I was asked to give a quote to a first-time buyer this week. The lovely lady called me as I had been recommended to her. She told me her mortgage broker had advised her to approach a firm in a different part of the country, but she wanted someone local.
I asked her what fee they had quoted her and she told me it was “very reasonable” as it was £1,800.00.
She asked if I could send her some figures so she could compare quotes. I told her my fee for a first-time buyer was around the same.
I could hear the delight in her voice as she told me she really wanted a conveyancer she could pop in and see if she needed to, as the firm her broker had recommended did everything through an app. I emailed her a quote.
She then emailed me back, telling me she was a little confused as my fees were higher than the broker’s firm.
It transpired that their fee was £1,800.00 including all searches, Land Registry fees, ID checks – and everything else.
A quick calculation meant that their fee had to be around £1,000 plus VAT, at the most. But there were many add-ons which meant that the end fee was, in fact, likely to be more than mine in any event.
How can you explain this to a client who has never moved house before? How can you show them what quality is and how that is more important than the cheap cost? How can a small high street practice show that perhaps an app is not the best way to move house?
An app does not help you when you are told late on a Friday afternoon that there is an issue with the chain because someone further up has withdrawn from the property they were buying and we now need to wait for them to find someone else.
An app does not talk you through your options.
An app does metaphorically hold your hand as you walk through the process and give you all the available options.
I am not saying that apps aren’t useful – they have their place. But we’re dealing with the most expensive purchase any person is likely to make.
The client needs to be looked after. The client needs to understand what is happening.
We all know that some firms carrying out volume work rely on loss-leader pricing and recover their profit margin by charging extra fees. Some of those extra fees are hilarious, such as charging £25 for sending a copy of the updated title after registration when it is free to the conveyancer who lodged the application.
Home buyers need to understand the service they are buying from conveyancers. Quality and cheap are rarely delivered as part of the same quote.
This column is written by a real high street conveyancer who wishes to remain anonymous. The views expressed are those of the author and not those of Today’s Conveyancer.
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