Pay-what-we’re-worth conveyancing firm set up...

A conveyancing company is asking clients to set their own fee - with some strings.

Zen Move Solicitors is a year-old digital conveyancing firm which claims to be ‘mindful’.

Founder Lucy Lafferty-Brown says she decided to launch the firm after seeing clients’ mental health suffer during a house-move, due to high levels of stress in the conveyancing process.

Zen Move aims to eradicate unnecessary stress from the legal process involved in buying a home, as well as providing free tools and exercises to help clients “shift their headspace and approach their move more positively.”

The firm also offers clients a free eight-week programme providing mindfulness training, meditation, moving plans, and other tips to help them “manage and re-frame their experience of moving stress.”

Lafferty-Brown says she decided to allow clients to set their own fee as a way of opening up an honest and transparent relationship.

The terms and conditions of the firm state that the ‘set your own feel’ approach is a per-case bespoke policy.

The T&Cs say: “Our aim is to offer transparent and fair services and for each client to gauge what the ‘value’ of the service we offer is and to meet us at a fair and reasonable fee to ensure the health of the Zen Move operations and people.”

Lafferty-Brown says: “I have helped thousands of people move home and have seen that high stress and anxiety seem to have become accepted parts of the process – indeed accepted parts of life – but I don’t think that needs to be the case.

“For me, as both a solicitor and someone who practices meditation and mindfulness daily, I think the intersection of conveyancing and meditation makes complete sense because I know that meditation can change your relationship to stress.

“And while it might seem quite different or even uncertain to choose a conveyancer who talks about these things, it is clear to me that the old way is broken due to the amount of stress it causes.”

She continues: “I believe it is possible to stop stress ruining people’s moves or souring their first experiences of their new home. In fact, the effects of a stressful, badly managed move could last for years.

“I want to restore the heart and soul of this process by enabling clients to set their own fee and giving them the voice they deserve. I want to help my clients access meditation and mindfulness practices, as well as a host of practical tools and tips, to enable them to manage any stress and anxiety and reframe their experience of moving house as the joyous and exciting start to a new chapter in their lives that it ought to be.”

A statement from the conveyancing firm cites an estate agent, Jacob Briggs from Open House, Colchester.

He says: “I have been working with Zen Move for four months now and it has been such a refreshing experience. Sadly, it has become normal not to hear from conveyancers for a matter of weeks or even months. However, this is not the case with Zen Move.”