Money a client pays on account of search fees is client money until you bill for it. It goes into client account, it can be paid from there to the search provider, and it can only move to your business account once you've sent the client a bill or written notice of the costs. Getting it in before you order the searches is harder, and a payment link at instruction, pay by bank and automatic chasing all help.
In this article
The short version
- Search money a client pays before you've billed them counts as client money, however quickly the searches are ordered.
- It can be paid straight from client account to the search provider, or moved to reimburse the firm once the client has a bill or written notice under rule 4.3.
- Any balance, such as £31.60 left from £300 after £268.40 of searches, stays on the client's ledger to hold towards completion or return.
- Send a payment link with the client care letter, make payment part of onboarding and chase automatically so the money arrives before searches are ordered.
- On Adfin's pricing a £300 search payment costs £3.20 by pay by bank and £6.20 on an Amex, and bank payments arrive the same day.
Why the search fee arrives late
The client care letter goes out with a request for £300 on account of searches, and then nothing happens. The client means to pay. They're also juggling a mortgage offer, a survey and a removals quote, and your letter asks them to copy your bank details into their banking app and type a matter reference. Meanwhile the agent wants to know when searches will be in.
So the searches get ordered anyway, on the firm's account with the search provider, and the fee earner hopes the money turns up. Across a busy team, a few hundred pounds per file becomes a steady amount of the firm's own cash funding clients' searches, plus the time spent chasing it. When clients do pay by card, the processing fee comes out of your margin, because you can't add a card fee for payments on personal cards.
What the money on account is
Until you bill for it, money paid on account of searches is client money, however quickly you spend it. In practice:
- It goes into client account promptly when it arrives.
- You can pay the search provider straight from client account, because that's what the money is held for.
- If the firm has already paid the provider from its own account, you send the client a bill or other written notification of the costs before moving the money across to reimburse the firm. This is rule 4.3 of the SRA Accounts Rules, and the amount you move should match the amount notified.
- Anything left over stays on the client's ledger. You can hold it towards the completion statement if the client knows that's the plan, or return it.
Say a client pays £300 and the searches come to £268.40. You pay the provider from client account, or notify the client and reimburse the firm, and £31.60 stays on the client's ledger for later.
How to get paid before you order searches
The best window is the first few days after instruction, while the client is keen to get moving and paying can be the obvious next step.
- Send a payment link with the client care letter. The amount and matter reference are already filled in, so there are no bank details to copy and no reference to get wrong.
- Make paying the first step of onboarding. Put the search payment alongside ID checks and signing terms, and tell the client plainly that searches are ordered once it's in.
- Offer pay by bank. The client approves the payment in their own banking app, without card details or a manual transfer.
- Chase automatically. If the money hasn't arrived after a couple of days, a reminder goes out with the same link, then another, without anyone on the team having to remember.
Adfin lets you send a branded payment link for the on-account sum, and the client can pay by bank, card, Apple Pay or Google Pay from the same page. If it isn't paid, Adfin's Customer Agents can follow up over email, SMS or WhatsApp on a schedule you set, from your own email domain, with your team reviewing and approving what goes out. Before using any payment provider for money on account, check with your COFA how it fits your accounts procedures.
How to stop card fees eating into margin
Many residential buyers pay on personal cards, and every card payment of money on account costs the firm a fee it can't recover. Putting pay by bank first on the payment page, with card as the fallback, keeps that cost down.
On Adfin's published pricing, both cost 1% + 20p, but the percentage on bank payments is capped at £4 and there's no uplift for premium cards such as Amex. A £300 search payment costs £3.20 by bank and £6.20 on an Amex. On a £1,500 payment on account covering fees and searches, it's £4.20 by bank against £15.20 by card. Pay by bank payments also reach you the same day, where card payments take two working days.
Common questions
Is money on account for searches client money if we order the searches the same day? Yes. Money received for fees or unpaid disbursements before a bill is delivered is client money, however quickly you spend it.
Can search money go straight into our business account because we're liable to the search provider? There's a narrow exemption for firms that hold no other client money and have told the client in advance where the money will be held. On the wording of the rules, a practice that also holds deposits or completion monies is unlikely to qualify, so take advice from your COFA.
Does Brabners mean searches aren't disbursements? Brabners was a VAT case, in which the tribunal found the searches were part of the firm's own legal services and so couldn't be treated as disbursements for VAT, which affects your bill and its VAT but not whether pre-bill money is client money.
Can we add a card fee when a client pays on account by card? Not on a personal (non-commercial) card, whoever the client is. On a commercial card, any fee can't exceed what the card costs you to accept.
What happens if the searches cost less than the client paid? The balance stays client money on the client's ledger. Hold it towards a later bill if there's a proper reason and the client knows, and otherwise return it promptly.
How much should we ask for on account of searches? Ask for an amount within the search fee range in your published price information, so the request doesn't surprise the client, and say in the client care letter what happens to any balance.
Sources
- SRA - SRA Accounts Rules (accurate as of September 2026) https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/accounts-rules/
- SRA - SRA Transparency Rules (accurate as of September 2026) https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/transparency-rules/
- The Law Society - VAT treatment of disbursements and expenses (accurate as of September 2026) https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/business-management/vat-treatment-of-disbursements-and-expenses
- legislation.gov.uk - The Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012 (accurate as of September 2026) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/3110
- Adfin - Pricing (accurate as of September 2026) https://www.adfin.com/pricing
- Adfin - Credit control (accurate as of September 2026) https://www.adfin.com/credit-control
