Conveyancing solicitors were given a resounding vote of confidence by the public this week as unpublished research seen by the Gazette revealed ‘stratospheric’ levels of satisfaction among consumers.

Some 93% of clients said they were happy with their solicitor’s performance. This comprised 65% who were ‘very satisfied’, and 28% who were ‘satisfied’. Only 5% said they were ‘dissatisfied’.

The survey of public attitudes to conveyancing services, which was based on interviews with more than 1,000 consumers, was conducted by independent polling company ComRes on behalf of the Solicitors Regulation Authority last December.

ComRes described satisfaction levels with solicitors as ‘stratospheric’, noting that the findings ‘indicated that those with experience of using a solicitor for conveyancing work recently are not just happy, but very happy’.

The complaints of the ‘incredibly low’ number of people who said they were dissatisfied related to the length of time taken to complete work without explanation for the delay, failure to be kept informed, poor communication and failure to tell them about the other side’s progress.

The report found that just over a fifth of the public had used a solicitor for conveyancing work in the past five years. The most popular factor for consumers in choosing a solicitor was whether they had used them before (27%), followed by a recommendation from someone they knew (24%).

The research showed that people were unlikely to use a solicitor recommended by an estate agent, with 40% saying they would not. That figure rose to 50% where the recommending agent would receive a commission as a result.

Of those who had instructed a conveyancing solicitor in the past five years, 80% said they were fairly (23%) or very (57%) likely to go back to them in the future.

Richard Barnett, chairman of the Law Society’s conveyancing and land law committee, said solicitors generally give very good service and standards improved year on year.

The full research results will be published on the SRA’s website in ­September.