How to choose a conveyancer: regulator, capacity, and who answers the phone

Solicitor or licensed conveyancer — and check the register

Solicitors are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and licensed conveyancers by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers. Both registers are public. Solicitors can also handle disputes; licensed conveyancers do property and nothing else. For an ordinary transaction either is fine and the fees are similar. Search the firm before you send any money — and be alert to emails changing bank details mid-transaction, which is the most common fraud in this process.

What the quote must show

• The legal fee, including VAT.
• Every disbursement listed separately: searches, Land Registry, bank transfer, identity checks, the stamp duty return.
• What is excluded — the "additional work" clauses for a gifted deposit, a deed of variation, an unregistered title, a leasehold extension.
• Whether it is no-sale-no-fee, and what is still payable if the transaction falls through.
• For leasehold: that the fee reflects it, and who orders the management pack.

The question that matters more than the fee

Who handles my file, and how do I reach them? In a chain, a named person with a direct line and a habit of replying the same day is worth several hundred pounds of fee. A firm running a call centre with a case-tracking portal and nobody who knows your file is the commonest self-inflicted delay in the process. Ask; then ring the number and see who answers.

Capacity and fit

• Ask how many files the case handler is running. A cheap firm that is overloaded is cheap for a reason.
• Check they are on your lender's panel. If not, a second firm acts for the lender and you pay for both.
• Ask whether they have done your kind of transaction: leasehold, new build with a reservation deadline, shared ownership, a purchase in Scotland — which needs a Scottish solicitor entirely.
• Local knowledge is not essential for conveyancing, but a firm that knows the council's search turnaround and the freeholders in the area will give you a truer timeline.

Red flags

• A headline fee far below the rest with a long list of extras.
• No named case handler; a reference number instead of a person.
• Slow to reply before you have even instructed. It will not get faster.
• Not on the SRA or CLC register, or a firm whose details do not match the register.
• Any request to change the account you pay into, by email, at any point. Ring the number on the engagement letter, not the one in the email.

Instruct early

Choose before your offer is accepted, so identity checks and the file are ready on the day it is. If you are selling and buying, one firm for both is almost always cheaper and faster than two — one file, one set of checks, one person watching the whole chain.