Fees and charges always play a massive role in the pro-vision of any service or product, particularly in the housing market where there are multiple associated costs from a variety of sources. No one can deny that buying a home is expensive.

I suspect, however — and advisers may tell me otherwise — that, when it comes to the conveyancing part of the transaction, most clients have only a very general idea of the costs.

Perhaps they made a cursory search online, where they were likely to home in on the cheapest price they saw advertised — without much thought around what their case might involve, the quality of the service or indeed the current environment in which they were purchasing.

Lack of context

The latter point is pertinent given an article I read recently, which focused on ‘rising legal fees’ in the conveyancing sector and on borrowers being ‘charged more’.

The criticism levelled was that conveyancers had been vastly inflating their prices and taking advantage. Little seemed to be made of the current situation in the conveyancing sector: record amounts of transactions to be completed, with deadlines putting significant pressure on firms and the vast majority of clients wanting their completion before the stamp duty holiday ends.

Let’s look at the data that bears this out. During March 2021 alone, 190,980 residential transactions were completed — double the number in the same month last year and 32.2% more than in the month before. We all know the reason for this: the extension to the stamp duty deadline wasn’t made until 3 March, so conveyancers had to presume it wasn’t coming and work accordingly.

Now that the deadline has been extended with two future ‘end’ dates, the market has been boosted again, and this time purchasers are pushing hard for completion before 30 June or (very begrudgingly) before the end of September.

It means the pressure continues to grow for conveyancers — more work, the same resources and tight deadlines while the majority of staff are still working from home or remotely.

In this situation, the sheer economic basics of supply and demand tell you all you need to know about why prices may be rising, albeit conveyancing is still a service that is incredibly competitive.

At the same time, there is much that you can do as an adviser to ensure clients do not make their own enquiries with individual conveyancers, high-street solicitors or non-specialists.

Instead, advise them on good-quality conveyancers that are accustomed to volume and are priced accordingly.

Distribution platform

Advisers can play a huge role here in keeping down conveyancing costs by using a distribution platform to source the most cost-efficient and best-quality conveyancing for clients.

We all have a large workload to deal with at present, but there are avenues you can pursue to give your clients the very best chance of completing their transaction in the timeframe they need, and at the cost they prefer.

Mark Snape is chief executive of Broker Conveyancing