November 24, 2025
Solicitors
Recent discussion in the legal press—particularly James O’Donnell’s Law Gazette article of 7 November 2025—has highlighted a pressing issue for our profession: the need to reintroduce fixed-percentage fees for conveyancing. The current low fixed-fee model is not only unsustainable but increasingly unsafe. In addition to that, is the press release from the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government unveiled on 6th October 2025 that suggested the biggest shakeup in the homebuying ‘system’ could save first time buyers £710 on average!
A High-Risk Area Under High Pressure
Insurers continue to identify residential conveyancing as one of the leading sources of professional negligence claims. This reflects not poor competence, but the intense pressure conveyancers are under. Fee-earners now juggle a vast array of responsibilities: legal analysis, contract negotiation, compliance, risk assessment, investigation, project management, and the ever-expanding complexity of SDLT legislation. Increasingly, firms find themselves drifting into areas of complex SDLT and personal tax advice because clients assume the solicitor is responsible for all aspects of the transaction’s tax implications. COLPs and COFAs should take a firm stance on this issue. The regulatory risks associated with straying into bespoke tax advice are substantial, and the current fee model leaves no room for the additional time, insurance implications, or expertise required to do it safely.
SDLT alone has become a minefield of exceptions, reliefs, surcharges, and interpretative traps. Many clients assume their conveyancer is also their tax adviser, despite the fact that the tax regime has evolved into a specialist discipline in its own right. It is no longer sustainable—or responsible—for firms to absorb this risk without appropriate fee structures and support
Yet fees have not risen in step with the workload or the risk.
Educating Clients About Real Value
Part of the solution lies in educating clients. Many hesitate to invest in professional fees while happily spending similar sums on discretionary luxury goods. But conveyancing supports what is likely to be the single most expensive purchase of their lives. A solicitor’s expertise is not an optional extra; it is essential protection.
Clients must also understand that their lawyer is not a specialist tax adviser. With today’s increasingly complex tax regime, COLPs and COFAs should be steering firms away from giving bespoke SDLT or personal tax advice outside their scope and insurance cover.
Why Fixed-Percentage Fees Make Sense
O’Donnell’s argument reflects a truth many in the profession already recognise: the current model is broken. Reintroducing fixed-percentage fees is not simply a financial preference—it is a step toward safer practice, higher-quality service, and restored professional dignity in a heavily pressured area of law.
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