Happy new year! I thought I would log on today and see what has been happening while I have been eating too much cheese – and wow! There were a lot of emails…
So to all of you logging on this morning for the first time since the 22nd or 23rd December, take a deep breath as you work your way through those emails. But it shows that our work is not confined to nine to five, Monday to Friday. It’s almost a 24 hour job, and clients think nothing of getting up in the middle of the night or on Christmas Day when they remember something they want to ask us.
And the 24 hour world we inhabit, with the immediacy of Amazon deliveries, means that they expect a quick response.
This year is going to be interesting for those of us at the coal face of conveyancing. It feels as if big changes are coming and the two government consultations that closed between Christmas and New Year are the start of it.
AI is going to be big this year, as are other areas of digitalisation. Although we can all yearn for the old days of fax machines and post, it is likely that the way in which conveyancing is done will change.
So one plea from me – put up your fees! As you work through those emails, whilst seeing more and more coming into you, smile and increase your fees.
We are all worth so much more – we are not providing an Amazon service, we’re helping people to spend the biggest amount of money on something that they will ever spend. And they cannot scan a bar code and send it back if it is not right.
We do a difficult job – charge more for it.
This column is written by a real high street conveyancer who wishes to remain anonymous. Read more in Today’s Conveyancer every week.
One Response
Exactly what I said to the BLG membership last week:
A New Year Plea – Put your fees up
I hope you all had a good Christmas. Here is one way to ensure that you have a great New Year.
New Year, same old? It is stating the obvious when I say that year upon year for the last decade or two conveyancing has become more and more challenging for a number of reasons, not least a tremendous and never-ending amount of mission creep.
It is also stating the obvious that, partly because of the above, transaction times have not improved and are often much longer than they used to be. The reasons are manyfold, and the suggested solutions vary and come from numerous different sources, that often and unfortunately divide certain sectors of the profession.
Will the results of numerous new consultations, new projects, and the efforts of various old and newly created groups improve matters? Possibly, but probably not for many months or even years, and whilst we have to wait to see how those things play out, I see an increasing number of experienced conveyancers retire early or leave the profession. What I don’t see though is the same, or a similar number of new entrants join it, and those that do will need time to become competent and all rounded conveyancers. In the meantime many who stoically remain at the front line will have a poor work life balance and suffer unhealthily high levels of stress.
I could easily produce for you now a long list of reasons why the process is as challenging as it is, but you already know what they are, and we can only hope that those who have the power to bring about constructive and practical changes, eventually (quickly!) see the light and listen not only to the aforementioned groups etc, but also consult with and listen to those currently at the coal face. If they don’t, there could be a serious problem going forward.
I came across some interesting stats recently, including:
“On average in 2025, each estate agent (person) is involved with about 61 buyers and sellers per sale agreed, while each property lawyer handles around 287 buyers and sellers per sale agreed, plus the buyer’s lender.”
I can’t verify the above but even if they are way off the stats speak for themselves.
Put your fees up!
Two recent posts by two different firms make sober and sensible reading:
First post:
“I made the bold decision to become one of the most expensive conveyancing firms in our market.
Did my team think I was mad? Did we lose clients? Did our conversion drop? Yes, to all three, but despite opening 20% less files than 2024 our revenue has increased by almost 30%!
What did we gain? Increased wellbeing of our team? Stronger client base? Market leader for quality and service? Increased revenue and profit to invest in our team and business? Yes to all four!
So, the question is… why are you still stacking them high and selling them cheap?”
Second post:
“The property market throughout 2025 has been tough, and conveyancing in particular continues to become more complex, pressured and demanding. Regulation continues to be burdensome, at times the Government stagnating the market by ‘testing the waters’ with pre budget ideas. In response, we made a deliberate business decision to move from quantity to quality to deal with the changes— focusing on doing fewer transactions, better, and ensuring we continue to deliver the standard of service our clients and referrers expect. We are already seeing the rewards of lower caseloads and the service ordering we are providing. And yes, we also put our fees up and continue to review them.”
2026 and onwards may therefore look daunting (although with interest rates dropping, the market looks promising) but there is one course of action that most firms and most conveyancers could take immediately to make their and the lives of their employees easier. Simply to put up fees!