Part 5 of the 5 part series: Future-Proofing Your Conveyancing Practice

Imagine it’s Thursday afternoon. You have seven settlements scheduled for Friday. Suddenly your server goes down. Or your cloud storage is locked by ransomware. Or staff can’t access matter files.

For many conveyancing firms, this isn’t a hypothetical – it has already happened.

And when it does, the financial and reputational consequences can be catastrophic.

Why Conveyancing Firms are Particularly Vulnerable

Settlement Deadlines are Inflexible

If you miss settlement due to an IT failure, the professional liability exposure can be huge.

Firms Often Rely on Simple Cloud Syncing

It’s critical to understand that OneDrive / SharePoint / DropBox etc are file stores – they are not backups (see below).

Long Term Retention Requirements

Under AML/CTF legislation you will soon need secure, 7-year retention of identity and transaction records.

Increasing Targeting of Small Professional Firms

Cybercriminals know how dependent conveyancers are on timely access to systems, and they’re geared up to take advantage of that fact.

The “OneDrive Myth”

Many firms believe OneDrive = backup. It is not, for the following reasons (amongst others):

• If ransomware encrypts files, OneDrive syncs the encryption
• If someone deletes a folder, OneDrive syncs the deletion
• If an account is compromised, the attacker can wipe everything

A real backup is:

• Offsite
• Immutable (can’t be changed once it’s been created, so is impervious to ransomware encryption)
• Versioned
• Encrypted
• Disconnected from the main system

Signs Your Backup Solution is not Good Enough

Check for these warning signs and be ruthless with yourself in response to them:

• Backups are stored on the same server as the files they’re backing up
• Backups are not encrypted
• There’s no verification of backups, or testing of the restore process
• You can’t restore to a specific date
• You don’t have immutable backup version
• You can’t recover if your Microsoft account is compromised

Modern Disaster Recovery for Conveyancers

A reliable disaster recovery (DR) strategy should include:

• Immutable backups
  • Allowing recovery even if ransomware strikes
• Offsite encrypted storage
  • Preventing total loss if your primary environment is compromised
• RPO/RTO targets that match settlement risks
  • RPO (Recovery Point Objective): How much data can you afford to lose?
  • RTO (Recovery Time Objective): How quickly must you be back online (or to put it another way, how much downtime can you afford?)
• Automatic daily verification
  • This ensures recoverability at all times, and will highlight any issues if and when they occur
• Full-system recovery capabilities
  • Not just files – entire servers or cloud environments

The AML/CTF Connection

Aside from all of this being good practice to protect your business, from mid-2026 regulators will expect (and require):

• Secure storage of client ID documents
• Integrity of records for 7+ years
• Protection from tampering or data loss
• Ability to provide evidence during audits

A proper backup and recovery strategy is essential for compliance.

Final Thoughts

Many conveyancing firms only discover their backup weaknesses after a disaster – and by then it’s too late.

A modern, well tested backup and disaster recovery strategy is one of the most cost-effective ways to protect your practice, your clients, and your reputation.

We offer a Backup & Recovery Risk Report tailored for conveyancers to identify gaps before they become emergencies. Contact us to find out more.