How to choose a conveyancer: the checks that matter

How to choose a conveyancer: start with who regulates them

The first step in choosing a conveyancer is knowing who stands behind them. Conveyancing can be done by a solicitor, a licensed conveyancer or a legal executive, and they are not all regulated by the same body. Solicitors and the firms they work in are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Licensed conveyancers are regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers. Both routes are legitimate, but the regulators, compensation arrangements and some regulatory processes differ, so it is worth knowing which one you are dealing with.

One of the most useful checks is the SRA’s public register, which confirms whether a solicitor or firm is authorised and records published regulatory decisions. If a firm or an individual has been fined, rebuked or made subject to conditions, that appears there. So does the most serious outcome of all: an intervention, where the SRA closes a firm and takes control of its files and client money.

None of that is hidden, but you have to know to look. A clean register entry is reassuring, but it should be considered alongside experience, communication and pricing. Recent findings about client money or accounts are worth weighing carefully.

Compare prices properly, because they must be published

Most people ring round for quotes. Fewer know that many firms providing residential conveyancing to individuals are required under the SRA Transparency Rules to publish price information already.

Under the SRA Transparency Rules, firms and freelance solicitors that publish, as part of their usual business, that they offer residential conveyancing to individuals must publish price information on their website. That covers freehold and leasehold sale and purchase, mortgages and remortgages. It has to be in a prominent place, accessible and easy to find, and firms without a website must provide it on request. Firms are also not permitted to make you hand over detailed personal information before you can see the pricing.

The SRA checks this, and has taken enforcement action against firms that failed to comply with the Transparency Rules.

Two practical points when comparing. First, look for what is excluded: search fees, Land Registry fees and Stamp Duty are disbursements and sit on top of the firm’s own charge, so a low headline fee tells you little on its own. Second, ask what triggers an extra charge. Leasehold work, a new build, a shared ownership scheme or a gifted deposit commonly carry supplements, and the honest firms list them.

If a firm offering conveyancing to the public has no pricing on its website at all, that is a small signal about how it handles its obligations generally.

Check the lender panel before you instruct

If you are buying with a mortgage, your lender needs its own legal work done, and it will only let firms on its approved panel do it. If your chosen firm is not on the panel for your lender, the lender instructs a separate firm and you usually pay for both.

This is the single most expensive avoidable mistake in choosing a conveyancer, and it takes one phone call to prevent. Ask the firm directly whether it is on the panel for your specific lender, not whether it is on panels generally.

Ask whether the firm uses separate representation if panel membership changes. Some lenders permit separate representation, while others require you to instruct a panel firm. Understanding this before you instruct can help avoid unexpected costs or delays.

Ask who actually does the work

The name on the letterhead is often not the person handling your file. That is not necessarily a problem, since experienced paralegals and legal executives do a great deal of competent conveyancing, but you are entitled to know.

Worth asking before you instruct:

• Who will handle the file day to day, what their role is, and who supervises them
• How many matters they typically handle at once
• How often you will get an update, and by what method
• Who covers the file during holidays or illness

Communication is the most common source of complaint in conveyancing, and it is the thing a quote comparison never captures.

Check whether the firm holds the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) accreditation. CQS is a recognised quality standard for residential conveyancing and is accepted by many mortgage lenders, although it is not a guarantee of service quality.

Know what protects you if it goes wrong

Regulated firms carry compulsory professional indemnity insurance, which covers negligence. That is one reason to be cautious about unregulated providers offering to handle a transaction cheaply.

If you are unhappy with the service, complain to the firm first. Every regulated firm must have a complaints procedure and must tell you about it. If the firm issues its final response, or eight weeks pass without resolving the complaint, you can usually refer it to the Legal Ombudsman, which is free to use. There are time limits, so it is worth acting rather than waiting.

If money is lost because of dishonesty, that is a different route. The SRA Compensation Fund may compensate clients in certain cases involving dishonesty or failure to account, but it is discretionary and operates as a fund of last resort.

One warning worth taking seriously: conveyancing is the transaction fraudsters target most, usually by intercepting emails and sending fake bank details near completion. Agree with your firm at the outset how payment details will be confirmed, and always verify any change of account details by telephoning a number you already had, never one supplied in the email itself.

Where reviews and recommendations fit

Reviews are worth reading, and independent review sites are more useful than testimonials selected by the firm for its own website. A recommendation from someone who recently completed a similar transaction is better still, because you can ask the follow-up questions a star rating cannot answer: did they return calls, did the estimate hold, did anything go wrong and how was it handled.

But treat reviews as one input among several. A firm with warm reviews and a recent regulatory finding about client account is a different proposition from a firm with warm reviews and a clean record, and only one of those facts appears on a review site.