Estate agency income has a structural problem: it is concentrated in one commoditised fee. Sales commission gets squeezed by online agents at one end and fee-cutting rivals at the other, while the cost of winning each instruction keeps rising. Most agencies respond by chasing more volume of the same squeezed fee. The smarter response is usually diversification — and the most natural diversification available to an agent is sitting inside every sale you already agree.
The revenue line hiding in plain sight
Every transaction you broker needs conveyancing. Your seller needs a solicitor. Your buyer needs a solicitor. If they are moving rather than exiting, they need a combined sale-and-purchase matter. None of this is work you can do — you are not a law firm — but all of it is work you are perfectly placed to introduce, because you are standing next to the client at the exact moment they need it.
Conveyancing referrals have three properties that make them unusually good as a secondary revenue line. They are low friction: the client was going to need a solicitor anyway, so you are not selling anything new — you are answering a question they were about to ask. They are high margin: a referral takes minutes and carries no cost of delivery for you. And they are recurring: a buyer you refer today is a remortgage referral in two to five years, and a landlord client refinances repeatedly across a portfolio.
The maths, shown honestly
Commission on the ConveyQuote programme is agreed individually with you up front, fixed per case type, no clawback surprises. Here is how the arithmetic works for an independent agency completing around 50 sales a year, with the assumptions stated, because revenue projections without assumptions are marketing, not maths. The fees in this example are for illustration only. They are not ConveyQuote's rates: your commission is agreed with you individually.
| Revenue example: 50-transaction agency | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Referral opportunities (50 sales × buyer + seller) | 100 | 100 |
| Clients who accept your referral (40–60%) | 40 | 60 |
| Fee per completed transaction (illustrative) | £150 | £300 |
| Core annual referral revenue | £6,000 | £18,000 |
| Remortgage tail (prior-year buyers refinancing, years 2+) | +£1,000 | +£4,000 |
Scale the same arithmetic to a larger agency and the numbers grow in proportion. The honest caveats: uptake depends on how naturally your negotiators make the introduction, only completed transactions pay, and fall-throughs pay nothing (though a good platform lets you re-quote the same client for their next property in two clicks). Treat the low column as the planning number and the high column as what good habits unlock.
Setting it up without becoming a law firm
You cannot do conveyancing, and you should not want to — the regulatory and insurance burden is a business in itself (we compare the two routes in referral partnership vs in-house). What you need is a referral arrangement with four properties:
- Regulated delivery — the legal work sits with regulated conveyancers, so your name is attached to a protected, insured, ombudsman-backed service.
- Transparent fees — the referral fee is disclosed to the client, as the regulators' transparency rules require. Arrangements that hide the fee put your reputation at risk, not just the solicitor's.
- Fast, reliable quotes — the client should have a fixed, itemised figure within a working day, because slow conveyancing decisions are what stall your completions.
- Visibility — you should be able to see every case's status without phoning anyone, because "how's it going?" is a question your buyers ask you.
On ConveyQuote, that translates to a two-minute portal referral with an instant quote preview, your personal note on the client's quote, live case tracking through to completion, and a payments view that shows what you have earned matter by matter.
The habits that separate the low column from the high one
Make the introduction at offer-accepted, not at memorandum-of-sale. The client's appetite to sort conveyancing peaks in the first 48 hours after an offer is agreed; a week later they have been ambushed by comparison sites.
Introduce it as part of your service, not as a pitch. "We'll have a fixed conveyancing quote in your inbox by tomorrow — no obligation, and it keeps things moving" converts better than any sales script, because it is simply true.
Refer both sides. Most agents remember the buyer and forget their own seller. Both need solicitors; both are referrals.
Set expectations honestly. Tell the client a referral fee is involved and that their price is not inflated by it. Transparency converts sceptics — and it is also the rule, not a nicety.
Where ConveyQuote fits
ConveyQuote runs a transparent conveyancing referral programme for agents, brokers and introducers: two-minute portal referrals, reviewed fixed quotes, regulated panel solicitors, and commission agreed individually with you up front, fixed per case type, no clawback surprises. Start at the referral programme overview or read the partner FAQ.
Related reading: keeping your client while earning on the side · the agent's guide to conveyancing · why partners choose ConveyQuote.