Residential Conveyancing Solicitors

Before a property can be officially bought or sold, it is a legal requirement for the conveyancing process to occur. Conveyancing is the legal process that transfers ownership of a property from one person to another.

The conveyancing solicitor’s role is to carry out the legal process involved when transferring a property’s ownership. Some of the administrative and legal work that they will handle includes:

• Checking the property title
• Working with the buyer to understand their requirements and timescales
• Organising searches on the property and surrounding area
• Working with the property seller’s solicitors
• Making enquires on the buyer’s behalf
• Checking the mortgage offer
• Reporting details back to the buyer
• Providing the buyer with documentation
• Arranging exchange of contract and completion dates
• Preparing financial statements
• Submitting a tax return
• Transferring funds
• Registering ownership with HM Land Registry

The conveyancing process will typically involve various steps, including:

• Instruct a solicitor – As soon as you decide to purchase or sell a home, a conveyancing solicitor needs to be contacted. They will carry out the next steps of the process.
• Enquiries, searches, and checks – Once the solicitor has received the contract and copy of the legal title, they will then begin any necessary enquiries. Once enquiries are made, the conveyancer will initiate property searches and checks.
• Securing your mortgage – Once searches and checks are done, the mortgage application can start. The mortgage lenders will request details that the conveyancing solicitor will provide. The solicitor will also act on behalf of the lender and pursue any further checks required.
• Signing the contracts – Once the buyer and seller are satisfied and happy to move on with the transaction, the contracts will be signed.
• Exchanging the contracts – Once both conveyancing solicitors are satisfied that everything is in place, a completion date will be set, and the contracts will be exchanged.
• Completion – Before completion is finalised, any necessary final searches will be completed as well as funds submitted on completion day.
• Stamp duty and transfer of ownership – Once completion is finalised, any required tax return will be submitted to HMRC, and the transfer of ownership will be submitted to HM Land Registry.

The searches needed on a property will not be decided by you. Instead, the mortgage lender will decide and instruct the solicitor as to which checks they require in order to release your mortgage funds.

There are usually three main conveyancing searches, these are:

• Local authority searches – where the local area surrounding the property will be checked for any issues, such as planning, building control, highways, and pollution
• Environmental searches – where the area surrounding the property will be checked for any issues around flooding, landslides, subsidence, and contamination
• Water and drainage searches – where searches will be done to see who owns and maintains the sewers, drains and piping

It is possible that other searches may be required.

The national average conveyancing time sits between 14 and 16 weeks. However, pinpointing an exact time frame for how long conveyancing can take isn’t necessarily possible to do due to several factors that can impact the different stages involved.