Why your estate agent's recommended conveyancer might not be the right choice

When you agree to buy a property, your estate agent will almost certainly recommend a conveyancer. In many cases they have a referral arrangement with that firm — meaning they receive a payment, typically £150 to £400, every time a buyer they refer instructs that firm. This is legal and must be disclosed, but it is worth understanding what it means in practice.

Referral fees must be disclosed

Under the Estate Agents Act 1979 and associated guidance, estate agents are required to declare any financial interest they have in a service they recommend to you. If your agent recommends a conveyancer and receives a fee for that referral, they must tell you the amount.

Ask directly: “Do you have a referral arrangement with this conveyancer, and if so, how much do you receive?” If the answer is yes, factor that into your assessment of the recommendation.

The structural incentive

Referral arrangements are not inherently corrupt, and referred firms are often competent. But the incentive structure is worth being clear about: the estate agent is paid to recommend a specific firm regardless of how that firm performs. The agent wants to complete the transaction quickly — a slow or error-prone conveyancer delays their commission. Speed and quality sometimes align, but not always.

Panel conveyancing firms that receive high referral volumes may also handle very large caseloads, which can mean less individual attention to your matter.

How to make an independent assessment

HM Land Registry publishes avoidable requisition rates for every conveyancing firm that submits at least 10 applications in a six-month period. This data measures how often a firm's applications contain errors that delay registration. It is the only publicly available, independently produced quality signal for conveyancing firms in England and Wales.

Cleerd surfaces this data for every firm we have verified against the SRA or CLC register. You can search for a firm by name or browse by postcode area to compare firms on this basis.

You are not obliged to use the agent's recommendation

You have the right to instruct any regulated conveyancer you choose. An estate agent cannot make the use of their recommended conveyancer a condition of the sale, and they cannot withdraw an accepted offer on this basis. If any pressure is applied, contact the Property Ombudsman or Trading Standards.