Conveyancing
The Conveyancing Process
Contacting the other side's solicitor
Once you have agreed a price for your sale or purchase we will contact the solicitor acting for the person you are buying from or selling to. A draft contract will be provided by whichever solicitor is acting for the seller together with some additional forms that will be completed by the sellers. One of these forms will list the fittings and contents which will be included in the sale/purchase of the property.
Enquiries will be raised by the solicitor for the purchaser upon the documents provided by the seller and answers to any such enquiries will need to be obtained before you can proceed to exchange of contracts. Some enquiries may be answered by the solicitor and some will need to be referred to the seller to answer.
Searches
If you are purchasing a property we will advise you about additional optional searches you may wish to have carried out such as an environmental search, coal mining search or flood report to name a few. If any of these searches show matters of concern we will let you know.
Leasehold properties
If the property is leasehold (particularly common when buying a flat), there will be detailed lease terms and conditions. We will need to check these carefully and, if you are buying, will make enquiries with the seller's solicitor or the managing agents of the property about what service charges and management costs you will have to pay. These items should be in the HIP.
Survey advice
If you are buying a property and applying for a mortgage, your mortgage lender will need an independent valuation of the property. Usually they will appoint their own surveyor to do this, but you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation and not a survey.
You should consider appointing your own surveyor (possibly the same person as the valuer) to carry out a survey on the property as it is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor as this may allow you to renegotiate the price.
Mortgage & terms
If you are buying and having a mortgage, your mortgage lender will provide a mortgage deed, offer letter and mortgage conditions all of which you will need to read very carefully but which we will explain to you.
You should be aware that we, as solicitors, will also act for your mortgage company and will have a duty to act in their best interests as well as yours.
Signing the contract
Once we have received the results of the searches, looked through all of the paperwork and dealt with any enquiries, we will provide you with a report. If you are selling a property this report will be relatively short and largely explain the paperwork to you that you will need to sign. If you are purchasing a property the report will be more lengthy and will explain all of the documents received from the sellers, the search results and the mortgage documents. It will also flag up any issues you need to be aware of and explain the paperwork to you that you will need to sign.
If you are stilt happy to go ahead, you will need to sign the contract and any other necessary documents and provide the deposit money - usually between 5% and 10% of the purchase price. Often if you are selling and buying at the same time you will not need to provide a separate deposit as the deposit paid on your sale will be passed up the chain and used as the deposit for your purchase.
Exchanging contracts
This is the crucial moment of the agreement between you and the other party. exchange contracts with the other side's solicitors so that you have the contract the seller has signed and the seller has the contract you have signed. Once this is done the transaction becomes legally binding and a completion date (day on which keys change hands) will be agreed. If you want to withdraw from buying the property after this stage, you may have to pay financial penalties.
Final Balance
Between exchanging contracts and completion, we will provide you with a bill for our charges and a completion statement which will set out what money is either due back to you or due from you in order for completion to take place on the agreed date. This will include costs, VAT, Land Registry fees and stamp duty (if any). At this stage we will carry out final searches if you are buying. A transfer deed will be prepared by the buyer's solicitors and sent to the seller's solicitor for signing.
Completion
This is the final stage in the conveyancing process when the solicitor for the purchaser hands over the money to the solicitor for the seller and the keys are released.
If you are buying we will pay the stamp duty and Land Registry fees for you and register your ownership at the Land Registry. This registers the interest of your mortgage lender and records you as the new legal owner of the property.