Regulatory Bodies Explained: SRA vs CLC

In England and Wales, conveyancing solicitors are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), while licensed conveyancers are regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC). Both bodies set qualifying standards, hold professional indemnity insurance requirements, and run a complaints process that ultimately leads to the Legal Ombudsman if things go wrong. Neither regulator is objectively "stricter" or "better" in a way that should decide your choice on its own.

If you've started looking into who might handle your house purchase or sale, you've probably noticed these two acronyms floating about on firms' websites, usually tucked away in a footer somewhere in tiny print. It's easy to skim past them. But understanding what SRA and CLC actually mean, and what protections they give you as a consumer, is genuinely useful before you commit to paying someone several hundred pounds to handle one of the biggest transactions of your life.

Quick note before we get into it: I write about the conveyancing process for a living, but I'm not a solicitor, and I'm not a licensed conveyancer either. Nothing in this article is personal legal advice, and it shouldn't be treated as a substitute for speaking to a regulated professional about your specific transaction. Think of this as background reading that'll help you ask better questions when you do.

This guide walks through what each regulator does, how they differ in practice, what happens if you need to complain, and how you can quickly check whether the person handling your transaction is actually who they say they are.

Table of contents

• What is the SRA?
• What is the CLC?
• How the two regulators compare
• Complaints and redress: what happens if something goes wrong
• Insurance and financial protection
• How to check someone's regulatory status
• Does the regulator affect the quality of service?
• So which one should you choose?
• FAQs about SRA and CLC regulation
• Summary and what to do next

What is the SRA?

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is the independent body that regulates solicitors and law firms in England and Wales. It sits at arm's length from the Law Society, which is the professional association that represents solicitors' interests, whereas the SRA's job is specifically consumer protection and professional standards.

Solicitors qualify through a broad legal training route. Historically that meant a law degree (or a conversion course) followed by the Legal Practice Course and a training contract, though the profession has been moving towards the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) as the standard route. Either way, the training covers law generally, not just property, before many solicitors go on to specialise in areas like conveyancing, family law, wills and probate, or litigation.

What the SRA actually regulates

• Who is allowed to call themselves a solicitor and practise
• The conduct rules solicitors and firms must follow (the SRA Standards and Regulations)
• Minimum levels of professional indemnity insurance
• Handling of client money, including strict rules on how client accounts are run
• Investigating conduct complaints and taking disciplinary action where needed

One thing worth knowing: a solicitor doesn't have to work in a traditional "solicitors' firm" in the way you might picture. Plenty of SRA-regulated solicitors work within conveyancing-only practices that look and operate very similarly to licensed conveyancer firms, just with solicitors doing the legal work instead.

The SRA also took over most of its current regulatory functions from the Law Society back in 2007, following a wider push across professional services to separate the body that represents a profession's interests from the body that polices it. That split matters conceptually, even if most home buyers never think about it: the SRA has no incentive to defend solicitors over consumers, its entire purpose is consumer protection, funded through practising fees paid by solicitors and firms themselves.

How solicitors are actually monitored day to day

It's not just a one-off licensing check when someone qualifies. Firms have to submit information annually, hold professional indemnity cover that meets minimum standards, and can be subject to spot checks or investigations if concerns are raised. Individual solicitors also have ongoing obligations around continuing competence, essentially keeping their knowledge current rather than qualifying once and never revisiting it.

What is the CLC?

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers is a separate regulator, established specifically to oversee licensed conveyancers, a profession created by Parliament in the 1980s to open up conveyancing work beyond solicitors alone. Before that point, solicitors held something close to a monopoly on residential conveyancing in England and Wales.

Licensed conveyancers train specifically in property law and practice from day one. There's no detour through criminal law, family law or contract law more broadly, the training is focused on conveyancing (and, for some, probate) throughout.

What the CLC actually regulates

• Qualification and licensing of individual conveyancers
• Licensing and monitoring of CLC-regulated firms (sometimes called "licensed conveyancer practices")
• Professional indemnity insurance requirements for firms it regulates
• Client account rules, broadly comparable in spirit to the SRA's
• Complaints handling and disciplinary processes

The CLC also regulates a small number of firms for probate work specifically, which is a slightly less well known part of its remit but relevant if a transaction is tied up with an estate.

The CLC is a smaller regulator than the SRA simply because the profession it oversees is smaller and more tightly focused. It was set up under the Administration of Justice Act 1985, at a time when opening up conveyancing beyond solicitors was seen as a way to increase competition and choice for consumers. Almost four decades later, licensed conveyancers are a well established, entirely mainstream part of the property market, not some newer or lesser alternative.

How licensed conveyancer firms are monitored

Much like the SRA's approach, the CLC requires annual returns, ongoing insurance cover, and can investigate firms where issues are flagged. The CLC has also been notably active in encouraging digital case management and online client portals across the firms it regulates, something worth bearing in mind if you personally prefer to track your transaction online rather than through phone calls and letters.

How the two regulators compare

Here's the thing that surprises a lot of people: for residential conveyancing specifically, both regulators require broadly similar core protections. Minimum insurance levels, client money protection, a complaints process, a public register you can check. The differences are more about scope and training route than about the level of consumer protection you get on a standard house move.

Side by side, roughly speaking

• Scope of qualification: SRA solicitors train across law generally; CLC conveyancers train specifically in property (and sometimes probate)
• Types of firm regulated: the SRA regulates the full range of law firms, from high street generalists to City firms; the CLC regulates specialist conveyancing and probate practices
• Size of the profession: there are far more SRA-regulated solicitors nationally than CLC-licensed conveyancers, simply because solicitors cover every area of law, not just property
• Public register: both bodies maintain a searchable register of who they regulate
• Complaints route: both ultimately funnel unresolved complaints to the Legal Ombudsman

Neither regulator publishes anything suggesting one produces measurably better conveyancing outcomes than the other. Honestly, the quality of your experience will depend far more on the individual firm and the individual person handling your file than on which regulator's logo sits at the bottom of their website.

Complaints and redress: what happens if something goes wrong

This is probably the part people care about most, even if they don't realise it until something's actually gone wrong. So what's the actual process?

Step by step, roughly

1. Raise the issue directly with the firm first, in writing, and give them a chance to respond through their internal complaints procedure
2. If you're not satisfied with their response, or they haven't dealt with it within a reasonable time (usually eight weeks), you can escalate
3. For solicitors, escalation beyond the firm can go to the Legal Ombudsman for service complaints, or to the SRA directly for serious conduct or misconduct issues
4. For licensed conveyancers, the equivalent path is the Legal Ombudsman for service issues, or the CLC for conduct matters
5. The Legal Ombudsman can, where justified, direct a firm to put things right, reduce fees, or pay compensation up to a set limit

Both routes exist, both are free to use as a consumer, and both are designed to give you somewhere to go if a firm's own complaints process doesn't resolve things. It's not a perfect system, complaints can take time, but the safety net is there regardless of which regulator you're dealing with.

Insurance and financial protection

One of the less glamorous but genuinely important protections both regulators require is professional indemnity insurance (PII). This is insurance the firm itself must hold, which exists to compensate clients if the firm makes a mistake that causes financial loss.

Why this matters practically

• It means that if your solicitor or conveyancer makes a professional error, there's an insurance policy standing behind them, not just their own resources
• Both regulators set minimum cover levels that firms must maintain
• Both also operate arrangements for run-off cover if a firm closes down, so claims can still be made even after a firm stops trading
• Client money (your deposit, for example) is held in a separate, protected client account under strict rules from both regulators

This is one area where, again, the practical protection is broadly comparable whichever regulator is involved. It's a reasonable question to ask a firm directly though: what's your PII cover, and are you up to date with your regulator's requirements? A properly regulated firm should answer that without hesitation.

How to check someone's regulatory status

This bit takes about two minutes and it's worth doing before you instruct anyone, not after.

For a solicitor or SRA-regulated firm

• Use the SRA's "Check a solicitor's record" tool on the SRA website
• Search by the individual's name or the firm's name
• Confirm the firm shows as currently authorised, and check for any disciplinary history noted

For a licensed conveyancer or CLC-regulated firm

• Use the CLC's public register on its website
• Search by firm name or individual name
• Confirm current licensing status

If a firm's name doesn't appear on either register, that's a red flag worth asking about directly. Legitimate firms are used to being asked this question and shouldn't be at all bothered by it.

Does the regulator affect the quality of service?

Not in any way either body would claim, and not in any way that's been reliably demonstrated. Quality of service in conveyancing tends to hinge on things that have nothing to do with which regulator is involved: how experienced the individual case handler is, how many files they're juggling at once, how clearly they communicate, and how well the firm is organised internally.

A newly qualified solicitor at a busy volume conveyancing factory and an experienced licensed conveyancer running their own small practice could give you wildly different experiences, and the regulator tells you nothing about which is which. What actually predicts a good experience is things like reviews mentioning communication, a named point of contact, realistic turnaround times, and a fee structure that's clear from the outset.

There's also a broader point worth making here. People sometimes assume "solicitor" automatically signals more seniority or more experience than "licensed conveyancer", perhaps because the word solicitor carries a certain cultural weight. In reality, a licensed conveyancer with fifteen years of property-only experience will usually run rings around a solicitor who's only handled a handful of conveyancing files as part of a broader caseload. Experience in the specific area of work matters more than the label on the door.

So which one should you choose?

For most standard residential transactions, either an SRA-regulated solicitor or a CLC-regulated licensed conveyancer will be well equipped to handle the job. The decision genuinely comes down to the individual firm, not the regulatory body.

Reasonable ways to decide

• Get quotes from a mix of both and compare price, service promises, and how responsive they are before you've even signed anything
• If your situation overlaps with another legal matter (probate, a divorce settlement, a complex trust), a solicitor's broader legal training might be genuinely useful
• If you want a specialist who does nothing but property transactions, a licensed conveyancer might suit you well
• Either way, check the regulatory register before instructing anyone

FAQs about SRA and CLC regulation

Is a licensed conveyancer as qualified as a solicitor?
For conveyancing work specifically, yes. Licensed conveyancers are trained and licensed specifically to carry out property transactions, and they're subject to their own regulatory framework through the CLC in the same way a solicitor is regulated by the SRA.

Can a licensed conveyancer do everything a solicitor can do on a house move?
For the vast majority of standard residential sales and purchases, yes. Where things can differ is on matters that spill over into other areas of law, where a solicitor's wider training may be more relevant.

Who do I complain to if I'm unhappy with my conveyancing solicitor?
Start with the firm's own complaints procedure. If that doesn't resolve things, the Legal Ombudsman handles service complaints for both solicitors and licensed conveyancers, while the SRA deals with more serious conduct issues.

Is my money safe if I use a CLC-regulated firm rather than an SRA-regulated one?
Both regulators require client money to be held in protected client accounts under strict rules, and both require firms to carry professional indemnity insurance. The practical protection is broadly similar either way.

How do I check if a conveyancing firm is properly regulated?
Use the SRA's online register for solicitors, or the CLC's public register for licensed conveyancers. Both take just a couple of minutes to search and will confirm current authorisation status.

Does it cost more to use a solicitor instead of a licensed conveyancer?
Not necessarily. Fees vary far more by individual firm, location, and property value than by which regulator oversees them. Always compare actual quotes rather than assuming either option is automatically cheaper.

Summary and what to do next

• Solicitors are regulated by the SRA and train broadly across law before often specialising in conveyancing
• Licensed conveyancers are regulated by the CLC and train specifically in property transactions from the start
• Both regulators require professional indemnity insurance, protected client accounts, and a formal complaints process
• Neither regulator has been shown to produce better outcomes than the other for standard residential transactions
• Always check a firm's status on the relevant public register before instructing them
• Focus your decision on the individual firm's reviews, communication style, and fee structure rather than the regulator's initials

As I said up top, I'm a blogger covering the conveyancing world, not a solicitor or licensed conveyancer myself, so please treat this as general orientation rather than advice tailored to your own transaction. Your specific circumstances, especially anything unusual about the property or the wider legal picture, should always be discussed with a properly regulated professional before you make a decision.

Need help or have questions?

I can't give you legal advice on your specific purchase or sale, that's not what this blog is for, but I can point you towards more guides on choosing between solicitors and licensed conveyancers, understanding fees, and what to expect at each stage of a transaction.

If there's something specific you're trying to work out, our contact form is the quickest way to reach us. Just send your question through and we'll get back to you.

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This article is provided for general information by a blog, not a law firm, and it isn't a substitute for personalised advice from a qualified solicitor or licensed conveyancer regarding your own transaction.