What is the Law Society’s role in property transactions?

Last updated: 8 September 2026

The Law Society is the representative body for solicitors in England and Wales.  In conveyancing its influence is practical rather than regulatory: it publishes the standard forms almost every residential transaction runs on, it maintains the Conveyancing Protocol, and it operates the Conveyancing Quality Scheme that many lenders treat as a condition of panel membership.  It does not regulate solicitors.  That is the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and the two are routinely confused.

Representative body, not regulator

The distinction matters when something goes wrong.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority sets the rules solicitors must follow, investigates breaches and imposes sanctions.  The Law Society represents the profession, produces practice guidance and develops the tools solicitors use.  Complaints about service go to the Legal Ombudsman, not to either.

So when a conveyancing firm says it works to Law Society standards, that is a statement about the forms, the protocol and the scheme it belongs to.  It is not a statement about who regulates it.

The forms

The Law Society TA forms are the closest thing residential conveyancing has to a common language.

The TA6 is the property information form, completed by the seller and covering boundaries, disputes, alterations, planning consents, services and the rest.  The TA7 covers leasehold information.  The TA10 records fittings and contents.  The TA13 handles completion information and undertakings between the two firms.

Their value is that a fee earner opening a file knows exactly what they are looking at.  Any system producing property information for a transaction either outputs into these forms or asks a solicitor to work from something unfamiliar, and the second option is a delay dressed up as innovation.

The Conveyancing Protocol and CQS

The Conveyancing Protocol is the Law Society’s prescribed set of steps for a residential transaction, setting out what each side does and in what order.

The Conveyancing Quality Scheme is its accreditation for firms undertaking residential conveyancing, covering practice management, case handling and integrity.  Membership requires adherence to the Protocol.  For most firms the commercial significance is lender panels, since a number of lenders use CQS membership as a condition of appointment.

Where the Law Society sits in the reform programme

Government has named it as one of the bodies it will work with as the transaction moves onto a digital footing.

The Home Buying and Selling Reform Roadmap, published in June 2026, says government will work with representative and regulatory bodies including the Law Society, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, the Conveyancing Association, the Digital Property Market Steering Group and the Home Buying and Selling Council towards an agreed level of digital security for logbooks and sales packs.

That is worth noting for what it implies.  The forms and standards are not being replaced by the reform programme.  They are being carried into it.

What a Law Society licence means for a platform

The forms are the Law Society’s intellectual property and their use is licensed.

hop holds that licence, which is why its output arrives as forms and data standards a conveyancer already recognises rather than as a proprietary report someone has to translate.  It is a narrow, practical credential and it is worth describing narrowly: it concerns the forms and data standards hop produces, and nothing more.

Frequently asked questions

Does the Law Society regulate solicitors?

No.  The Law Society is the representative body for solicitors in England and Wales.  Regulation is carried out by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and service complaints are handled by the Legal Ombudsman.

What are the Law Society TA forms?

The standard conveyancing forms.  TA6 is the property information form, TA7 covers leasehold information, TA10 records fittings and contents, and TA13 covers completion information and undertakings.

What is the Conveyancing Quality Scheme?

The Law Society’s accreditation for firms doing residential conveyancing, covering practice management, case handling and integrity, and requiring adherence to the Conveyancing Protocol.  A number of lenders use it as a condition of panel membership.

What does a Law Society licence allow a platform to do?

Use the Law Society forms and data standards in its output, so information arrives in a format solicitors already work from.

Work in the forms your firm already uses

Any property information you receive should arrive in something a fee earner can open without translating it first.

Get in touch to set your firm up, or see what a completed file looks like.

This article is general information about the regulatory position and is not legal advice.