Buying or selling a home represents a major financial commitment, so choosing the right conveyancing solicitor is critical in protecting your investment and minimising unnecessary delays.
What is conveyancing?
Conveyancing is the transfer of legal property from one person to another, and no matter how many times you have bought and sold property before you will need the reliable and well-informed advice of a residential conveyancing solicitor.
The conveyancing system is designed to guarantee that, as the buyer, you secure the title to the land, as well as the rights to the land. Your conveyancer will also discover and make sure you are informed of any discrepancies and restrictions tied to the land ahead of the purchase.
Conveyancing occurs in three stages, for which you can see an outline of below.
Before Contract
- Arrangement of local searches, organise a survey and review it, get draft contract, arrange mortgage, pre-contract enquiries between seller’s and buyer’s solicitors
- Conveyancer reports back to buyer on results of searches and enquiries
- When buyer is satisfied, arrangements are made for the deposit to be paid and contracts to be signed
Before Completion
- Formal exchange of contracts is agreed with buyers and sellers solicitors
- At this stage, both parties are legally committed to the transaction
- Transfer deeds are drafted up in preparation for completion, as well as carrying out pre-completion searches and the buyer’s conveyancer will apply for the mortgage
After Completion
- On completion, funds are sent to seller’s solicitor and then keys are released to the buyer
- Title deeds sent to buyer’s solicitor
- Buyer’s solicitor will then arrange payment of any Stamp Duty Land Tax if required
- Formal registration of the new owner and notifying the Land Registry of your mortgage lender
By instructing an experienced conveyancing solicitor to work on your behalf, you are ensuring that there is a legal representative working with your interests in mind.
How to choose a conveyancing solicitor
- Get a series of quotes as early on as possible, decide who you will instruct if your offer is accepted – you can notify them as soon as you hear from the estate agent.
- Cheapest is not always best. You will rely heavily on this person to manage the bulk of your house purchase or sale, so reviews are probably a better gauge of quality than price.
- Instruct someone you can rely on to communicate with you throughout the process – read reviews!
- Check that your chosen solicitors can act for your mortgage lender
How long does conveyancing take?
The length of the residential conveyancing process can vary depending on a multitude of factors, such as:
- How soon after having an offer accepted you instruct a solicitor
- The sale relying on a chain of other property sales
- Whether you have a mortgage offer ready to go
- Demand for solicitors or surveyors
- Any issues which arise from a survey or searches on the house
- Delays in returning paperwork
Conveyancers need to undertake in depth checks to ensure that the property you are buying is as it should be, from land registry to planning permission and whether there are risks of floods, and so on.
The conveyancing process doesn’t happen overnight, and always takes at least a couple of months. Generally speaking, expect the process to last between 8 and 12 weeks.
Buying, selling and re-mortgaging
Whether you are buying a property, selling, or re-mortgaging, our conveyancing solicitors will manage the process on your behalf.
The team comes highly recommended by clients on Review Solicitors, so you can put your utmost trust in them.
If you are looking to sell or re-mortgage a property, please find below further information on how we can help.
Selling a Property
Selling a property is one of the biggest financial challenges you will ever face, so it’s important to be able to call on professional advice from the outset. We pride ourselves on providing complete transparency on costs, timescales and any further challenges that need to be resolved prior to completion.
Beyond drafting contracts, conducting searches and arranging settlements, you can count on our conveyancing advisors as a sounding board for any queries you might have, legal or otherwise.
Whilst we always aim to complete each stage as efficiently as possible, it is also our responsibility to leave no stone unturned. A high level of legal scrutiny is essential, which means completing all necessary reviews, clarifying every unknown fact and ticking all the boxes regarding both the buyer and the seller. Again, our solicitors will always keep you updated on every key development throughout the sales process.
Re-mortgaging a Property
It always pays to have a conveyancing expert on your side when switching your mortgage to another lender. Our specialist re-mortgaging team combine legal expertise with local knowledge to offer a personalised service that is second to none.
Our quality of service is recognised through accreditation and membership to the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS), a hallmark of skill and proficiency in residential property law.
We will work with you to set realistic timeframes and provide full transparency over all costs involved.
Slater Heelis is also present on every major lending panel in the UK, which guarantees that we’re able to work with both your current and prospective mortgage providers to reach a solution as swiftly as possible.