International

EU Conveyancing

The study finds that consumers have greater choice and are on average paying less for conveyancing services under deregulated systems, with no loss in quality. With the market for conveyancing services worth some €17 billion per annum, the study finds that consumers have greater choice and are on average paying less for conveyancing services under deregulated systems, with no loss in quality.

The study led by the Centre of European Law and Politics (ZERP) at Bremen University analysed the conveyancing services (comprising, for example, pre-contract searches, transfer deed drafting, signature certification and deed registration in the Land Registry) of 21 European Union countries. It is the first of its kind and integrates a legal and an economic approach.

The legal part of the study assesses the justifications for restrictive professional regulation in this market. It concludes that, when put to the test, most of the arguments put forward do not seem to justify restrictions of the sort that feature in highly regulated systems.

The economic part examines, empirically, how professional regulation affects the market for conveyancing services by measuring the degree of regulation, the quality of services in a broad sense (using the results of a user survey), and the level of fees. It examines the interplay between these using different classical econometric methods and it concludes that high levels of regulation generally go hand in hand with high prices whilst not resulting in higher levels of quality.

The full 274 page report

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