Solicitor vs Conveyancer: Does It Make a Difference?

This page is general information about who is allowed to carry out conveyancing in England and Wales. It is not legal advice and it is not a recommendation of one profession over the other. Ethical Conveyancing (TG Legal Services) is an introducer, not a regulated law firm. We introduce clients to panel solicitors regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), who do the legal work.

Last reviewed: 30 August 2026.

If you are buying, selling or remortgaging, the legal work has to be done by someone authorised to do it. In England and Wales that is typically a solicitor or a licensed conveyancer. Both can handle a residential property file. The useful distinction is who regulates them, not a folklore gap in “quality”.

Cost is a weak way to choose between the two titles. Cheap and expensive firms exist in both camps. What tends to change the experience is communication, caseload, and whether the quote is a genuine itemised fixed fee.

What each of them is

A solicitor is a lawyer whose professional title is regulated by the SRA. Training covers a broad base of law. Many solicitors then specialise; the ones on a conveyancing panel spend their working week on property files. A solicitor can also practise in other areas (wills, probate, litigation), but that is not automatically part of a conveyancing instruction and it is not why most people choose a conveyancing solicitor.

A licensed conveyancer is a specialist property lawyer regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC). The CLC authorises individuals and firms to carry out conveyancing (and, depending on the licence, related probate or other work). Licensed conveyancers are fully authorised for residential conveyancing. They are not a lesser or unofficial version of a solicitor.

Either can:

• act on a purchase, sale, remortgage or transfer of equity (within the scope of their authorisation);
• review title, raise enquiries, order searches, exchange and complete;
• act for a lender as well as a buyer, where they are on that lender’s panel.

So the job on a standard house move is largely the same. The regulator, the rulebook and the complaints route are different.

SRA and CLC — a neutral comparison

Neither column below is “better”. Both regulators require professional indemnity insurance, a code of conduct, and a client-money regime. Both have compensation arrangements if a firm fails. Both can investigate and discipline.

Official starting points: SRA and CLC. The Legal Ombudsman deals with service complaints about both.

What this table does not say: that the SRA’s framework is “broader” or “more comprehensive”, or that a CLC-regulated conveyancer is less able to do the file. Those claims are opinions. They do not belong on this page.

Our panel is SRA solicitors

Ethical Conveyancing only introduces you to solicitors regulated by the SRA. That is a panel choice, stated plainly. It is not an argument that licensed conveyancers are unsuited to conveyancing — they are authorised for this work.

Files are handled by a qualified solicitor with a team around them, under the Ethical Promise: fixed legal fee, no hidden extras on that fee, No Move, No Legal Fee (disbursements already incurred still payable), and proactive updates. We are the introducer; the solicitor on the file advises on the transaction.

If you specifically want a CLC-regulated firm, you would instruct one directly. We cannot place that work on our current panel.

Cost is not the differentiator

You will find solicitor quotes that undercut conveyancers, and the reverse. Headline legal fees for a straightforward freehold can look similar across both. The number that matters is the itemised figure: professional fee, VAT, searches, Land Registry, bank transfer, and any leasehold, new-build or shared-ownership supplement.

A “from £400” legal fee that leaves those extras unexplained is not cheaper; it is incomplete. Ethical’s legal fees start from £400 on a sale or purchase and from £230 on a remortgage, quoted as a fixed, itemised figure for the work described. The number for your file comes from the quote engine, not from this article. Market averages (legal fee + VAT + disbursements) sit much higher — reallymoving’s Q2 2026 index put an average purchase at £1,509 and a combined sale and purchase at £2,438. Those are third-party national averages, not our quote. How much does conveyancing cost in 2026?

When people are unhappy with a conveyancing file, the complaint is rarely “they were a solicitor” or “they were a conveyancer”. It is usually:

• Communication — having to chase for an update;
• Caseload — a file sitting because the fee-earner is covering too many matters;
• The quote — a low legal fee and a late invoice for “additional work” that was always going to be needed (leasehold notices, acting for the lender, a new-build protocol).

Those are the things to compare, on either side of the table. Ask who will actually run the file, how you will get updates, and what is in the fixed fee. FAQs.

Lender panels cut across the title as well. Some lenders accept both solicitors and licensed conveyancers; some have a list of firms, not professions. If your chosen firm is not on the lender’s panel, you can end up paying twice — once for your lawyer and once for the lender’s. That is a panel question, not an SRA-versus-CLC question.

Scotland and other UK jurisdictions

This comparison is about England and Wales. Scottish conveyancing is a different legal system (missives, different registers, LBTT). See Scotland conveyancing. CLC and SRA authorisation do not map onto Scotland in the same way.

Why people instruct through Ethical

Ethical Conveyancing is an introducer, not a regulated law firm. Panel solicitors do the legal work. What you get with us:

• Fixed legal fees — from £400 on a sale or purchase, from £230 on a remortgage. The legal fee we quote is the legal fee you pay. Disbursements (searches, Land Registry, and the like) sit on top.
• No Move, No Legal Fee — if the transaction does not complete, you do not pay our legal fee. Disbursements already incurred are still payable.
• A highly rated solicitor on our panel — not a call-centre file. Rated 4.9/5 or higher on review sites.
• A dedicated support manager and an online portal so you can track the file without chasing.
• A clear quote in under 60 seconds. We are not always the cheapest headline on a five-quote shop. We sell a fixed, itemised legal fee and a file you can actually follow.

Get a purchase, sale, sale and purchase or remortgage quote.

Frequently asked questions

Related reading

• The Ethical Promise
• How much does conveyancing cost in 2026?
• The conveyancing process, demystified
• FAQs
• Remortgage conveyancing (when live)