Conveyancer vs Solicitor

A licensed conveyancer provides legal services related solely to the sale and purchase of property (or land), whereas a Solicitor could offer legal advice on a wide range of areas of law. A solicitor may specialise in conveyancing but may also be able to offer help with other legal services such as probate or divorce which are sometimes related to the sale or purchase of a property.

All solicitors practising in England and Wales must be registered with the Law Society and are regulated by the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority), whereas a licensed conveyancer will be registered with the CLC (Council for Licensed Conveyancers). Both solicitors and licensed conveyancers have a code of conduct, which they must abide by when undertaking a conveyancing instruction.

If you are weighing up the option of using conveyancers vs solicitors, it is worth bearing the following in mind when choosing between instructing a licensed conveyancer and a solicitor.

Some law firms are better than others at conveyancing. Some firms have a small team of solicitors who will not handle a great volume of conveyancing instructions per month. Although the fees you pay may not be the lowest around, you will often get a high level of service, because your conveyancing instruction is carried out by a specialist conveyancing solicitor.

There are a number of law firms who operate as dedicated 'volume conveyancing' practices. They handle a large volume of conveyancing matters per month, and operate streamlined services to try and keep the progress of the matter efficient. They may use conveyancing assistants to carry out much of the work on your instruction, so your matter may only be overseen by a solicitor rather than carried out by one.

This is not necessarily a problem, however because of the volume of conveyancing instructions being handled by these types of firm, it isn't always easy to get an update on how your matter is progressing. The quality volume conveyancing firms use the latest communication technology to keep you updated on the progress of your instruction, including Text Message and Email. This can be a real benefit, as you don't have to be chasing the firm for an update.

As licensed conveyancers only handle conveyancing matters, it is best to compare conveyancers vs solicitors who do volume conveyancing. The main difference between the two is that:

• A solicitors firm will usually have a higher level of indemnity insurance compared with a licensed conveyancing firm
• A solicitor may offer related services that the licensed conveyancer does not

Although both licensed conveyancers and solicitors will have sat a number of exams to become qualified, the solicitor will be educated to degree elvel, whereas the licensed conveyancer may not be.

The path that conveyancers vs solicitors have taken to become qualifed conveyancers may be different, they will usually both have a good level of experience in handling conveyancing matters.

Get a conveyancing quote now to compare quotes from licensed conveyancers and solicitors