Free Conveyancing

Are the legal/conveyancing fees not simply subsumed into the selling agent's fees?

[broken link removed]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]How does Free Conveyancing Limited make a profit from offering free conveyancing?
All Accredited Agents pay Free Conveyancing Limited a proportion of the commission that they charge the vendor for selling the Property. That proportion is shared between the Solicitor undertaking the conveyance and Free Conveyancing Limited.[/FONT]
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Before you respond with this:
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Does the vendor pay any more to Accredited Agents that participate in the Free Conveyancing Scheme?
No the vendor pays the Accredited Agent his usual fee. The Accredited Agent is in effect prepared to take less by offering the Free Conveyancing Scheme to encourage sellers to use them. [/FONT]
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that could simply mean that all clients pay more even if they don't avail of the "free" conveyancing scheme.

I very much doubt that it is really "free". If it is then good luck to those involved in it as I can't see them surviving in business.

P.S. Do you have any involvement or association with this business?
 
I really wonder how many people are so naive that they are happy to allow an auctioneer, of all people, to select a solicitor to act on their behalf and to advise them on matters such as problems with title etc that may arise in the context of a property transaction?

This sounds like another example of the conflicts of interest highlighted in this thread http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=81880
 
Seems like you can select your own solicitor from the panel. Or am I wrong here?
 
Also - don't forget that the alleged "free" offer "only" applies to the solicitor's professional conveyancing fee and not other costs:
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Will I have to pay anything to my Solicitor if the sale completes?
Yes. You will have to pay him for what is known as outlay. These are costs that your Solicitor had had to pay to third parties in relation to the transaction such as the cost of conducting searches at the Land Registry or obtaining copy documents. These costs will be explained to you by your Solicitor at the time you enter into your retainer agreement with him.[/FONT]
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seems like an ok deal but I don't get the attraction of the scheme to the participating estate agents - it only attracts sellers to use their service (no shortage of sellers, last time I looked). I thought the main problem for estate agents is attracting purchasers! Does the scheme offer purchasers anything?
 
tomdaly said:
Well obviously
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Obviously what? That it only (supposedly) applies to the solicitor's professional conveyancing fee and not outlays etc.? This will probably NOT be obvious to many people who see "free" and don't understand the composition of the ultimate "legal" bill that they receive. I feel that it's worth calling a spade a spade even if some things might be obvious to experts like yourself.
 
It's worth noting that tomdaly's only contributions to Askaboutmoney to date have been starting and continuing this thread. He has also avoided ClubMan's question about whether or not he has any connection with the "free" conveyancing site.

Visitors to Askaboutmoney can draw their own conclusions from this.
 
It does raise questions alright...however it's equally fair to say that solicitors and auctioneers would have a motive for attacking a poster suggesting/recommending a service such as this. Perhaps TomDaly could, as Clubman suggested, clarify his relationship if any to this service?
 
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