In the modern-day consumerist world, it is often easy to draw comparisons between material goods such as what phone or car to buy. Or the comparison of attending your favourite restaurant over a pub lunch.

This is because to the average consumer with limited knowledge of a particular industry, they are still able to make a reasonable assessment, either through continued exposure (like the restaurant example) or through data analysis (such as buying a phone or car). In the legal sector, it is often difficult to understand the difference between one firm of lawyers and another because those principles often do not apply.

It is also dependent on the type of solicitor instructed, the firm they represent, and the matter itself.

Therefore, how do you gauge whether to go with one law firm over another when it comes to the data that is available to those looking to instruct?

What does a Conveyancer do?

A Conveyancer is a legal professional that helps their clients with property transactions, protect their interests and provide advice in connection with legal issues that they may face.

A Conveyancer typically assists with:

• Handling property sales and purchases
• Managing remortgages and transfers of equity
• Providing crucial legal advice on title issues

The bulk of a Conveyancer’s instructions are derived from the first point. If you are a buyer, this means checking the property does not have any hidden legal issues and if you are a seller, it means ensuring the sale is completed properly to prevent any future recourse.

The Types of Conveyancing Firms

There are broadly speaking two types of Conveyancing firms to consider. Factory Firms and Service Firms.

My colleagues may suggest this is an over-simplification of the industry, which it is, but it may be best to think of them as opposite ends of a spectrum, balancing cost and client care.

Budget Factory Firms

Factory firms often try to appeal to something that their consumer base can understand, being the direct price for their services.

Offering a face-value cheaper service than their competitors, their aim is to maximise the number of clients they obtain, to reach their targets, sometimes at the cost of the client’s experience.

Breakdowns of the fee estimate can be confusing, or highly restricted in what they can and cannot do without increasing their initial quotes further.

If a target was set for £500,000.00 in the financial year; obtaining 1000 clients at £500.00 per case would satisfy this. This fee allows them to undercut the real value of the service their competitors can offer.

Their priority in this instance is to have a high turn over of matters, which effectively cuts out any work that may be attributed to not progressing the case forward. This may be updates/liaising with estate agents/consideration to further factors/added legal advice.

Furthermore the overhead costs will be lower than service firms as they are likely to have no local offices. The referral fees (the cost a solicitor firm will pay estate agents in return for referrals of property sales agreed) they pay are often so substantial that they must make savings in the time they allocated to the service they provide as a cost saving measure.

Service Firms

Service firms compete on their reputation, quality of service, and client satisfaction to meet financial targets.

Fees are normally straightforward to understand and often allow for a greater degree of flexibility as to accommodate what a client may require. Beit a change in strategy, further legal advice, specific communication requirements, in person meetings; to name but a few.

Using the same target example as the one previous, if they would charge £2,000 per matter, then only 250 clients are needed to achieve the same financial target.

If both firms have a similar capacity, that conveyancer can dedicate four times their availability to ensure a smooth transaction, further advice and consideration.

This is essentially the key distinction for service firms; placing a greater emphasis on the client and alleviating the concern of not knowing what is happening, which often leads to stress.

What best suits me

To answer as to what may be best for your individual circumstances is contingent on a few things from the perspective of a factory firm:

1. Are you comfortable proceeding with a conveyancing transaction with minimal contact from your conveyancer, bar the essentials?
2. How confident might you be in assessing minimal advice provided by your conveyancer without much elaboration?
3. Do you have specific requirements that need to be considered carefully for your conveyancer during the transaction?

Factory firms provide a money-conscious service, and it is a good thing that there is an optional available. But if the answers you return for these questions, are that they do not apply, or you are confident in the same, then there is benefit in proceeding with a firm that charges more and focuses toward service.

Having worked in both environments, I have seen many clients drawn in by a low price, only to become frustrated by a lack of communication and unexpected additional fees. A property transaction is often stressful enough.

Referral fees granted to estate agents via solicitor firms are often measures that disproportionally affects the quality of the service that you will receive for a matter.

John Hodge Solicitors do not pay referral fees.

Setting aside the moral implications of a paid referral, where a recommendation is provided to a prospective client, they can be assured that it is authentic and a good measure of quality.

The removal of the added cost per transaction in such a fee allows for a greater proportion of the fee earned to cycle back to the service that the client receives.

Your peace of mind is valuable, and a good conveyancer provides a service that is worth the cost. If a fee seems surprisingly low, it’s often because the service has been stripped down to the bare minimum.

In the end, choosing the right conveyancer is about aligning the service with what you value most for one of the biggest transactions of your life.

Next Steps: Get in touch

If you would like to discuss your Conveyancing matter then please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team of legal experts at John Hodge Solicitors, conveniently located throughout the South West, with offices in Bridgwater, Bristol, Clevedon, Wedmore, Weston-super-Mare and Yatton.

You can contact us either:

• by email
• via our website
• by calling us on 0800 097 8611