Ending fixed-fee conveyancing should save buyers money

SCRAPPING fixed conveyancing fees should save first-time house buyers money, an estate agent has said.

Goldridge Estate Agents director Kelvin Seeds backed the Channel Islands Competition and Regulatory Authorities' warning about advocates charging a fixed conveyancing rate – 0.75% of a property's value.

The regulator is currently in discussion with law firms and has given them a six-month grace period to comply with the new law, which seeks to promote competition by removing price fixing.

'At the moment, we don't know what individual practices will charge but it will give prospective purchasers the ability to shop around,' Mr Seeds said.

Martel Maides director Keith Enevoldsen said anecdotal evidence from Jersey suggested that the removal of the fixed rate had only affected the upper end of the housing market.

But PropertyLink director Kristina Edwards believed the new competition law could only benefit local buyers.