Should You Use Your Estate Agent's Recommended Solicitor?
Estate agents, brokers and developers frequently recommend a conveyancer, and frequently earn a fee for doing so. Here is how those arrangements work and the one question that clears it up.
The Short Version
- Estate agents often receive a referral fee, commonly £200 to £400, for sending you to a particular conveyancer
- The arrangement is lawful, and solicitors must disclose it, but usually only after you have instructed them
- Referral costs are a business expense and tend to be reflected in the fee you pay
- You are never obliged to use a recommended firm
- Ask directly: do you receive a referral fee if I instruct them?
- Compare two or three itemised fixed-fee quotes before deciding
How referral arrangements actually work
When an estate agent, mortgage broker or new build developer recommends a conveyancing solicitor, there is very often a commercial arrangement behind it. The firm pays a referral fee for each client sent their way. Figures vary, but sums in the region of £200 to £400 per transaction are common, and in some arrangements considerably more.
This is not illegal, and it is not hidden in the sense of being unlawful. Solicitors are required by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to disclose referral arrangements to clients, and the fee should appear in your client care letter. But disclosure at the point of instruction is rather different from disclosure at the point of recommendation, which is when it would actually influence your decision.
Why the incentive matters
The concern is not that referred firms are incompetent. Many are perfectly good. The concern is that the recommendation is not being made on the basis of who is best for your transaction.
Consider what the agent is optimising for. An estate agent is paid on completion. Their interest is in transactions closing quickly, and in maintaining a relationship with firms that send business back. Neither of those is the same as your interest, which is in the legal work being done thoroughly, the title being properly investigated, and problems being identified before you are contractually committed rather than after.
Most of the time those interests align. Occasionally they do not, and the moments when they diverge are exactly the moments that matter. A conveyancer who raises awkward enquiries about a defective title, a short lease or an unresolved building safety issue is doing their job properly, but they are also slowing the chain down.
The cost question
Referral fees are a business cost, and businesses recover their costs. If a firm is paying £300 per referred client, that money comes from somewhere. In practice it is generally reflected in the fee you pay, meaning referred conveyancing is often more expensive than instructing the same firm directly, or a comparable firm you found yourself.
Some firms take a different view entirely. Kuits in Manchester, for instance, states plainly that it does not pay referral fees to any company that recommends it, on the basis that a recommendation should reflect the quality of the work rather than a commercial arrangement. That position is worth looking for.
When a recommendation is worth taking seriously
None of this means you should reflexively reject a recommendation. There are situations where it carries real weight:
- The agent has no financial interest. Ask directly. If the answer is that no fee is paid, the recommendation is worth more.
- The firm has specific relevant experience. An agent selling a lot of leasehold flats in one development will know which conveyancers deal with that freeholder efficiently.
- You have checked independently. A recommendation that survives your own verification of reviews, accreditation and fees is a recommendation worth acting on.
The question to ask
There is one question that resolves most of this, and it is entirely reasonable to ask it directly: "Do you receive a referral fee or any other payment if I instruct them?"
Agents are used to being asked. The answer tells you how to weight what you have just been told. If a fee is payable, treat the recommendation as one option among several rather than as impartial advice.
What to do instead
Get quotes from two or three firms you have identified yourself, and compare them properly. That means asking each for a fully itemised fixed-fee quote, the professional fee, every disbursement, and VAT, set out separately. Headline figures are close to meaningless in conveyancing because firms itemise differently.
Check that each firm is regulated (the SRA register for England and Wales, the Law Society of Scotland for Scottish firms), holds CQS accreditation if you are buying in England or Wales with a mortgage, and is on your specific lender's approved panel. Then read independent reviews on ReviewSolicitors, Trustpilot or Google rather than testimonials on the firm's own website.
If the firm your agent recommended still looks like the best option after that exercise, instruct them with confidence. The point is not to avoid recommended firms. The point is to make the decision yourself.
A Note on Jurisdiction
Referral arrangements operate in both Scotland and England, but the regulators differ. English and Welsh firms are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority; Scottish firms by the Law Society of Scotland. In Scotland the picture is further complicated by solicitor estate agency, where the same firm may market the property and act on the sale, a long-standing and well-regulated arrangement, but one worth understanding before you instruct.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it legal for estate agents to receive referral fees from solicitors?
Yes. Referral arrangements between estate agents and conveyancing firms are lawful. Solicitors regulated by the SRA must disclose any referral arrangement to the client, and the fee should be set out in your client care letter. The regulatory requirement is disclosure, not prohibition.
How much are conveyancing referral fees typically?
Amounts vary considerably, but fees in the region of £200 to £400 per transaction are common, and some arrangements are higher. The fee is a business cost for the firm and is generally reflected in what the client ultimately pays.
Do I have to use the solicitor my estate agent recommends?
No. You are entirely free to choose your own conveyancing solicitor, and no estate agent can require you to use a particular firm. If you are told or implied otherwise, that is a warning sign in itself. The only genuine constraint is that if you are buying with a mortgage, your solicitor should be on your lender's approved panel.
Does the same issue apply to mortgage brokers and developers?
Yes, and in the case of new build developers it can be more pointed. Developers frequently recommend or incentivise particular conveyancers, sometimes with a discount attached. Since new build purchases often involve tight contractual deadlines set by the developer, having a conveyancer whose relationship is with the developer rather than with you is worth thinking about carefully.
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