Solicitors’ client account

Solicitors hold often substantial sums in their client account, from transactions especially property.
A client will pay them a deposit which they will pass on, on exchange of contracts perhaps some weeks later.
The same on completion.

Also the client will pay an amount of costs for a retainer, which is not disbursed immediately e.g. on barristers’ fees.

This forms a very large amount of solicitors’ income and I have known some conveyancing solicitors who earn more from the interest, than fees.

The government now wants to tax the solicitor on the money.

This is intellectually dishonest.

The money belongs to the client.

What is wrong is the fact that the solicitor is keeping the interest in the first place.

If you are involved in a property transaction, make sure your solicitor credits you with at least part of the interest on the money during the time he is holding it.

January 2026
Rodney Hylton-Potts