Estate agents are warned to be very careful about their conveyancing tie-ups.
That is the underlying message in a report which says that fewer than one in three (30%) of home movers are happy with the conveyancer recommended by an estate agent.
More home movers find their conveyancer through an estate agent than any other method, but dissatisfaction levels are so high that seven in ten would not want other home movers to use that conveyancer.
Last year over half of home movers (51% of the 5,420 quizzed) went with the conveyancer the agent recommended, a rise on the 38% who went with the conveyancer recommended by agents in 2014.
While customers are highly unlikely to recommend to others the conveyancer suggested by their agent – a score of minus seven based on promoters, unenthusiastic customers and detractors – they are more likely to recommend the conveyancer recommended by a friend (43%).
Worryingly, only 28% would go back to a conveyancer they had previously used.
The Home Moving Trends survey – by the Property Academy in partnership with tmgroup – also shows that home movers do not believe that price is the priority when choosing a conveyancer.
Only one in ten chose the conveyancer who quoted the cheapest fee.
Last year, 77% of respondents said price was “not very” or “really not” important in choosing a conveyancer. In 2014, only 15% said price was not important.
The massive swing has highlighted home movers’ change of priorities: 80% are looking for a conveyancer who will communicate, and 67% want a proactive conveyancer – someone who will get things done without chasing.
The third top priority was to choose a conveyancer who could sort out problems. This too was ahead of price.
The method of communication between conveyancer and client was also highlighted: under four in ten want to be updated by telephone, with the rest preferring email or online updates.
Ben Harris, sales and marketing director of property search firm tmgroup, advised conveyancers: “With estate agents now accounting for more than half of consumers’ choice of conveyance, you can’t afford to be complacent when it comes to building strategic relationships with the right agents.”
As the owner of a conveyancing practice this does not surprise me at all. There are two agents close to us who will not refer their clients to us. Why, because we don’t wish to pay out £200 in referral fees to them and their middleman. Yet the staff in one of those firms give us all of their own private work. Why? Because they know we are good. We don’t do cheap, we don’t pile it high. We want to offer quality of service. We also want our solicitors to have a life and not be working at night or at weekends. If your model is to pay out high referral fees then the profit is negligible, each fee earner ends up with too many files and service levels drop. Why anyone increases their referral fee cost by forwarding the clients to a middleman company who then takes their cut before moving the client on to an overworked solicitor is beyond me. Ultimately the client loses out.
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Well done for taking stand Jacqueline. Cheap is seldom best. Something that far too many people forget these days.
The trouble is that in cutting one another’s throats over commission levels the only place agents can make their profits these days is out of such referral fees. Without FS and legal services income I would bet that many agents would go out of business very quickly.
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Jacqueline,
Thank you for putting your head above the pit, you are brave and a number of times you have defended your industry which can only be admired.
But as usual i will have to disagree. The above story is a little bias in the fact it only mentions the stats from referred cases by estate agents, it does not mention the stats from buyers / sellers who had made their own choice.
I cannot comment on your firm as we have never done business but i will speak for my own experience.
The majority of conveyancers are poor in relation to communication and customer service. This is why as an agency we opt for a £200 ref fee. There is no difference between a conveyancer that pays us a fee or a conveyancer that does not. If they are incredibly bad we will not use them either way as ultimately we want the sale to go through.
We have poor local firms and poor national firms.
The most annoying bit is the lack of communication and cooperation with the conveyancers. And this story really should be a wake up call. 51% of movers take the estate agents recommendation! – So it beggars belief why agents are not treated with more respect throughout the transaction.
Again, we have never used your firm so you maybe different, but i have been in the industry along time, worked for corporate independent and now an owner. i have used conveyancers all over and the issues i find are not rare most estate agents can identify with them.
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I be there not declaring there intro fee as legally required , time for some one to actively police the industry
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Conveyancing fees should be £1000 per transaction – simple
Conveyancing solicitors and licensed conveyances have to take on too much work in order to make a living – often making less than £50 per completed deal after costs
Fees have not moved up in the last twenty years, and service has declined due to the “factory” setup in most firms aligned with estate agents – referral fees being the biggest driver – these should be outlawed too (although they are usually declared on the legal quote)
Better service would come from more attentive conveyances with more time to do a timely job – and this in itself would speed up the conveyancing process and cut down on lost sales due to frustration of time lapsed, and guess what – the reviews would improve too
1* or 5* you get what you pay for – pay cheap fees – get a poor service – simple
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Simples:
Every agent should list all the local conveyancers and the ones they get a referral fee from then when they sell a property they simply email the entire list to the buyer and just say these are conveynacers.
Pick one. or choose your own.
An agent shouldn’t recommend unless the agent is prepared to pay the conveyancer’s fee
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This survey confirms that referral fees are inherently wrong and should be banned. Conveyancers who rely upon referral fees do not need to provide a good service as they do not need repeat business. They know they can rely upon a regular stream of clients from their friendly estate agents. Other firms have to look after their clients to make sure they will come back to them and recommend them to their friends.
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We didn’t want referral fees, for years we wouldn’t pay them. However, they are now an inherent part of income for many referrers. I’ve seen articles and comments on how to get more referral fees from solicitors. A whole younger generation has grown up expecting them. Even when they were illegal they were being paid but dressed up as something else. I seem to recall that’s why the Law Society relaxed the rule. We were sticking to the law and watching our competitors take work from us illegally. Our model is not based entirely upon paying theses fees. We have huge numbers of clients who refer their friends and relatives to us. We also have lots of repeat business from existing and previous clients.
As for working after 5pm. Our solicitors and support staff work flat out all day. They are entitled to a home life and so am I. I would also point out again that we can’t always answer an agents queries. We have a duty of confidentiality to our clients. Our regulator would punish us for breach of this. In no other area of law is it taken as normal that we will discuss our clients case with a third party. Sometimes our clients don’t want us to answer your questions. Take the buyer who told you it was a cash purchase. They tell us some time later that they are applying for a mortgage but they don’t want you to know that in case they lose the purchase. Or the seller who doesn’t want you to know that their next purchase is struggling.
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In my opinion if the government want to help with the housing market this is where they should start ….. Conveyancers.
It does not matter is an agent is paid a referral fee. The standard of conveyancing across the board is dire. Being in the industry close to 20 years i can hand on heart say the majority of conveyancers are poor in relation to communication and customer service.
They have little care for the clients timescales. They see estate agents as a ‘Nuisance’ and hid behind the “As long, as it takes” mantra.
There are some worse than others such as Countrywide or Sequences panel solicitors. But even the local firms are dire and work in the past.
9AM – 5PM hour for lunch five days a week. This just does not fit with the needs of the clients in today’s market. Also factor in almost a weeks turn around on basic enquirys, The almost always ‘Lost’ documents, the inability to use a telephone or email to chase outstanding items.
We then have the general attitude of conveyancers towards estate agents. I can go on all day!!
The fact is service and professional standards have increased in the last 20 years with estate agents, mortgage brokers, surveyors yet in my opinion conveyancing has gone backwards.
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Always remember to make sure the conveyancers you recommend will protect your clients from hackers and fraud.
I was very worried about this after reading countless news articles about people losing money and conveyancers not protecting their clients properly, even though it’s their job. Crazy eh! People losing thousands and the conveyancer pretty much ignoring the issue.
I found the https://safemovescheme.co.uk website by searching on google and recommended it to my conveyancer. Although reluctant they signed up and at least now I have a secure method of checking my conveyancer’s bank account details and can also communicate with them in a secure manner.
I would never recommend a conveyancer that couldn’t explain how they protect their clients.
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It is so unfair to rule all conveyancers incompetent despite all your years in the industry.
It seems you attract service that is bad and perhaps you should be looking at your expectations.
In my experience agents refuse to try upcoming attorneys – it is nearly impossible to get any work out of them and to be honest I am hungry for work and have the time and expertise to give updates and give everything I have to each transfer – yet no agent will even consider giving me the opportunity to prove myself.
The main obstacle is the referral fees and I believe agents are so stuck with the commissions that they use conveyancers they are not even happy with.
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