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Licensed conveyancer or solicitor: which do you need?

On a normal sale or purchase the two do the same work under the same law. Differences show at the edges of the file. That is where this page spends its time.

Last updated 6 min read

Both do the same job to the same standard on a straightforward sale, purchase, remortgage or transfer of equity. Nothing on the register records which one acted. Where the matter needs advice outside property law, a solicitor is the better choice. Property Law Online is a property law service for England and Wales.

How does a licensed conveyancer differ from a solicitor?

Both are qualified and regulated. Each can do the reserved work a transfer needs, so what follows is the honest list of what separates them, solicitor advantages included.

Licensed conveyancer compared with Solicitor
What differsLicensed conveyancerSolicitor
What they are qualified inProperty law and practice, and nothing else. Every CLC practice can also administer oaths, and some hold probate. Schedule 4 to the Legal Services Act 2007 makes the CLC an approved regulator for three reserved activities: reserved instrument activities, the administration of oaths and probate activities. Checked 20 September 2026.Any field of law. Many solicitors never open a title register.
Who regulates themCouncil for Licensed Conveyancers, an approved regulator under Schedule 4 to the Legal Services Act 2007.Solicitors Regulation Authority, under the same Act.
Training routeThe CLC Level 4 and Level 6 Diplomas in Conveyancing Law and Practice, with 1,200 hours of supervised practice over 24 months, then a licence renewed every year.A degree or equivalent, SQE1 and SQE2, two years of qualifying work experience, and the SRA character and suitability requirements.
What they can and cannot do on a property matterAll of the transaction: contract, searches, enquiries, report on title, exchange, completion, tax return, registration. Plus the administration of oaths, and probate, wills, trusts, lasting powers of attorney and estate administration where the practice holds those permissions. Property Law Online holds no probate permission and does not obtain grants or administer estates. Outside the licence: no litigation and no family work. Tax advice only where it is ancillary to the regulated service, with independent advice recommended.All of it, plus anything else you need at once, though in practice a solicitor who does no property work should not take a conveyancing file.
Who holds your money, and how it is protectedAn audited client account under the CLC accounts rules, with compulsory indemnity insurance of at least 2 million pounds for each and every claim, and a compensation fund behind it.A client account under the SRA Accounts Rules, backed by the SRA Compensation Fund, which makes discretionary grants of up to 2 million pounds a claim and asks for claims within twelve months of the loss coming to light (SRA Compensation Fund Rules 2021, checked 20 September 2026).
Complaints route and ombudsmanYour firm first, eight weeks, then the Legal Ombudsman, within one year of the problem and six months of the firm's final response. Conduct goes to the CLC.Same two stages. Conduct goes to the SRA.
CostAlmost always a fixed fee, quoted in full before you instruct, so the figure is known at the outset.Fixed fees are normal too. Hourly rates appear on anything unusual, and other departments must be funded.
Lender panel membershipFirm by firm, not regulator by regulator. Each lender sets its own panel criteria and does not publish them as a single standard. Ask before you instruct.Also firm by firm. Some require the Conveyancing Quality Scheme, whose rules require the practice to be regulated by the SRA.
If the matter turns contentiousNo litigation. A licensed conveyancer does not act on the dispute; you take your own advice from a litigation specialist, and the conveyancing carries on alongside where it can.A litigation department can take it in house. Not every firm has one, so ask.

Neither column wins outright. Two things matter more than qualification: whether the person doing the work does conveyancing daily, and whether you can reach them.

When is a licensed conveyancer the right choice?

Most residential matters. If the transaction is a transaction and nothing more, the specialist is the sensible pick.

A standard freehold sale or purchase
One title, one buyer, one seller, a mortgage each side. See buying and selling.
A leasehold flat, or a lease extension
Management pack, ground rent, the term left, the deed of variation nobody mentioned. See lease extension.
A remortgage or a transfer of equity
Redeem, transfer, report to the lender, register. See remortgage and transfer of equity.
A Land Registry application on its own
A first registration, a death of a joint proprietor, a restriction to enter or remove. Registry work punishes the occasional user.
You want a fixed fee, one handler
Specialists know what the job contains. So they price the whole thing up front.

Should you use a solicitor instead?

These are the files where we say so ourselves. A conveyancer who tells you a solicitor is never needed is selling, not advising.

The boundary is genuinely disputed
A neighbour has moved a fence and will not move it back. That is a claim, not a conveyancing problem. Read boundary disputes, then take litigation advice.
Court or tribunal is in prospect
Specific performance against a seller who will not complete, a claim over a breached covenant, a service charge application, and the conduct of litigation on any of them is a separate reserved activity under Schedule 2 to the Legal Services Act 2007 and sits outside a conveyancing licence. Checked 20 September 2026.
A trust or a tax question sits underneath
A trust holding the title, a deed of variation with inheritance tax consequences, a non-resident owner with a gains position. Moving the property is the easy part.
Probate with a dispute in it
A challenged will, a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, executors at war. A licensed conveyancer does not act on the dispute: the executors or beneficiaries take their own advice from a contentious probate specialist. Our selling a parent's house page covers the executor sale where nothing is in dispute.
One piece of a bigger legal problem
Divorce proceedings, a business sale with the premises in it, an insolvency. One firm should hold the whole picture.

Is a licensed conveyancer as good as a solicitor?

Wrong question, wrong shape. Neither title tells you whether the person opening your file is good at conveyancing. Licensed conveyancers hold a qualification aimed at one thing, examined and then licensed annually, while a solicitor holds a general qualification which may or may not have been followed by twenty years of property work. Both routes produce excellent property practitioners. They produce poor ones too.

On a purchase the work does not vary by title: same contract, same searches, same enquiries, same report on title, same tax return, same application to HM Land Registry. Land Registry treats them identically, and the register does not say who acted. Differences bite elsewhere.

Who regulates licensed conveyancers?

One regulator: the Council for Licensed Conveyancers. Created by the Administration of Justice Act 1985 to open conveyancing to a second profession, the Council itself is established by section 12 of that Act, and it is now an approved regulator under Schedule 4 to the Legal Services Act 2007 for reserved instrument activities, the administration of oaths and probate activities. Checked 20 September 2026. It sets the qualification, licenses individuals, authorises firms and inspects them against its own accounts rules.

Client money is the part people want to know about. It is ring-fenced. Completion funds sit in a client account kept apart from firm money and audited annually, with compulsory indemnity insurance behind them, on minimum terms the CLC sets at 2 million pounds for each and every claim and six years of run-off cover at 2 million pounds in all when a practice closes, and a CLC compensation fund for money lost through dishonesty, negligence or a failure to account. The fund is discretionary and a fund of last resort: you pursue the practice and its insurance first, and an application has to reach the CLC within six months of the loss coming, or reasonably coming, to your attention. The CLC publishes no maximum figure, though it reserves the power to set limits by claimant, by practice or by type of claim. Sources: Administration of Justice Act 1985 section 21, the CLC minimum terms and the CLC Compensation Fund policy statement, checked 20 September 2026. Service complaints go to the firm, then the Legal Ombudsman, whose remit covers CLC practices as it covers SRA firms. Under the Scheme Rules in force from 1 April 2023 you go to the firm first and can come to the Ombudsman if it is unresolved after eight weeks, and in any event within one year of the act or omission, or of when you should reasonably have known there was a problem, and within six months of the firm's written final response where that response carried the required signposting. An ombudsman can extend those limits, and the maximum award is 50,000 pounds. There is no charge to complain. Checked 20 September 2026.

Will my mortgage lender accept a licensed conveyancer?

It depends on the lender and the firm, so ask before you instruct. Panel membership is a commercial decision each lender takes about each firm and not about regulators, and no published source sets out which lenders accept whom, so we will not give you a proportion. Ask, because the consequence is a money one: if your conveyancer is not on your lender's panel, the lender instructs its own and you pay two sets of costs on one transaction.

One point is easily confused. Conveyancing Quality Scheme accreditation comes from the Law Society, and rule 5.1 of its scheme rules, in the version of November 2024, requires the practice to be regulated by the SRA. So a CLC regulated practice cannot hold it, whoever works there. The Law Society Conveyancing Protocol is not restricted in the same way. Checked 20 September 2026. Its absence says nothing about quality.

What happens if my matter turns out to need a solicitor?

It can happen, and it should be said out loud the moment it does. A neighbour objects to the extension you disclosed, or a tax question appears that is bigger than the transfer sitting on top of it. That work falls outside a conveyancing licence, so a licensed conveyancer does not act on it, and you take your own advice from someone who does that work.

Where a will is disputed, a licensed conveyancer does not act on the dispute. The executors or beneficiaries take their own advice from a contentious probate specialist. For one problem usually solved without a court, see restrictive covenant. Watch for the opposite: a firm that keeps a matter it cannot handle has put its fee ahead of your file.

Key takeaways

  • On a normal sale, purchase or remortgage, both do the same work under the same law.
  • A licensed conveyancer is a property specialist. Solicitors hold a general qualification that may not include conveyancing.
  • Client money is protected on both sides: audited accounts, compulsory insurance, a compensation fund, an ombudsman.
  • Use a solicitor where the matter is contested, heading for court, or wrapped up in trusts or tax.
  • Panel membership is a lender decision. Confirm it with your lender before you instruct.

What this means for you

Is it a straightforward purchase? This is the service that handles it: a fixed fee agreed in writing, one named handler, and regular written updates from instruction to registration.

Read about buying a home

No obligation. Fixed fee confirmed in writing before anything starts.

Frequently asked questions

Is a licensed conveyancer cheaper than a solicitor?

Often, not always. Specialisation is the reason, not any difference in standards. Compare quotes on what is included, because search fees, the transfer charge, leasehold supplements and the registration fee vary far more between firms than the professional fee does.

Can a licensed conveyancer act on a leasehold flat?

Yes. Leasehold sits squarely within the licence: the management pack, apportionments, notices to the landlord, the deed of covenant, though a claim contested before the First-tier Tribunal is litigation and goes out.

Does HM Land Registry treat the two differently?

No. Both are conveyancers for the purposes of rule 217A of the Land Registration Rules 2003, which turns on being authorised to carry on reserved instrument activities and names no profession at all. Both give the certifications the registry relies on and face the same identity requirements. Checked 20 September 2026.

What if something goes wrong with my transaction?

Complain to the firm in writing first. If that fails, the Legal Ombudsman handles service complaints against CLC firms and solicitors alike, and where client money has gone through dishonesty, negligence or a failure to account the CLC compensation fund sits behind it, as a last resort and within six months of the loss coming to your attention. Neither route charges you to use it.

Do I need a solicitor to buy a house?

You need a conveyancer, and a licensed conveyancer meets that in full, since almost every lender requires a qualified one to act on the mortgage anyway. The rest of the purchase is on buying a home.

Can I switch part way through?

Yes, usually because nothing has happened for weeks. Expect to pay the first firm for work already done, and a short delay while the file transfers, though searches can often be relied on rather than reordered, where the provider's terms give reliance to you, to us and to your lender.

Related guides

Sources and further reading

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Written by the Property Law Online team

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