More than half of firms of licensed conveyancers are expecting their workload to increase this year, the sector regulator says.
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) said 53% of firms expect volumes of work to increase during 2018, with only 10% anticipating a fall.
Personal recommendation remained the main source of conveyancing work for firms, followed by referrals from lenders and estate agents.
Looking back, many admitted increasing their prices over the last year, with 48% doing so in 2017, while just 4% said they had reduced fees.
On average, firms charged £636 for the purchase of a freehold property, and £592 for a sale. The figures were £747 and £690 for leasehold properties.
Just 13% reported receiving a single complaint last year, and most were resolved internally. Only 11% were referred to the Legal Ombudsman.
Sheila Kumar, chief executive of the CLC, said: “Our annual return paints a positive picture of a profession that continues to grow and, importantly, is doing all it can to protect clients from the threat of fraud and cybercrime.
“Regulation is, of course, a key part of that too but the results show that it is not getting in the way of firms developing their practices and offering competitive and high-quality services to clients.”
Anyone wanting to be a licensed conveyancer, rather than just a solicitor who does conveyancing, needs to be approved by the CLC and follow its rules.
January to date has been manic, so odds on, it will be a good year for conveyancers in general – solicitors, legal executives and by the sound of it licensed conveyancers. Though at an average fee of £1,000 – if a quality service is to be offered to the public.
But phrases such as ‘volumes of work’, and ‘workloads’ perhaps should be replaced with ‘numbers of clients’, and …no mention of referral fees in the above article. Indeed, large conveyancing outfits can pay eye wateringly high sums of money (cash bungs some people would say) to source conveyancing work…hardly ‘recommendation’.
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Good point Tim.
It also doesn’t mention that ugly word “corruption” which it really should.
Not sure if people are aware, but if you’re a negotiator and you’re recommending a law firm who you KNOW is poor, because your boss tells you to because of a “company agreement” then it’s you that falls foul of the Bribery Act 2010.
Might want to check with your boss – it’s not clear who will go to jail – you or them ….
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