Survey on provision of quotes or estimates for residential conveyancing work

The purpose of this survey is to obtain your feedback about how quotes are used in the residential conveyancing process and how you communicate these to your clients.

Clients are often unaware that there are fees such as stamp duty land tax when buying a property, and estate agent fees when selling, that need to be paid in addition to the conveyancing fee.

We will use your response to establish how we can best support you with the provision of costs to your clients.

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* 1. What is the main way that you obtain your residential conveyancing work?

by recommendation

by referral arrangement with estate agents

by referral arrangement with mortgage broker

by referral arrangement with developer/s

through panel arrangement

simply through prospective clients with no previous connection seeking a quote

other method (please specify in box below)

unsure/don't know

other method (please specify)

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* 2. If you answered that you obtain your residential conveyancing work by referral with estate agents, what type of estate agents does your firm principally receive these referrals from?
(If you did not tick this option go to Q3)

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* 3. How do you generate quotes to prospective clients?
(tick no more than 2)

using own in-house quote generation software

using software from some other provider

by some other means (please specify)

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* 4. If you answered 'using software from some other provider' in Q3 please answer the following, otherwise go straight to Q5

Which provider do you use?

How do you rate this provider? (on a scale of 1-10, where 1= poor and 10=excellent

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* 5. How do you communicate these quotes to your clients?

by telephone

by e-mail

by letter

by some other means (please specify)

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* 6. What form of communication is the most successful in terms of converting quotes to instructions?

by telephone

by e-mail

by letter

by some other means (please specify)

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* 7. Please indicate the conversion rate (% of quotes that become instructions) for the following methods of communication

by telephone

by e-mail

by letter

by some other means

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* 8. Do you quote:

on a broadly fixed fee basis (subject to unexpected issues arising during the transaction)

on an hourly rate

another basis (please specify)

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* 9. How easy/difficult would you describe the following parts of a transaction to do when providing costs information?

	very easy	easy	neither easy nor difficult	difficult	very difficult
leasehold landlords and management fees for dealing with enquiries and consents	leasehold landlords and management fees for dealing with enquiries and consents very easy	leasehold landlords and management fees for dealing with enquiries and consents easy	leasehold landlords and management fees for dealing with enquiries and consents neither easy nor difficult	leasehold landlords and management fees for dealing with enquiries and consents difficult	leasehold landlords and management fees for dealing with enquiries and consents very difficult
search fees	search fees very easy	search fees easy	search fees neither easy nor difficult	search fees difficult	search fees very difficult
stamp duty land tax generally	stamp duty land tax generally very easy	stamp duty land tax generally easy	stamp duty land tax generally neither easy nor difficult	stamp duty land tax generally difficult	stamp duty land tax generally very difficult
higher rate stamp duty land tax for purchases of additional properties	higher rate stamp duty land tax for purchases of additional properties very easy	higher rate stamp duty land tax for purchases of additional properties easy	higher rate stamp duty land tax for purchases of additional properties neither easy nor difficult	higher rate stamp duty land tax for purchases of additional properties difficult	higher rate stamp duty land tax for purchases of additional properties very difficult

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* 10. Please add any additional comments you would like to make on how easy/difficult undertaking transactions is

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* 11. Approximately what percentage of your firms conveyancing transactions result in follow on queries from your clients who have instructed you, about costs of the work you are proposing to do?

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* 12. What is the number of solicitors in your firm as a whole? (Please give the total number of solicitors employed across all offices and branches of your firm in England and Wales, but do not include solicitors employed in non-England and Wales offices/branches)

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* 13. What was the approximate total turnover (gross fee income in £) of your firm from residential conveyancing work in England and Wales in the last year for which you have figures?
(Numbers only, no £ sign)

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* 14. Please indicate the main regions where your firm has physical offices, and the main regions in which you carry out your residential conveyancing work:

(Select all that apply)

	Regions where my firm has physical offices	Regions where my firm does residential conveyancing work
North East	North East Regions where my firm has physical offices	North East Regions where my firm does residential conveyancing work
North West	North West Regions where my firm has physical offices	North West Regions where my firm does residential conveyancing work
Yorkshire and the Humber	Yorkshire and the Humber Regions where my firm has physical offices	Yorkshire and the Humber Regions where my firm does residential conveyancing work
East Midlands	East Midlands Regions where my firm has physical offices	East Midlands Regions where my firm does residential conveyancing work
West Midlands	West Midlands Regions where my firm has physical offices	West Midlands Regions where my firm does residential conveyancing work
East of England (Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk)	East of England (Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk) Regions where my firm has physical offices	East of England (Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk) Regions where my firm does residential conveyancing work
London	London Regions where my firm has physical offices	London Regions where my firm does residential conveyancing work
South East (excluding London)	South East (excluding London) Regions where my firm has physical offices	South East (excluding London) Regions where my firm does residential conveyancing work
South West	South West Regions where my firm has physical offices	South West Regions where my firm does residential conveyancing work
Wales	Wales Regions where my firm has physical offices	Wales Regions where my firm does residential conveyancing work

Thank you for taking the time to participate in our survey.

Question Title

* 1. What is the main way that you obtain your residential conveyancing work?

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* 2. If you answered that you obtain your residential conveyancing work by referral with estate agents, what type of estate agents does your firm principally receive these referrals from?(If you did not tick this option go to Q3)

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* 3. How do you generate quotes to prospective clients?(tick no more than 2)

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* 4. If you answered 'using software from some other provider' in Q3 please answer the following, otherwise go straight to Q5

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* 5. How do you communicate these quotes to your clients?

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* 6. What form of communication is the most successful in terms of converting quotes to instructions?

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* 7. Please indicate the conversion rate (% of quotes that become instructions) for the following methods of communication

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* 8. Do you quote:

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* 9. How easy/difficult would you describe the following parts of a transaction to do when providing costs information?

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* 10. Please add any additional comments you would like to make on how easy/difficult undertaking transactions is

Question Title

* 11. Approximately what percentage of your firms conveyancing transactions result in follow on queries from your clients who have instructed you, about costs of the work you are proposing to do?

Question Title

* 12. What is the number of solicitors in your firm as a whole? (Please give the total number of solicitors employed across all offices and branches of your firm in England and Wales, but do not include solicitors employed in non-England and Wales offices/branches)

Question Title

* 13. What was the approximate total turnover (gross fee income in £) of your firm from residential conveyancing work in England and Wales in the last year for which you have figures?(Numbers only, no £ sign)

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* 14. Please indicate the main regions where your firm has physical offices, and the main regions in which you carry out your residential conveyancing work:(Select all that apply)

* 2. If you answered that you obtain your residential conveyancing work by referral with estate agents, what type of estate agents does your firm principally receive these referrals from?
(If you did not tick this option go to Q3)

* 3. How do you generate quotes to prospective clients?
(tick no more than 2)

* 13. What was the approximate total turnover (gross fee income in £) of your firm from residential conveyancing work in England and Wales in the last year for which you have figures?
(Numbers only, no £ sign)

* 14. Please indicate the main regions where your firm has physical offices, and the main regions in which you carry out your residential conveyancing work:

(Select all that apply)