If you are dealing with property, for example, buying, selling, transferring ownership or remortgaging, you will need a conveyancing solicitor to act for you.
Here, we take a look at the role of a conveyancing solicitor in detail and how they can help you complete a successful transaction.
Why is a conveyancing solicitor needed?
Owning a property is often the biggest investment we make during our lifetime. It is the job of a conveyancing solicitor to ensure that the legal title to the property is sound and that you understand the implications of the transaction.
Where a lender is involved, they will need your conveyancing solicitor to represent them at the same time, as they will also want reassurance that the legal aspects of the property are acceptable.
What is a conveyancing solicitor?
A conveyancing solicitor is a specialist property lawyer who deals with a range of legal property dealings, including sales, purchases, transfers, remortgages, shared ownership and equity release.
They can also deal with related legal matters such as buying the freehold to a leasehold property and representing leaseholders or freeholders in respect of issues such as the right to manage.
With an in-depth understanding of property law and the conveyancing process, an experienced conveyancing solicitor will be able to deal efficiently with sales and purchases, even if difficulties arise.
Is a conveyancer a solicitor?
You may have previously heard the terms ‘conveyancing solicitor’ and ‘conveyancer’ used interchangeably. There are, however, some key differences between the two.
While conveyancing solicitors and conveyancers are both qualified to deal with property transactions, conveyancing solicitors will also be qualified to handle additional legal matters which will be of relevance during complex transactions.
Ultimately, the choice to use a conveyancing solicitor or conveyancer will depend on your circumstances and budget.
What does a conveyancing solicitor do?
Your conveyancing solicitor will be involved in your transaction from the outset, ensuring all of the legal checks and queries are properly dealt with and that the correct process is followed throughout, so that you can be sure that your sale or purchase has been completed properly.
As well as the legal aspects of the transaction, your conveyancing solicitor will also liaise with other parties, such as your seller or buyer’s solicitor and estate agents, to check on progress of related transactions, chase outstanding information and ensure everything keeps moving without unnecessary delays.
The main steps in a property purchase are as follows:
Opening a file
You will be provided with your conveyancing solicitor’s terms and conditions at the start along with information in respect of the costs and details of how you will provide any balance of purchase money that won’t be advanced by a mortgage lender.
At this stage, you will need to provide proof of your identity as it is a legal requirement that your conveyancing solicitor establishes this.
You should also pass on details of your conveyancing solicitor to your estate agent, who will then be able to write with the basic details of the transaction, to include the name and address of the seller’s own conveyancing solicitor.
Your solicitor will then write to the seller’s solicitor to make first contact and ask them to supply the contract package.
You will need to supply your conveyancer with an initial payment in respect of the search fees so that they can apply for these as soon as they hear from the seller’s solicitor with a plan of the property.
Going through the contract package
The seller’s solicitor will provide a draft contract along with a copy of the legal title, a plan of the property’s boundaries, replies to standard enquiries, a list of fixtures and fittings that will be included in the sale and any other relevant information they have.
Your conveyancing solicitor will go through all of this information and reply to the seller’s solicitor with a list of questions. Your conveyancer will also send off for searches at this point. These searches check the property against several registers of information to see if these contain any information which will be relevant to your transaction. Once the search results are received, they may have additional enquiries they wish to raise.
Your mortgage offer
You will generally apply for a mortgage offer once you have had your offer to buy a property accepted, although you can apply for a mortgage offer in principle before this, to speed up the issuing of a mortgage offer.
You should give your lender the details of your conveyancing solicitor so that they can send them the mortgage offer and mortgage deed once these are available.
Going through the replies to enquiries
Once the replies to enquiries and the search results are received, your conveyancing solicitor will be able to report to you on the property, drawing your attention to anything out of the ordinary that has arisen. For example, if there is a right of way across part of the property or if a search has revealed proposed development nearby, this will be pointed out.
Your solicitor will also report to your lender that everything is satisfactory.
Obtaining your signature
Once you are happy to proceed, your solicitor will ask you to sign the contract and mortgage deed. The contract does not become legally binding until exchange of contracts, when your solicitor and the seller’s solicitor speak on the phone to formally agree that the purchase will be completed.
Providing the deposit
You will need to arrange for the deposit to be transferred to your conveyancing solicitor in readiness for exchange. This is generally a minimum of 10% of the purchase price, but if you will be obtaining a mortgage for more than 90%, a lower deposit can usually be agreed, although if you failed to complete following exchange of contracts, you would still be liable to pay a full 10% to the seller.
If you have a related sale, it is usually possible to use the deposit from the sale on your purchase.
Agreeing a completion date and exchanging contracts
Once both you and your seller are ready to exchange contracts and all the preliminary legal work has been done, your solicitor will speak to the seller’s solicitor to discuss possible completion dates. If there is a chain involved, others will also need to be involved in agreeing on a date.
Once a date has been settled upon, exchange of contracts will take place and the agreed completion date will be written into the contract. Your solicitor will arrange for the deposit to be transferred to the seller’s solicitor.
Arranging for completion
Your conveyancing solicitor will carry out some final searches between exchange and completion to check that the title of the property remains the same as it was when the original information was provided and to confirm that you are not officially bankrupt, which will be a requirement of your lender.
They will also order the mortgage advance from your lender in time for completion.
Completion day
Once your conveyancing solicitor has received the money from any related sale as well as your mortgage advance, they will send the balance of the purchase price to your seller’s solicitor. When it has been received, the seller’s solicitor will contact the estate to confirm that the keys to the property can be released to you.
Post-completion work
Following completion, the seller’s solicitor will send the title deeds and the completed property transfer form to your solicitor, who will pay any Stamp Duty that may be owed and arrange for registration of your ownership and the mortgage at the Land Registry.
Other transactions
An experienced conveyancing solicitor will also offer a range of other property-related services. At Bird & Co, our conveyancing solicitors deal with all aspects of residential and commercial property, to include the following:
- Buying and selling freehold and leasehold property
- Remortgaging
- Equity release
- Gifts and transfers of equity
- Extending a lease
- Collective enfranchisement
- Right to manage
- Buying land and development sites
- Buy to let property
- Commercial property
Should I use a conveyancing solicitor recommended by my estate agent?
It is generally good practice to choose your own conveyancing solicitor. While a solicitor should by law always act in your best interests, they may be inclined to consider what an estate agent would like to happen if they receive a substantial number of referrals from the agent. By selecting your own conveyancing solicitor or conveyancer, you can be sure they are wholly independent.
When should I instruct a conveyancing solicitor?
You can speak to a conveyancing solicitor as soon as you decide to sell or buy. This will give them the opportunity to open a file on your behalf and deal with preliminary issues such as checking your identity.
If you are selling, your conveyancing solicitor will be able to request your title deeds from your lender, send you the property information and fixtures and fittings forms to be completed and start preparing the contract package as soon as you have a buyer so that your transaction gets off to a quick start.
How do I choose a conveyancing solicitor?
It is recommended that you use a conveyancing solicitor who has in-depth experience of conveyancing built up over a number of years. This means that, should difficulties arise, they will probably have encountered something similar before and will be well placed to deal with them.
You are likely to want your transaction to proceed as quickly as possible, so it is also preferable to choose a lawyer with a reputation for working proactively to avoid unnecessary delays. A good conveyancing solicitor will stay in touch both with the other party’s solicitor and your estate agent to keep an eye on the progress of related transactions and to chase up outstanding information where necessary.
At Bird & Co, our conveyancing team is hugely experienced and has a reputation for ensuring sales and purchases go smoothly. We always make sure we keep our clients updated as to progress of their transaction and we make ourselves available to answer questions throughout.
We hold the Conveyancing Quality Mark accreditation, awarded by the Law Society to residential conveyancing practices that meet the highest standards. It is a recognition of our legal expertise as well as our outstanding client service.
For more information, see our Conveyancing Services page.
Get in touch with our conveyancing solicitors
If you are buying or selling a property and you would like to speak to one of our expert conveyancing solicitors, we will be happy to hear from you.
Please give us a call or fill our online quote form and we will contact you shortly.
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