Understanding climate risks in property transactions with Andy Crawshaw

Navigating the complexities of property transactions can be daunting, especially with the growing concerns about climate-related risks. To shed light on these issues, Strategic Account Manager, Andy Crawshaw, sat down with InfoTrack AU to discuss our innovative ClimateIndex™ Report. This tool is designed to aid legal professionals in New South Wales in understanding and managing these risks. 

Tell us a little about yourself, and your experience at Groundsure.

I’m a proud Yorkshireman but I’ve lived in Brighton, on the South Coast of England for 15 years or so. Now, I’m living in Sydney to understand how we can better help homebuyers and legal professionals with the work that we do. I’ve been with Groundsure for 11 years and that longevity should give you an idea of what a great place it is to work, with great teams and people to work with. We have always been at the forefront of innovation in the UK market, and we never rest on our laurels or take our success for granted – and now we’re bringing that mentality to Australia particularly, New South Wales.

We continually strive to offer the best products and services to our clients, with the focus to make theirs, and their clients’ lives easier. We are in the business of helping people make informed decisions on what will most likely be the largest financial outlay of their lives. We pride ourselves on the strong relationships we’ve made along the way, which have played a large part in the success of our business.

Can you provide an overview of Groundsure’s ClimateIndex™ Report and its significance for legal professionals, particularly conveyancers and property lawyers?

ClimateIndex™ is a report on current and future climate related risks in New South Wales. The report identifies three key physical risks to land and property purchases in the State – Flood, Coastal Erosion and Bushfires. And not just for the present day, we look at how those risks might escalate in the next 5 and 30-year time periods. ClimateIndex™ has been designed to ensure legal professionals are climate compliance ready. It means that there is now a clear, practical, and reasonable step which legal professionals can take to discharge their duty of care in respect of such risks. It also means that legal professionals can now advise their clients on future risks which may not only cause physical damage to a property, but also give rise to transition effects, such as having a material impact on the ability to insure or mortgage the property in the medium to long term. In turn, this could affect its future resale value – something that potential property purchasers care greatly about.

What sets the ClimateIndex™ Report apart from other similar reports or assessments available in the market?

ClimateIndex™ is unique in the market now, though following on from the New South Wales Law Society guidance on climate, we expect that to change very quickly. There are some products out there that focus on the individual perils separately, and of course there’s the reports you can get from the relevant local council. However, there isn’t anything available that’s property specific, with everything all in one place, using the level of data and interpretation we use at Groundsure.

To give one example how comprehensive the data we use is, the Bushfire section of our report is an amalgamation of data from NSW Rural Fire Service, The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), NASA via Global Hydrometeorology Resource Center (GHRC), Geoscience Australia, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service/Department of Planning and Environment and the NSW Department of Planning and Environment/NSW Rural Fire Service. We take what we do very seriously and it’s vital that the information we have in our products is correct and reliable.

In what ways can legal professionals integrate the insights from the ClimateIndex™ Report into their property matters?

After purchasing a ClimateIndex™ report, it’s a case of the legal professional passing this onto their client and advising them to look through the results. We understand that lawyers and conveyancers might not be experts on climate change and the environmental risks that come with it. So, if their clients have any questions about any aspect of the report, they can contact Groundsure directly (using the contact details on the bottom of each page of the report) and we’ll happily go through the findings with them.

Looking ahead, what developments or enhancements can we expect from Groundsure in terms of climate risk assessment tools or solutions for legal professionals?

One of my goals of moving to Australia is to understand the needs and wants of legal professionals, conveyancers, and homebuyers. Are there any environmental risks that people would like more details on? What sort of information or data are clients asking their legal professionals about?

We’re continually looking into adding value to, and enhancing, our products but we prefer to make that relevant to what clients want, as opposed to what we think they might want. So, it will be interesting to talk to legal professionals and get a better understanding of how we can answer some of the questions they are asked and ultimately, make their lives easier.

What are your plans now that you are settled in?

One of my main objectives is to get an understanding of the feeling around the New South Wales Law Society Guidance on climate change and how lawyers and conveyancers are responding to it. I’m really looking forward to meeting as many conveyancers and property lawyers as possible to get their views around this, and for me to show how we can help with our ClimateIndex™ product, as well as offering training around the guidance and their duty of care. It’s also always great to get the end clients feedback on what we’re doing, so we can feed that into our product development and evolution.

What’s your take on the NSW climate guidance and why property lawyers and conveyancers should care about it?

The guidance is both very welcome and quite daunting. Welcome in the sense that property professionals always appreciate direction on what they should be looking into and what the potential risks to them are if they don’t. And daunting because no one ever really likes change. One piece of feedback we heard a lot in the UK was “we’re not climate experts, so how can I advise my clients on the potential risks?”. Our response was always to let them know that’s where Groundsure comes in. Let us deal with the reporting side of the guidance through our report and if their clients have any questions about it, they can contact us directly and we will assist them.

At the end of the day, Australia is on the frontline of the climate crisis, and this is fundamentally changing our lives, communities, and businesses. It has gone beyond being a fringe, scientific discussion to one that could become existential or overwhelm people’s livelihoods. We are already familiar with the catastrophic flooding and bushfires in recent years, but the scale of Australian real estate being affected, and the financial losses, are huge.

Homebuyers need a simple heads up on these risks before they complete on what are high value property assets. The reality is that properties in New South Wales are at risk of significant climate related risks and if this happens, who are the clients going to come asking questions of? The one thing I will ask of anyone reading this is – if you were buying a property in New South Wales, and you knew the ClimateIndex™ report was available, would you purchase one? I think everyone would answer ‘yes’.

If you’re a legal professional involved in property transactions in New South Wales, don’t wait to get ahead of climate risks. Book a demonstration to learn more about the ClimateIndex™ Report and how it can help you provide the best advice and service to your clients.