The main difference between a solicitor and a conveyance firm is mostly semantics. Both are legal professionals, but a firm of solicitors may offer lots of legal services such as pensions and wills, personal injury claims, divorces and family settlements to name a few.

A conveyancer is a legal professional that specialises purely in property law. To work as a licensed conveyancer, they should have passed the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) exams and have relevant qualifications, which could be a law degree, a Legal Practice Course (LPC), a Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) or a pass from the Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx).

A conveyancer’s day-to-day duties include a range of things from pure advice and research to ensuring all paperwork is completed and filed legally for clients and in particular that contracts are drafted, signed and exchanged. Other responsibilities include conducting ‘searches’ – asking local authorities about anything that might affect the property, talking to mortgage lenders, estate agents and solicitors and paying taxes like stamp duty and recording these payments.

Most solicitors can offer all of the above too, but sometimes can offer additional services that will only become of interest when you buy a house. For example, if you have bought with a partner, you may decide to recognise who has put more of the money down for a deposit and want this legally registered. Or you may want to complete a pre-nuptial if you are buying a house and getting married, with one of you being the majority owner. In these cases, it is easier to deal with a firm that can help with all of these different aspects of the law.

Whether you are buying or selling, you have a massive choice between the different conveyancer firms and solicitors available. How you pick from the different options can be mind-blowing. It is always good to get a recommendation or a referral, but if you have no idea where to start, check out who is in your area locally.

If you are thinking of buying or selling your home, you may find some of these services useful: