Once an agency decides conveyancing should be a revenue line rather than a hand-off, there are two serious routes: partner with a referral platform whose panel solicitors do the work, or build — bring conveyancing in-house, whether by employing solicitors within an authorised structure or acquiring a licensed practice. Both are legitimate. They are not remotely similar in cost, risk or time-to-revenue, and choosing on instinct rather than numbers is how agencies end up with an expensive regret.
The comparison, side by side
| Factor | Referral partnership | In-house conveyancing |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | Nil. No joining fee, no subscription; the platform earns from the panel side. | Substantial: regulatory authorisation or acquisition, professional indemnity insurance, case management software, premises and salaries before the first file opens. |
| Time to first revenue | Days. Portal access, agreed rates, first referral the same week. | Many months at best. SRA authorisation (or licensed conveyancer routes via the CLC) is a process measured in months, before recruitment even starts. |
| Regulatory burden | Stays with the panel firms. Your obligation is an honest, disclosed introduction. | Becomes yours: supervision, compliance officers, accounts rules, AML programme, annual PII renewals, ombudsman exposure. |
| Capacity risk | Volume flexes with your sales pipeline; quiet months cost nothing. | Fixed salary base regardless of volume. A quiet quarter turns the revenue line into a cost centre. |
| Revenue per transaction | Agreed individually with you up front, fixed per case type, no clawback surprises. | The full legal fee (often £900–£1,500 + VAT per matter) — minus salaries, insurance, software, compliance and management time. |
| Scalability | Linear and effortless — more referrals, same two-minute process. | Step-functions: each tranche of growth needs another fee earner, more supervision, more insurance. |
Reading the table honestly
The in-house column is not a strawman — captive conveyancing works at serious scale. If your group completes many hundreds of transactions a year, captures most of them, and has the management bandwidth to run a regulated legal business properly, the margin on the full legal fee can justify the build. That is exactly why large corporate agencies operate in-house legal arms.
But the break-even is much further away than most agencies assume. A single competent conveyancer handles perhaps 60–80 active files; salary, supervision, insurance and software typically mean the first £100,000+ of annual legal fee income exists to cover costs, not profit. Below several hundred captured transactions a year, the arithmetic rarely clears — and the regulatory risk never goes away, even in quiet months.
The referral route inverts the shape: smaller revenue per matter, but essentially no cost, no fixed base, no regulatory exposure, and revenue from week one. For an independent or small-group agency, £6,000–£30,000 a year of near-pure margin (the maths is here) usually beats a loss-making law firm with your name on it.
The decision in one paragraph
If conveyancing is to be your business, build it properly and budget for the long runway. If conveyancing is to be a revenue line attached to your existing business, partner — and judge partners on the things that protect you: regulated panel, disclosed fees, reviewed quotes, and visibility of every case you refer.
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: partnerships for brokers and networks · the agent's guide to conveyancing.