A completion nobody invoiced
Completion day is busy. Keys are handed over, the vendor is thanked, the board is changed. The invoice to the vendor's solicitor was meant to go at exchange, but the progressor was off that week. Six weeks later the accounts person notices a completion in the CRM with no matching payment. The solicitor says they never received an invoice and the funds have gone to the vendor.
Even when invoices go out, a payment arrives in the bank as a solicitor's firm name and a reference that means nothing to your bookkeeper, and someone has to work out which sale it belongs to.
Why fee collection leaks
In most agencies the sales side and the finance side run in separate systems. The CRM knows when a sale exchanged; the accounts package does not. Raising the invoice depends on someone moving the information across at the right moment, and the right moment is the most hectic part of the sale.
Fees also change along the way. A price renegotiation, an agreed fee reduction or a fee split with another agent all alter what should be invoiced, and those changes are often recorded only in email.
| Point of failure | What happens |
|---|---|
| Invoice not raised at exchange | Solicitor completes without your invoice |
| Wrong fee on invoice | Price or fee change not carried through |
| Invoice sent to wrong firm | Delay while it is redirected |
| Payment reference unclear | Payment sits unmatched in the bank feed |
| No aged list of unpaid fees | Late payers are not chased |
What it costs you
Missed or late fees are money you earned and may struggle to recover once funds have been distributed. Even when you do get paid, chasing and matching costs staff time. Unmatched payments distort your figures, so the branch fee report and the bank balance disagree, and month end becomes a reconciliation exercise.
There is a relationship cost too. Chasing a solicitor's firm for a fee weeks after completion is awkward, particularly with firms you refer work to or rely on for smooth progression. A prompt, correct invoice at exchange avoids most of those conversations, because the fee is dealt with while the file is still open on the solicitor's desk and the completion statement can include it.
The invoicing flow we build
- Trigger from the CRM: when a sale is marked as exchanged, a draft fee invoice is created automatically from the sale record, including the agreed fee, any recorded changes and VAT.
- Check before sending: fee changes, fee splits and discounts are highlighted for a person to confirm, since these are where errors come from.
- Sending: the approved invoice goes to the vendor's solicitor named on the sale, with a clear reference to quote, and a copy to the vendor if your process requires.
- Posting to accounts: the invoice is created in Xero or QuickBooks through their API, so finance sees it immediately.
- Payment matching: incoming payments are matched to invoices using the reference, amount and solicitor name, with near-matches shown for a person to confirm.
- Unpaid list: completed sales without a matched payment appear on a short list with the solicitor's contact, for polite chasing.
What finance and the branches see
Invoices go out at exchange without anyone remembering to do it. The accounts person stops playing detective with solicitor payments. Directors can see earned, invoiced and paid fees side by side, and the branch fee report matches the bank.
If a fee was agreed differently on a particular sale, that decision is recorded against the sale and visible at invoicing, rather than rediscovered in an email thread.
Is this happening to you?
- Fee invoices are raised by hand after exchange.
- You have found completions that were never invoiced.
- Solicitor payments sit unmatched in Xero or QuickBooks.
- Fee changes and splits are recorded only in email.
- Nobody owns a list of unpaid completion fees.