When did conveyancing get so expensive?

[SophiaCohle]

And why?

I stepped off the property ladder in 2022. Selling my place cost me somewhere between £500-1000 (can't remember exactly). When I tried to buy again last year I was quoted £500-700 to buy but it didn't happen in the end. Now I'm being quoted £900-1200. All freehold cottages with no apparent complications. All the same firm, but when I look around everyone seems to be in the same ballpark. This is just the legal work. VAT and searches would be extra.

Did something happen?

Sounds quite reasonable to me for a critical service (to avoid future legal issues) from a fairly highly qualified professional.

I'm not saying it's not reasonable. I'm pointing out that it's just about doubled in two years. Is that reasonable? And why? That's the bit I'm curious about.

Edit: Well, in one actually, comparing the quote I've just had to the one I got last year from the same firm.

When we bought in 2022 it cost us £1200.

I’ve paid just under £2k each time I’ve moved over the last 10 years so I think that’s par for the course.

You could ask the firm. Could be interesting. Maybe general rise in costs of all kinds.

So it didn't double each time then?

I think people are missing the point a bit. Fees will depend on the value of the house concerned to some extent so actual numbers aren't necessarily comparable to each other. But surely for £500-700 to go to £900-1200 in a year is extraordinary?

Yes, I will, and I agree it could be interesting. I've only had an online quote so far.

In the same time frame they've closed one of their two offices and many of their staff work mostly from home now, so it's hard to see how their overheads can really have climbed that much. They are also conveyancers rather than full-service solicitors so I thought their fees would compare favourably if anything, but maybe it's a case of what the market will bear, which I wouldn't expect they'd be candid about tbh.

I know that conveyancing for leaseholds has become more complex and problematic in recent years, and wonder if uncomplicated freehold purchases are being used to subsidise the amount of extra work other people's purchases are generating. Again, I wouldn't expect candour if that's the case, but I did hope people here might have some thoughts or experiences that were relevant.

Conveyancing has been far too cheap for far too long. The hourly rate equivalent is low less than tradesman but for qualified professionals. Clients are becoming more demanding, they call weekly for progress reports, all calls take time which has to be paid for. Sales are taking longer due to backlogs with searches and HM Land Reg, which means more time fielding chasers etc.

Plus SRA dues are increasing and indemnity insurance is through the roof, especially for higher risk specialisms like Conveyancing.

Labour.

I bought in 2023

2k for freehold newish build
5k for leasehold flat (leaseholds are a lot more expensive).

Conveyancing has been priced too low for years. It's actually an area with the highest number of negligence claims. Estate agents were sending work to whichever firm was cheapest and invariably to make a profit the work was carried out by unqualified staff, hence the negligence claims. It always seemed bizarre to me that people would pay an estate agent 5x what they'd pay their lawyer and then be surprised when the service was substandard.

I'm astonished anyone thinks conveyancing has historically been way too cheap. My own experience has been that it's money for old rope. With my last sale, I got great screeds of queries that I was expected to deal with personally, including points of planning legislation, and then the solicitor would just copy and paste them into an onward email. With a previous sale of a leasehold property, which was complicated by a short lease needing extending in combination with other share-of-freeholders, I was given just plain wrong advice that would have tanked the sale on completion day if it hadn't already tanked for other reasons all by itself. I feel as though you basically have to provide all the information and momentum yourself, which they then rubber stamp because they're a conveyancer and you're not, and then you have to hope for the best that no one fucked up. I thought everyone had similar experiences tbh. I agree estate agent are even worse though.

But surely if there's a record number of negligence claims, that means the work has been overpriced, in the sense of not being up to the standard you were led to expect?

I came across one (old, established) firm of solicitors when I was looking for quotes who won't take on leasehold work at all now, which seems like a new development. Tbh, that was what sparked my initial question.

@SophiaCohle I don't think that the easy freehold transactions are subsidising leasehold - I had such a range of quotes for leasehold selling up last year. I sold a high rise, so all the new building safety legislation was applicable. One solicitor wanted to charge £900 extra for that alone.

in the end, with all the quotes on the table, one solicitor came in at the same price as a conveyancing only firm.

I can't comment on why your particular firm has had an increase but everything, including labour, is just more expensive. Interestingly, the solicitor charging the most for dealing with the Building Safety Act appeared to have the least experience.

one solicitor said they didn't to take the work due to the new legislation.

so I think they do calculate costs not just for leasehold but for any accompanying complications.

edit - cross post - just saw you've heard of solicitors not taking leasehold at all. I'm still in a leasehold flat but much as it was sad to leave my home, I think selling a high rise leasehold is going to get even harder.

I agree @EmeraldRoulette. I wasn't particularly aware of the detail of the new rules until I saw all of that and looked it up out of curiosity. I want to avoid a leasehold purchase for other reasons but I really feel for people wanting to sell flats as there's going to be a real danger of getting stuck.

I wonder if the upswing in leasehold costs has just shifted market expectations generally. And I appreciate the pp's comments about insurance, which may well have been hiked upwards for reasons connected to the leasehold thing.

I realise no one can really comment on the specifics of 'my' firm, but a roughly 80% increase since almost exactly this time last year just seemed crazy stuff and I wondered if anyone else had had a similar experience and knew why. I'll probably end up going ahead anyway. Better the devil you know etc.

We are very busy so if a new client calls for a quote I do quote quite high
If client wants to go cheaper fair enough

I don’t think it’s money for old rope at all. I think it’s complex work. I’ve bought 5 houses in my lifetime and every time it’s been an utter ball ache for the conveyancing solicitor. On the last property between me and the solicitor we ended up knowing the ins and outs of European legislation on septic tanks. Another house fell through because on the day of exchange an out building wasn’t outlined in red on the plans.

Every time it’s been a fucking nightmare. And whilst solicitors can be nightmares and slow, it’s not nice work and definitely not money for old rope.

Put it this way I wouldn’t want to do that work for a measly £900. Imagine dealing with people who are spending hundreds of thousands, often millions of pounds on their biggest most important purchase. I bet they get spoken to like shit.

Isn't that just their job though? And is making sure that the property is outlined accurately in red complex work? I mean, really now?

But just to reiterate, it's the % increase in the last 12 months that I'm askance at, which seems to be across the board, not just the firm I've used previously. Even if you think conveyancing is intellectually heavyweight work, as opposed to just detail-oriented, which is more my view, it doesn't really explain that.

I wonder if the increase is related to the professional insurance costs. I'm under the impression that those have gone up a lot.

also, that mega conveyancing hack or system issue that happened last year - that might have raised costs on IT security etc

I had to try a couple of solicitors before I could find one that would take on dealing with the purchase of a London leasehold flat.

Two just said they didn't do leasehold and one advised me not to buy a leasehold flat on London because of all the cladding/leasehold legislation problems.

Can you not see the correlation between paying low fees and getting a worse service? I instructed a conveyancing solicitor who is expensive. She not only did all the work properly and only asked me for instructions when she needed them, but she spotted an issue that a lower charging solicitor might have missed due to the pressure of having to manage a huge workload to cover overheads might have missed. It saved us between £20,000 - £30,000. You get what you pay for.

Sounds like you paid peanuts and got monkeys.

We paid about £3k incl VAT for our recent house purchase, and our conveyancer and her trainee were both lovely, gave us helpful advice, absolutely got what we paid for. We were very happy. We used the same firm for our previous purchase in 2001 and were also very happy then too (obviously different conveyancer back then who has since retired)

Chances are a house is by far the biggest investment you will ever make. That house becomes yours 'warts and all' so paying someone to make sure you are getting what you think you are getting and your investment is safe is sometthing you have to pay for.

Usually the agent gets a lot more £££ for taking some photos and showing people round.

Plenty of things have gone up hugely in price in the last couple of years legal costs included.