A conveyancing solicitor is a qualified solicitor who has chosen to specialise in property transactions. They most commonly undertake residential sale and purchase work, however they can also be involved in commercial conveyancing, lease extensions, enfranchisement and equity release.
They are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, which is the regulatory body for solicitors in England and Wales.
A Licensed Conveyancer is a legal professional who has trained to become a specialist in property law, and most commonly handles sale and purchase property transactions in the same way a conveyancing solicitor would.
As a property lawyer they are highly skilled specialists in conveyancing and as such should provide the same level of service to their customers as a law firm would.
They are regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (the governing body for licensed conveyancing) and as such any work carried out by them should be to current best practice standards.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is the body that regulates the professional conduct of solicitors in England and Wales.
In 2004, a report of the Review of the Regulatory Framework for Legal Services in England and Wales was conducted, which recommended that professional bodies such as the Law Society should separate out their regulatory responsibilities from their responsibilities as representatives of their members.
This brought about the formation of the SRA in 2007, as a result of the Legal Services Act 2007. Whilst the Law Society remains the representative body for solicitors, the SRA is now responsible for their regulation.
The SRA is mandated to regulate both firms and individual solicitors in the best interests of the public.
The SRA sets the minimum professional standards that solicitors are expected to uphold and adhere to at all time. This ensures that their clients get a high standard of service, and as such should ensure that customer dissatisfaction is a rare occurrence.
Whilst they will deal with complaints brought by clients that have not been satisfied with the service provided by their solicitor, they do not act in cases where a customer is not happy with the action that a firm or solicitor has taken.
When the standards set out by the SRA are not met by a solicitor, professional sanctions can be taken.
Where a customer feels that they have a case for compensation as a result of the actions of a solicitor, they may contact the Legal Ombudsman if they feel they have been unable to reach a satisfactory outcome by speaking with their solicitor directly.