How to choose a conveyancer: checks, lender panels, referral fees and red flags

In England and Wales, GOV.UK lists solicitors, licensed conveyancers, chartered legal executives and CILEX practitioners as able to do conveyancing. Solicitors are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA); licensed conveyancers by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC), a specialist property and probate regulator. Either can act on a standard purchase or sale, so compare experience with your type of property as well as price.

Both regulators require firms to hold professional indemnity insurance, and both run compensation funds for some losses, such as money lost through a firm's dishonesty. In Scotland, conveyancing is usually done by solicitors regulated by the Law Society of Scotland. In Northern Ireland, solicitors are regulated by the Law Society of Northern Ireland.

You can legally do your own conveyancing. But a Lifetime ISA can only be used for a first home if a conveyancer or solicitor acts for you, and if you're buying with a mortgage, check your lender's requirements first.

1. Check the firm is regulated. Search the SRA's Solicitors Register or the CLC's directory. Only firms the SRA regulates can show its clickable logo, and clicking it confirms the firm is who it says it is. Contact the firm using details from the register, not from an email or advert.

2. Check your lender will accept the firm. Lenders keep a panel of firms they're willing to instruct, so ask your lender or broker before you commit. If your conveyancer isn't on it, the lender may need a separate firm to act for it, which can add cost and time.

3. Compare itemised written quotes. SRA-regulated firms must publish their prices, likely disbursements and VAT, so you can compare like with like. Check what's included, which supplements apply to you and whether the searches are shown with VAT. Our conveyancing costs guide explains each line.

4. Ask who will handle your case. The SRA says your solicitor must tell you in writing who is handling your matter, who supervises them and, if they aren't a solicitor, what their status is. Ask how you'll get updates and how quickly they usually reply.

5. Ask about referral arrangements. If the firm was recommended to you, ask whether anyone is paid for the introduction and whether that payment is built into your price.

6. Read the client care letter before you pay. It should confirm the price, what's excluded, the complaints procedure and any 'no sale, no fee' terms.

The Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) is an accreditation, not a regulator. The Law Society describes it as a recognised quality standard for SRA-regulated firms doing residential conveyancing, setting out the standards of competence, risk management and client service expected of them. It shows a firm has signed up to those standards. It doesn't set prices, guarantee speed or replace the SRA's rules, and because it's for SRA-regulated firms, don't expect a CLC-regulated firm to have it.

Reviews and comparison sites can help too. The SRA runs a voluntary code of conduct for legal comparison websites and lists the sites that have signed up to it.

You can, but you don't have to. GOV.UK says you must be told if an estate agent or mortgage lender gets a payment (a referral fee) from a firm it recommends, and that you don't have to use that firm.

The conveyancer has duties too. The SRA Code of Conduct says clients must be told about any financial or other interest in a referral and about any fee-sharing arrangement, which must be in writing. The CLC's Disclosure of Profits and Advantage Code says CLC lawyers must tell you in writing about a referral arrangement no later than when they accept your instructions, tell you that you're free to choose another provider, and explain the arrangement, including any payment. The CLC is reviewing how referral arrangements are explained to consumers in 2026.

A recommendation can be convenient, but get an independent quote to compare, and ask whether the referral fee is built into your price.

Neither is better by default. The same regulators and rules apply, and there's no official data comparing their speed or service. The real difference is how you'll deal with them: national firms tend to use online portals, digital ID checks, phone and email, while a local firm may be able to meet you in person.

Whichever you choose, ask whether you'll have a named person, roughly how many cases they handle, who covers when they're away, and how often you'll get updates.

A serious risk is payment diversion fraud, where a criminal sends you 'new' bank details, often by email that looks like it's from your conveyancer, just before you transfer a deposit or completion money. GOV.UK warns buyers and sellers to check they're dealing with the person or business they think they are, and to send money only to the correct account. The CLC advises contacting the company directly using a phone number or email address you already know, not details from an unexpected message.

Warning signs include an email or text saying the firm's bank details have changed, pressure to pay urgently, a firm you can't find on the SRA or CLC register, contact details that don't match the register, and requests to pay into a personal account. The SRA publishes scam alerts about people misusing real law firms' names, including in property transactions.

Before you send a large sum, phone your conveyancer on a number you already have and confirm the account details. If you think you've been targeted, call your bank straight away and report it to Report Fraud on 0300 123 2040. Report Fraud replaced Action Fraud on 4 December 2025. In Scotland, contact Police Scotland on 101.

Complain to the firm first, using the complaints procedure it must publish. The Legal Ombudsman says the firm has up to 8 weeks to respond. If you're unhappy with its final response, or it hasn't replied within 8 weeks, you can take the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman free of charge. You must do so within 6 months of the firm's final response, and generally within a year of the problem or of when you found out about it.

The Ombudsman can tell a firm to apologise, refund or reduce its fees, or pay compensation. In September 2026 its website said most cases were taking 9 to 12 months to be accepted for investigation. Report serious misconduct, such as dishonesty, to the SRA or the CLC, though the SRA can't order a firm to pay you compensation.

Worked example: you complain on Thursday 1 October 2026 and hear nothing. From Thursday 26 November 2026, 8 weeks later, you can go to the Ombudsman. If the firm instead sends its final response on Tuesday 1 December 2026, you have until Tuesday 1 June 2027 to bring your complaint.

In Scotland, complain to the firm first and give it at least 28 days, then go to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission. For complaints about the service you received, the time limit is 3 years after the firm last provided a service on that piece of work. In Northern Ireland, complaints about solicitors go to the Law Society of Northern Ireland.