What a conveyancing solicitor can do for you

When the time comes to buy or sell a property and an offer’s been accepted one of the first questions the agent is likely to ask is who will be handling the conveyancing.

The answer will be your conveyancing lawyer who you may have talked to in advance and informed that you might soon be needing their services. But you may not know what exactly these services will include. So here’s a short guide to the most common help that they will provide.

Preparing the Property Information and Fittings and Contents Forms

If you’re selling a property then the first thing your lawyer will ask you to do is fill out a number of forms with the main ones covering the Property Information and its Fittings and Contents.

The former includes a large number of questions and it’s intended to give the buyer and their conveyancing lawyer a great deal of information about the property itself. The latter outlines the items in the house that are included in the sale as well as the ones which are not.

Drawing up contracts

These will then be checked by the conveyancing lawyer before being sent on to your buyer’s lawyer along with a draft contract which will lay out the terms of the sale. They will also send proof of title to the property from the Land Registry.

If you are the buyer then your conveyancing lawyer will look through the contract papers to see if there are any legal issues such as covenants or previous neighbour disputes that you should be aware of and ask any questions relating to the information they’ve received. At this point, they will also ask for any necessary searches to be carried out.

Checking the mortgage offer

If the buyer’s taking out a mortgage their lawyer will examine the mortgage offer and let them know about any terms attached to it. As they often act as the mortgage company’s representative the lawyer will also be responsible for making sure their instructions are followed.

Getting ready to exchange contracts

The seller’s lawyer will answer any questions that the buyer’s lawyer may have, or find out the information that they need. When the buyer’s lawyer is satisfied the seller’s lawyer will get the seller to sign the Transfer Deed and the contract so they are ready for the time when contracts will be exchanged. Both sides will then agree on a convenient date for this to happen.

Exchanging contracts and completion

On the date agreed both sides’ lawyers exchange contracts. This is the point when the deal becomes legally binding and the date for completing the purchase and sale is set. In exchanging contracts both lawyers go over their respective contracts to be sure that the terms are identical on them both.

Once the contracts have been exchanged the buyer’s solicitor will request the mortgage company to release the funds on the planned day of completion.

When this day comes the money is transferred to the seller’s lawyer who then lets the estate agent know that they can hand over the keys. The seller’s lawyer also arranges to transfer the payment to the seller’s mortgage company and sends any of the balance to the seller. Finally, they send the Transfer Deed to the buyer’s lawyer.

Registering the property

As a final step, the buyer’s conveyancing lawyer registers the purchase at the Land Registry to record the new owners of the property.

Throughout the process of buying or selling, having the services of a good conveyancing lawyer can be vital, especially if things don’t go quite as smoothly as they should due to legal issues and other hold-ups. Having the experience and expertise of a professional behind you can help to resolve matters quickly and with less stress involved for all parties.

At Eatons we have exactly this expertise and over the years have conducted many thousands of successful property sales and purchases. So if you would like to have the peace of mind of having conveyancing professionals by your side, simply get in touch.

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