I read with glee Mr Gafford’s letter ‘Conveyancing fee embarrassingly low’ (see [2010] Gazette, 4 March, 11), not because I take joy in other people’s angst, but because it’s about time that someone mentioned the elephant in the room.

An existing client asked me for a quote for a transaction concerning the same property we acted on previously. Of course, I obliged with our usual reasonable fee. The client responded with a link to a website of another firm offering the same service for half my fee, otherwise known as an ‘admin fee’.

Fortunately, I don’t embarrass myself or devalue my professional knowledge by working essentially ‘free of charge’. It pains me that conveyancers and solicitors do not stick together and uphold reasonable fees in an effort to preserve the status of this area of law. We provide specialist knowledge, and deal with volume correspondence and over-anxious, demanding clients, not to mention the professional liability we take on – all for a fraction of an agent’s commission.

I therefore find Mr Werth’s comments (see [2010] Gazette, 4 March, 6) that abolishing referral fees would mean ‘...far less competition in the marketplace with only large firms surviving’ a nonsense. It is referral fees that have led to ‘conveyancing factories’ lowering standards and fees, and sullying the reputation of what we property solicitors do. Abolishing them would provide a greater chance for recommendation on merit rather than budget.

Sajel Patel, Solicitor, TJM Law, Beckenham, Kent