The Conveyancing Process

We’ve all heard it said: moving house can be a stressful process. It’s important, therefore, to have an experienced and knowledgeable team guiding you through what can, particularly for the first time buyer, be a daunting time.

Purchases

The buying process begins when you find that property with an element of je ne sais quoi: the one when you walk up to the front door and “just know” that it’s the one. Then comes the negotiating with the seller to get it at a price you’re happy with – the estate agent will be driving the negotiations until an offer is accepted and a Memorandum of Sale is sent by the agent to us.

The seller’s solicitor will prepare the draft contract and send us the standard forms. In the meantime, we will put in place the searches we consider necessary for the type of property you are purchasing. This process is designed to allow us to gather as much information as possible. For example, Local Authority searches will reveal whether or not there are any enforcement notices to which the property is subject, and alert us to the existence of planning permissions or building regulations consents in order that we can check that they have been complied with. An Environmental Search will alert us to any contaminated land in the vicinity of your potential home.

Having gone through all of the initial information we have gathered, we will then raise any additional enquiries of the seller that we deem appropriate. For example, the seller may have suggested in one of the standard property information forms that there has been a past dispute with a neighbour – we will want to find out the nature of this so that you do not inherit a bitter boundary dispute. Alternatively, it may be something as straightforward as discovering that the seller has had a new boiler installed and asking them to provide the relevant certificate so as to show that it has been properly installed by a qualified person.

We will also inspect the legal title to the property to ensure, for example, that all necessary rights are in place, the property is properly identified, there are no onerous covenants and the seller has the legal right to sell the property.

Very often, clients will require a mortgage in order to purchase their property. We have experience in dealing with all mortgage lenders and will act on their behalf in securing the monies. Once you are in receipt of your mortgage offer, a copy will be sent directly to us. When we are satisfied with the legal title of the property we will notify the lender and, following Exchange of Contracts, request that the funds be transferred to us in time for completion.

When we have finished our investigations to ensure that the property you are purchasing has a good legal title and that any potential issues have been sorted out to your satisfaction, we will liaise with the chain in order to agree a completion date that is acceptable for all parties before exchanging contracts. Once exchanged, you will be legally committed to the transaction and we will prepare the Transfer Deed for the seller to sign.

Come completion day, we will transfer the funds to the seller’s solicitor, who will then contact the agent and instruct them to release the keys. The property is yours. But the work doesn’t stop for us: we have to ensure your ownership is registered correctly at the Land Registry, the Stamp Duty is paid and the mortgage lender’s interest is correctly registered.

Throughout this process we will be on hand to guide you, advise you and negotiate for you.

Sales

The process is much the same as described above.

Our role is to provide the draft papers for the purchaser’s solicitor: the contract, the protocol forms and any documentation relating to the property, and then to answer any enquiries the purchaser’s solicitor may have about the property.

We will guide you through the process of Exchange of Contracts up to completion, whereupon we will ensure any existing mortgage on the property is redeemed and the charge removed from the title of the property held at the Land Registry. We will also use the proceeds of sale to pay any estate agent fees so you need not worry about these.

For more information please contact any member of the Residential Property Team.