A recent posting on The Law Forum highlighted a new venture called Partner Property ("PP") being promoted by ipacks2go and eTech. In essence, the scheme aims to provide "'t]he ideal revenue stream replacement for HIPs". If the seller decides to use one of PP's "legal partners", the Energy Performance Certificate ("EPC") is free. The Domestic Energy Assessor then gets paid for the EPC and, on completion, receives a share of the conveyancing fees, which can be split with the Estate Agent.
As I commented at the time, this appears to be yet another attempt to "hijack" Solicitors' Clients. To try to combat such threats, why don't Solicitors offer similar incentives? They could, for example, arrange the EPC and then refund its cost (about £50) if they deal with the conveyancing. A group of local firms could join together for advertising and marketing purposes and still offer Clients freedom of choice between local, quality firms. Such a proposition could also alert unsuspecting potential Clients to the alternative being advanced by PP and others.
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