Regulators call for conveyancing to become more competitive, transparent

The Competition and Markets Authority has released a set of recommendations on how conveyancing, and other legal services, could be made fairer and more transparent to the public.

The CMA spent much of 2016 conducting a market study which it says showed there was too little information available on price, quality and service to help those in need of conveyancing and other legal services choose the best option.

The CMA the worked with a series of legal regulators, including the Council for Licensed Conveyancers and the Solicitors Regulastion Authority, to produce a series of recommendations.

These include:

- asking regulators to ensure companies offering legal services display information on price, service and conditions of redress openly on their websites and in their publicity material;

- making more regulatory data available so that legal price and service comparison websites could be created;

- encouraging conveyancers and other legal services providers to engage with review websites "to ensure that customers can benefit from the experience of previous consumers before making their choice"; and

- improve an existing Legal Choices website so that it becomes a starting point for customers trying to navigate the selection of legal services in the market.

In recent months a series of initiatives from across the conveyancing sector have included calls for greater transparency and speed in the services they offer vendors. 

The Conveyancing Association also backed a call by the Conservatives during the General Election campaign to "reform and modernise the home buying process" - a commitment which, in broad terms, was repeated by the government in the Queen's Speech.