf. As has been the case for some time now, our staff are largely working remotely and will continue to do so in order to ensure the safety of both yourself and our staff. We ask that you do not attend at our offices without prior arrangement and appointment. In line with the current guidance, they are not open to members of the public but we will ensure that our essential services continue to be provided.

Courts / Tribunals

More widely we are experiencing that the Courts and Tribunals are beginning to get back on track but there is significant backlogs because of the period of time they were closed. Our experience is that the time to process cases is variable dependent on the Court or Tribunal involved though a large number of cases are now taking place remotely via video conference.

Conveyancing

There was previously a significant issue in relation to the buying/selling of houses caused by the Registers of Scotland having been shut entirely however, they have now been reopened for some time and are processing matters so your purchase or sale ought not to be affected.

Power of Attorney

One area that continues to experience significant delay is the processing of Powers of Attorney. The Office of the Public Guardian (who are the body that all POA’s must be registered with) published their last update on 24th November confirming that they were processing electronically submitted applications received on 25th March 2020 and postal submissions received on 3rd March 2020. Clearly this is a cause for concern but, regrettably, outwith our control. There are measures that, in the event of urgency or absolute need, that such applications can be expedited and, if you think that applies to your case, please contact your Case Manager to discuss.

December

Moving in to December and festive period it will be different for us all. We’d like to give you advance notice that we want to recognise the hard work and dedication of our staff and so will be closing early at 1pm on 11th December for a ‘remote Christmas party’. It may not be the same as years gone by, or those to come, but we hope to still be able to share some festive cheer amongst our Team. Please be assured we will be back and ready to assist one and all as of Monday 14th December.

Contacting Us

Finally, we are always striving to make things as easy as possible for you our clients and we continue to embrace any assistance technology can give us. All of our team remain contactable via email, phone, Zoom or Microsoft Teams as well as the more traditional ‘snail mail’.

Online Payments

A further technological advance that we recently have introduced is the facility to make secure online payment directly via our website or mobile site. The button can be found at the top of the main pages or, for ease, the link can be found here.

As ever, we welcome any thoughts from you on how you find our service in these unusual times and what more we can do to assist you.