Estate agent/solicitor referral fees

Pinballwiz

I'm not a regular on this forum so apologies if this is in other threads but I thought it worthwhile to bring it to your attention.

Basically, solicitors pay referral fees to estate agents for recommending them for the legal work. Both the solicitor and estate agent should tell you up front how much money has changed hands.

While this is unfortunately the way of the world in terms of legal work (in many areas of law) I was until recently unaware of the size of some referral fees. I recently discovered from a colleague that Your Move (at least in some areas) are receiving £250 plus VAT referral fees from their solicitors (so £300 at today's VAT rate). They bring it to the attention of the customer but the whole of that fee is then passed on to the customer by way of increased legal fees to allow the solicitor to still make some profit (I am not suggesting for one minute that solicitors make very much money from conveyancing by the way).

There is no suggestion that they are breaking any rules but basically there is no reason why you should pay this money. Find a solicitor yourself and save £300.

If you don't know of a good conveyancing solicitor then the recommendation of a friend who has had a good experience is a good starting point and make sure that the person who is dealing with your transaction on a day to day basis is either a qualified solicitor or a licensed conveyancer rather than just being supervised by someone who has those qualifications.

I know of plenty of firms of solicitors who use unqualified staff to do conveyancing, do you really want to trust the biggest financial transaction of your life to someone who isn't qualified??

Anyway, hope that is of use to someone and avoid those referral fees.

timmyt

Pinballwiz wrote: »

I'm not a regular on this forum so apologies if this is in other threads but I thought it worthwhile to bring it to your attention.

Basically, some solicitors pay referral fees to estate agents for recommending them for the legal work. Both the solicitor and estate agent should the solicitor is obliged to by the Law Society, and the solicitor should reasonably ensurer the Agent does too tell you up front how much money has changed hands.

While this is unfortunately the way of the world in terms of legal work (in many areas of law) I was until recently unaware of the size of some referral fees. I recently discovered from a colleague that Your Move (at least in some areas) are receiving £250 plus VAT referral fees from their solicitors (so £300 at today's VAT rate). They bring it to the attention of the customer but the whole of that fee is then passed on to the customer by way of increased that is wrong I agree, and not standard practice among such referral fees legal fees to allow the solicitor to still make some profit (I am not suggesting for one minute that solicitors make very much money from conveyancing by the way true, they are the cheapest perople involved in buying a home when you compare mortgage company, estate agent and surveyor but do the most crital work with no exclusion clauses).

There is no suggestion that they are breaking any rules but basically there is no reason why you should pay this money. Find a solicitor yourself and save £300. Many many solicitors will pay the referral fee, and take the loss entirely themselves from a marketing budget. Paying a referral fee is a highly effective means of advertising, as putting an advert in the papers achieves very little, but a direct payment to the estate agent is far more productive.

If you don't know of a good conveyancing solicitor then the recommendation of a friend who has had a good experience not always true, as mistakes are not noticed until many years later/on re-sale is a good starting point and make sure that the person who is dealing with your transaction on a day to day basis is either a qualified solicitor or a licensed conveyancer herm, not a fan of the latter as they are narrowly trained whereas a legal executive or solicitor specialising in conveyancing have a wider breadth of other legal areas than can still impact on your house move rather than just being supervised never have a case handler or someone unqualified by someone who has those qualifications.

I know of plenty of firms of solicitors who use unqualified staff to do conveyancing soooo many do and yet the public then think they have found a bargain when they are cheaper (though so many National estate Agents use them and yet they end up more expensicve than a specialist local solicitor) , do you really want to trust the biggest financial transaction of your life to someone who isn't qualified?? So many people on this site do though

Anyway, hope that is of use to someone and avoid those referral fees only avoid them when the payment is over £100 or when the National Estate Agent trys to refer you to big wherehouse outfit that do not give you a dedicated solicitor/legal executive .

The clever buyers/selelrs (and the ones who get best value for money) always do this:

make sure you only engage a conveyancing solicitor or legal executive or conveyuancer all with a minimum 10 years expereince in conveyancing

and make sure their Firm is Lexcel apprved. http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/productsandservices/lexcel.page


Good luck posters.