Transparency cannot stop at the mortgage recommendation – Singh

The regulator’s commitment to Consumer Duty has only sharpened that focus further, placing even greater emphasis on ensuring customers understand costs, value and the products or services recommended to them.

Yet, there is still an uncomfortable contradiction sitting within parts of the conveyancing process.

On one hand, advisers are expected to provide complete clarity around rates, fees, affordability, suitability and protection needs. On the other, some are still expected to place clients into conveyancing arrangements where pricing structures can become opaque very quickly, where additional fees appear later in the process and where the customer experience can deteriorate almost as soon as the instruction is made.

That is no longer sustainable, nor should advisers be willing to accept it.

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Consumers see one transaction, not separate services

The reality is that consumers do not separate the mortgage journey into neat categories in the same way the industry often does.

They do not view the mortgage recommendation, the protection conversation and the conveyancing process, for example, as isolated transactions delivered by different firms operating independently of one another. Instead, they see one purchase or refinance transaction and one adviser relationship.

If something goes wrong during the conveyancing, the client rarely blames an – up until then – unknown third-party firm they have never dealt with before. They blame the process as a whole and, more often than not, if the adviser has recommended the conveyancing firm, you.

And, let’s be honest here, even if you’ve not provided the recommendation, they can still blame the adviser.

That is precisely why transparency within conveyancing matters so much.

For advisers, this is not simply about whether a legal fee initially appears competitive when compared to others. It is about whether the client is being given a genuinely fair and accurate view of the true cost from the outset, whether the service standards promised are realistic and whether the adviser can trust the firms and distributors they are working with to deliver the kind of experience clients increasingly expect.

The adviser’s responsibility does not end with the mortgage

In truth, the market is moving beyond simple lead generation or transactional referral models because advisers are becoming far more protective of the overall customer journey. They understand their value does not stop once the mortgage recommendation has been made and that remaining involved throughout the process helps strengthen client trust, improve retention and create better long-term relationships.

That is especially important in a market where consumers are already dealing with enough uncertainty around affordability, rates and moving costs. The last thing advisers should have to worry about is whether clients will later discover unexpected legal fees, confusing add-ons or poor communication that undermines confidence in the wider transaction.

This is where transparency becomes a genuine competitive advantage rather than simply a compliance requirement.

Conveyancing firms – and the distributors that provide access to them – who provide clearer pricing, better communication and faster intervention when issues arise are increasingly standing out. That’s because advisers want confidence that the experience being delivered reflects the standards they themselves are expected to uphold.

Advisers should not accept lower standards elsewhere in the process

Equally, advisers are becoming less tolerant of arrangements that place short-term commercial gain ahead of customer outcomes because they understand the reputational risk involved. If a client feels misled on fees or unsupported during the legal process, the damage does not stop with the conveyancer.

It reflects back on the adviser relationship as well.

That is why conveyancing should no longer be treated as a disconnected add-on sitting outside the adviser’s broader responsibility to the client.

Instead, it should be viewed as part of the same advice ecosystem, where fairness, transparency and communication standards need to remain consistent throughout.

Advisers are already expected to apply those principles across mortgages and protection, so it is entirely reasonable that they demand the same standards from the conveyancing firms and distribution partners they choose to work with.

Consumers certainly expect nothing less.

Transparency is now a business advantage

Ultimately, advisers have worked too hard building trust, improving outcomes and strengthening professionalism across financial services to allow avoidable issues elsewhere in the transaction to undermine that progress.

The firms that recognise this and help advisers maintain control, visibility and transparency across the entire client journey are likely to be the ones that stand out most over the next few years, particularly as consumers continue placing greater value on certainty, communication and trust during what remains one of the biggest financial decisions they will ever make.