Merging solicitor and estate agent practices could be a viable business model for the future of conveyancing, the E-Homebuying Forum lobby group said this week. The group published a report containing 13 proposals to modernise the homebuying process.

Greater use of technology and the introduction of legally binding pre-contracts were also suggested.

The report says solicitors should make the most of the opportunities provided by the Legal Services Act to team up with non-lawyers and attract capital. Forum chairman Mark Riddick said one model could be an alliance between solicitors and estate agents. But he acknowledged the potential conflict between estate agents’ overt goal of earning commissions and the professional considerations dictating the way lawyers operate. ‘The challenge could be that the reputation of solicitors falls,’ he said.

The forum, made up of over 30 members across the homebuying industry, recommends the regulation of estate agents.

Law Society President Paul Marsh said that solicitors going into partnership with estate agents would ‘make sense’, so long as it was on the back of estate agency regulation.