What do you do in your day-to-day job?

I am one of three Titles Team Leaders at PSS. My team deals with a mix of products ranging from our standard legal reports, remortgage legal reports, reports over properties that are still in the older Sasine Register which pre-dates the current Land Register, investigations into ownership of more complex areas of ground and now our plans products – Plans Reports and Deed Plans.

Along with the administration of the team, the majority of my own workload is the creation of Land Register compliant Deed Plans. This involves taking information from older deeds and transferring them on to an up-to-date OS map. These plans will then be submitted to the Registers of Scotland by our clients when they register a new title. I’m in a lucky position as I really like my work and the people I work with.

When did you start?

I was employed by a company as a titles searcher who specialised in volume remortgage transactions.  In 2012 we were approached by PSS who asked if we would be able to provide “white label” reports for them which they could provide to their clients as they had no searchers, other than Michael Tolland, of their own. It posed no issue for us as our clients were internal teams, so we were more than happy to take the work on. I remember the first time I met Michael when he attended our offices for a small training presentation I was asked to give, which he graciously sat through even though he probably knew most of it already, if he did, he never let on! The first report ever provided by PSS would have been completed by him or I.

In my previous employment I was a Senior Searcher for quite a few years and when I heard that PSS were looking for one, I had been considering that a change of environment might be a good idea anyway, so I called Michael for a chat and then I joined PSS in October 2019, and it was a decision that I haven’t regretted!

How have you progressed in your role since joining?

After a few years as a Senior Titles Searcher, I was asked if instead of focusing on legal reports, I’d like to try producing the new mapping products that we now offer. I was keen to try, as that’s an area that’s always interested me about the process up here in Scotland, so for the last couple of years that’s what I’ve been doing.

Coinciding with moving to mapping products, the chance to apply to be a Team Leader came up. I was lucky enough to be successful in getting that role.

Why do you like working at tmgroup?

Although the work may be similar to my previous employers, the workplace and its culture is not, PSS is a fantastic place to work, and I’m surrounded by a brilliant team here in Glasgow. The staff knowledge that’s been collected here under one roof by PSS in the last 12 years is truly amazing. The work/life balance is important to us here and it really feels as though PSS care about their staff more than I’ve experienced before. Being able to work from home has been a blessing due to saved commuting time. I’ve had the chance to spend much more time with my family than I would have, and I’m very grateful to PSS for that.

What do I do outside of work?

I have an amazing partner who herself is a lawyer with extensive conveyancing knowledge and experience. Together, we have two fantastic kids, a 13 year old girl and an 11 year old boy. I live in Ayrshire after moving out of Glasgow. I have a passing interest in hillwalking, often on the Isle of Arran. I am quite happy to be described as a geek, I have always been a bit of a gamer and have an interest in computers. I built my own last year.