The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) has criticised a new report by the Legal Services Consumer Panel, accusing it of misrepresenting the regulator’s approach and wrongly linking conveyancers to issues highlighted in a BBC Panorama investigation last year.
The CLC said the programme exposed wrongdoing by unregulated estate agents, not conveyancers, and renewed its call for the introduction of statutory regulation for estate agents to strengthen consumer protection.
The regulator also defended its decision to review conveyancing practices following the Panorama programme, arguing that it was acting proactively in the public interest despite the issues falling outside its direct regulatory remit.
The response comes after the Legal Services Consumer Panel published ‘A Regulatory Framework for the Future‘, which examined the performance of legal services regulators and raised concerns about aspects of the CLC’s approach.
Sheila Kumar, CEO of the CLC, said: “We are extremely disappointed in the panel for the inaccurate representation of the CLC in its report.
“First of all, last year’s BBC Panorama investigation highlighted wrongdoing by unregulated estate agents, not by conveyancers. Nevertheless, the CLC took the decision that it would again look at this topic in the context of its mandate, the regulation of conveyancers, to see if anything more could be done to improve the situation of consumers in the absence of regulation of estate agents.
“It is perhaps notable that we were the only regulator of conveyancing to do this. Responding to market intelligence is the sign of a proactive regulator with a resolute focus on acting in the public interest and the capability and resources to do so. It is worrying that the panel misread this so badly.
“We continue to press for the regulation of estate agents on this and wider consumer protection grounds, and in the meantime have identified areas where we can strengthen transparency and consumer protections in our code.
“The panel also talks about our ‘active recruitment of regulated firms’. Our conveyancing and probate firms benefit from the CLC’s focused regulation and the high standards we set for entry for both individuals and practices. This means CLC regulation is good for consumers and good for lawyers.
“The Legal Services Act was designed to give both a choice and the CLC is simply demonstrating that it is a good choice to make. Our specialism is why we are one of the key organisations leading the work on home-buying reform, ensuring it works for the public and those who advise them.”
