It has been revealed that the Solicitors Regulation Authority has paid out compensation to consumers who were left in the dark after a conveyancing firm was closed down. The organisation has awarded £3 million to help customers whose conveyancing transactions have been left stranded by the closure of a Cheshire business. The money was administered by the SRA but came from the Compensation Fund. In addition to this and to give extra help to clients, the team has joined up with a Manchester Law Society group to launch a programme to aid consumers whose property transactions have been affected by the SRA intervention into the firm, in December. They have assembled a pool of Manchester-based firms who will be available to take on the work and complete transactions to decrease further delays. The closure occurred after the SRA investigated and suspended the practising certificates of five solicitors at the company, following allegations of dishonesty involving hundreds of thousands of pounds of clients’ money and breaches of accountancy rules. However, the managing partner denied any wrongdoing and it is understood that at least one of the solicitors involved is contesting the intervention. The SRA has appointed the Manchester firm as its agent to take custody of clients’ funds and files, and advise them of their options following the intervention. An SRA spokesman stated: “We are acutely aware of the inconvenience that has inevitably been caused to clients by closing this firm down. Our focus is on sorting out the files taken from [the group] as speedily as possible, enabling clients to instruct new solicitors. Our agent, in Manchester, has 38 people dealing with phone calls, and finding and releasing files.” Conveyancing firm plans new venture In similar news, it has been revealed that an online conveyancing website is planning to target larger intermediary and estate agency groups in 2010. The new venture was announced in partnership with an estate agent. The new pairing will undertake all their conveyancing work through the retail panel. Andrew Pollard, managing director of the housing firm, said: “In an increasingly competitive environment, we are always looking to improve our service to customers while keeping our administration costs under control. [The group] offers a great solution for us, our advisers and most importantly our clients.” Steve Maine, managing director of the conveyancing portal stated: “We have a lot to offer individual brokers who want a premium service for their clients. “But where we are seeing more and more interest is from larger players [...] with four estate agency offices in the Kingston on Thames and Surbiton areas, require a way of managing their business which allows them to not only offer their clients a first class conveyancing service but also the facility to track progress up to completion of all cases at any time along with a full audit trail and full access to senior staff at their chosen conveyancer.”