Licensed conveyancers may have to display their fees and how long their work typically takes as part of a raft of proposed changes by the industry regulator.
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) has launched a consultation on boosting transparency among members.
CLC firms are currently required to provide accurate cost estimates of a job on instruction and a description of their service.
But under the new proposals, practices will also be required to make cost information, including whether they have referral arrangements, readily accessible on their website and in alternative formats on request.
The consultation also proposes that they display a description of services that they provide, the key stages in the delivery of those services and indicative timescales of how long the work usually takes.
The consultation closes at the end of the month and any changes then need to be run by the Legal Services Board.
If approved, the new rules should be in place by December 2018, CLC said.
Dame Janet Paraskeva, chair of the CLC, said: “The firms we regulate will be facing new requirements and we expect them to be open and transparent.
“But we do not want to be overly prescriptive in how they can take advantage of this new era of transparency – we are looking to firms to find their own approaches which fit best with their business models and styles of service.
“We believe there is a real opportunity for those that focus on service quality – research repeatedly shows that home movers do not simply choose a conveyancer on price, but they need to know, and quickly, why they should go with a particular firm. Some CLC regulated firms are already finding new and better ways to do this.
“Firms will need to give a lot of thought to how to present this information and turn these challenges into the opportunity we know they are.”
Comments (5)
There is always an acquisition cost per customer. If you’re introducing someone to a product or service its not unreasonable to earn remuneration, as that replaces the acquisition cost. The key is a balanced transparent and ethical approach to this.
A basic example of this is supermarkets take margin on products/services they sell. A win for the product as it exposes their product, a win for the consumer as it offers them choice, a win for the supermarket as they they achieve a margin.
Partly correct, and reasonable however, with many conveyancing firms, the customer is walking along the same aisle in the same supermarket seeing the same product but depending on which part of the aisle they pick up that product they are paying substantially more or less than other customers.
Brave move by the regulator to clean up their own house, as that will put many of the larger ones out of business when the public balk and finally choose elsewhere.
As ever, bang on the money Chris.
I can’t help feeling that those drums are beating ever louder towards transparency.
I wonder if all those panel-based referral web sites will comply with this requirement and actually tell “price savvy consumers” what they are paying for.
“Here are our recommended lawyers with the prices from low to high but all offering fantastic service. Especially those rinky-**** firms that employ a part-time typist and everything is done by post.
Oh and yes, you are paying £300 to us for the privilege of getting an email quote.”
Presumably, that will also mean that firms who charge different fees dependent on who introduces the client, will have to display that range of information too?