Residential Conveyancing Services

Whatever and wherever your property is in the country, our specialist property solicitors and conveyancers can deal with the legal aspects associated with your house move (conveyancing) or transfer of equity. The process of conveyancing can appear to be quite complex so to try and help you, we have set out below a brief overview of what the legal process involves.

Sale

1. Once you are satisfied that the conveyancing quote we have provided you with is satisfactory and you have also instructed us to carry out your conveyancing, you will be assigned to a specialist property solicitor or conveyancer who will look after your affairs. We will then request your title deeds to your property. We will also obtain online official copies of your title from the Land Registry in order to provide evidence of ownership to the buyer. You will then be asked to complete a Seller's Property Information form and a Fixtures & Fittings list. If the property is leasehold, there will be an additional form for you to complete. If you provide us with your email address, we can send electronic versions of the forms to you in order to help speed up the conveyancing process.
   
   
2. The draft contract will be prepared and sent to the buyer's solicitors, who will then carry out various searches. With your help, we will answer any additional enquiries the buyer may have. Once these queries have been answered you will be asked to sign the contract.
   
   
3. Once everyone is ready, the contract is signed. We can then proceed to exchange of contracts. At this stage the sale becomes legally binding. The buyer's solicitors will then send a draft transfer deed to us so that the property can be conveyed to the buyer on completion of the house sale.
   
   
4. We will approve the transfer deed and ask you to sign it. We will also request any mortgage repayment figure and prepare the final accounts.
   
   
5. On the completion date we will receive the balance of the sale price, in return for which we will hand over the title deeds to the buyer's solicitors.
   
   
6. We will arrange for any existing mortgage to be repaid out of the sale proceeds, collect our legal fees, pay any estate agents (where appropriate) and refund any surplus monies to you. If you are buying another property, any surplus funds will be transferred to your purchase. This completes the conveyancing process – until the next time, when we hope you will return to us!

Purchase

1. Once you are satisfied that the conveyancing quote we have provided you with is satisfactory and you have also instructed us to carry out your conveyancing, you will be assigned to a specialist property solicitor or conveyancer who will look after your affairs. We will then request the pre-contract package from the seller's solicitor. Following receipt of this, we can apply for the local authority search and any other necessary searches. Please note that if you are obtaining a mortgage, your lender may require us to carry out some additional searches (at your expense). We will apply for these online (where appropriate) in order to speed up the conveyancing process.
   
   
2. We will raise any additional enquiries about the property and chase the replies. We will also chase the search results. Once your mortgage offer is available from your lender, we will take note of any special instructions from them. These could relate to a number of issues, for example, the lender may wish to retain advance monies for work required to the property. Please note that a copy of the mortgage offer will be sent to you at the same time as us.
   
   
3. Once we are satisfied with everything we will prepare a legal report on the property you are buying and send it to you.
   
   
4. You will then be asked to sign the contract, mortgage deed and stamp duty land transaction return. You will also be asked to provide a deposit, typically 10% of the purchase price of the property. We can then exchange contracts with the seller's solicitor. The purchase is now legally binding.
   
   
5. Once contracts have been exchanged we can prepare the final accounts and request the mortgage advance (where applicable).
   
   
6. Final searches are then made against the property and you.
   
   
7. On the completion date, we will hand over the balance of the funds and receive in return the title deeds from the seller's solicitors.
   
   
8. If applicable, stamp duty is paid, and we will arrange to register the transfer at the Land Registry. Once the title is registered we will arrange for the original document to your lender. This completes the conveyancing process – until you move again, when we hope you will return to us!
   

Remortgage

1. Once you are satisfied that the fixed fee remortgage quote we have provided you with is satisfactory and you have also instructed us, you will be assigned to a specialist property solicitor or conveyancer who will look after your affairs. We will request your title deeds from your existing lender and also request a repayment figure to find out how much is still owed on your existing mortgage.
   
   
2. We will arrange for your mortgage offer and title documentation to be checked once it is received from your lender.
   
   
3. In some cases it may be necessary to carry out searches against the property (this depends upon the lender). At the very least we will need to put in place indemnity insurance to protect the lender and you.
   
   
4. We will forward the mortgage deed to you for signature and then agree a completion date with you.
   
   
5. Once the documentation is returned to us together with any balance payable (if applicable) we can arrange the completion.
   
   
6. On the completion date we will receive the mortgage advance and we will repay any existing loans secured on the property.
   
   
7. We will arrange to register the new mortgage at the Land Registry. Once the title is registered we will send evidence of registration to your lender. This completes the remortgage process – until you decide to switch your lender again, when we hope you will return to us!