Property Conveyancing
If you are looking to sell, buy, remortgage or transfer your property, we are here to help. All work is carried out by our experienced solicitors who deal with a range of property matters including the more complicated property issues. Right Law offer competitive, fixed fee prices, tailored to meet each client’s needs. View fees here.
We can act for you on a wide range conveyancing matters to include:
- Leasehold purchase or sale
- Freehold purchase or sale
- Transfer of Equity
- Help To Buy
- First Time Buyers
- New build home purchases and sales
- Shared Ownership purchases
- Re-mortgage of leasehold or freehold properties
- Retirement properties
The Property Conveyancing Process
Stage 1: Preparation stage
Appoint your solicitor
Your solicitor will send you Terms of Business which you must sign and return. You will also be required to comply with the UK Government’s ID requirements at this stage. If you are selling you will be required to complete various Property Information Forms. It is important that you send back all required information to your solicitor as soon as possible as without your completed forms and documentation the solicitor will not be able to begin work on your file.
If the property is leasehold, the seller’s solicitor will also need to request the Leasehold pack from the Freeholder/Managing Agent and the Freeholder/Managing Agent usually make a charge for providing such information. This cost is the seller’s responsibility to pay.
Stage 2: Issue of contract papers
Contract papers
On receipt of all documentation from the seller, the seller’s solicitors will send out contract papers to the buyers solicitors.
Enquiries
On receipt of the contract papers from the seller’s solicitors, the buyer’s solicitors will peruse the paperwork, investigate the title and raise any necessary enquiries with the seller’s solicitors. These enquiries will be sent to the seller to provide answers.
Searches
At this stage, the buyer’s solicitor will also request searches. These include a Local Authority Search, Drainage and Water search, Environmental search, Chancel and any other searches that the search company recommends for the property.
Mortgage
If the buyer is obtaining mortgage finance, the buyer’s solicitor will receive the mortgage offer direct from the lender, which the buyer’s solicitor will review to ensure that the lender’s requirements are complied with.
Once all enquiries have been answered satisfactorily by the seller’s solicitors, and all searches are back and the mortgage offer is received and mortgage conditions satisfied, then the buyer’s solicitor will send a Report to the buyer. This will be a final report on the property and will include the Contract and various other documents to sign. Once the buyer returns the necessary paperwork to their solicitor, together with their 10% deposit, the file will be ready to exchange.
If there is a chain it is important to note that everyone in the chain must exchange contracts at the same time and complete on the same date. This means that all parties in the chain must complete their parts of the legal process before they can exchange.
Stage 3: Exchange of Contracts
Exchange of contracts is when the sale becomes legally binding for both buyer and seller. If any party withdraws after the exchange of contracts they are in breach of contract. The defaulting party will incur costs for damages and if the buyer is the defaulting party they will also forfeit their deposit.
Once all parties are ready to exchange, and a completion date has been agreed via the estate agents, your solicitor will obtain your authority to exchange. This authority allows the solicitor to bind you into the contract. Once the exchange of contracts has taken place, the completion date will become legally binding.
The buyer’s solicitor will arrange for the requesting of mortgage funds and will send the buyer a completion statement showing the final sum due to complete. The buyer must ensure that this sum is in the solicitor’s client account before the completion date to ensure that there are no delays caused on completion
The buyer must ensure that buildings insurance is in place from the date of completion. The seller’s solicitor will request a final redemption statement from the seller’s lender (if there is a mortgage on the property).
Stage 4: Completion
The completion date is the day the seller must vacate the property and the buyer can move in. Legal completion takes place once the seller’s solicitor receives the purchase money from the buyer’s solicitor. The seller’s solicitor will then authorise the estate agent to release the keys to the buyer and redeem any mortgages on the property.
After completion the buyer’s solicitor will apply to the Land Registry to register the buyer’s ownership, this can take a few weeks after completion. If the property is leasehold, the buyer’s solicitor will attend to the post-completion requirements, including sending Notice of Transfer to the Freeholder and complying with any other lease requirements.
For legal advice on a property matter please contact us today.