You must first locate the correct solicitor or conveyancer and “instruct them” to oversee the conveyancing process before anything occurs. If you’re thinking of using your estate agent’s suggested conveyancing solicitor, compare conveyancing costs to ensure you’re receiving a good deal.

After you’ve chosen a conveyancing solicitor, they’ll prepare a draft contract or terms of engagement, which will list their charges and deposits due. Your conveyancer will send a letter to your seller’s lawyer confirming that they have been instructed and requesting a copy of the draft contract as well as other information, such as the property’s title and any special forms.

The conveyancer will provide you with a statement detailing the final amount to be paid, which must be debited from your conveyancer’s bank account at least one day before completion or on the day of completion.

A transaction is undervalued if the purchase price is less than the real value of the property. This happens quite often in a family deal. The danger is that if the seller goes bankrupt within five years of selling the property, the agreement may be set aside, enabling creditors to protect the bankrupt’s assets in their interests.

When purchasing a home, you should get a declaration of solvency from the seller to show that they are solvent when the property is sold. The buyer should also acquire an undervalue indemnity insurance policy to protect them against financial ruin if something goes wrong. If there is a mortgage, the lender should be informed of the undervaluation.

The time it takes to sell a home can vary depending on various circumstances, but in most cases, it should take between 8 and 16 weeks. It all depends on how quickly both conveyancers involved finish their tasks. If the conveyancer you hired is overburdened with work, each phase might take considerably longer.

However, even if both attorneys are working diligently, problems may arise from another source. In some situations, the seller will be required to submit a plethora of documents, and these might be more difficult to come by in some situations than others. For example, if the seller has stayed in the home for a long time, vital paperwork may have gotten misplaced — or the seller may be disorganized.

The requests for searches are another source of delay. Local authority searches, for example, to discover any plans that may impact the property; Land Registry searches to establish the seller’s right to it, and environmental scans to check for possible dangers in the immediate area are examples of these. Any or all of the authorities concerned might take longer than usual to respond.

The results of the searches will also have an impact on how long it takes. If important concerns are raised, for example, a potential flood hazard or a project that may harm the property, further talks between the property lawyers and, if necessary, the mortgage lender are likely to happen.

You’ll need to arrange your mortgage, which entails making sure you have the money for a mortgage deposit. Your solicitor will receive a copy of the mortgage offer and go through the terms.

A mortgage appraisal is required, which is usually part of the conveyancing procedure. This is carried out on behalf of the mortgage firm to verify that the property you’re purchasing meets their lending criteria. You generally have to pay for it, but a mortgage firm may offer it as a gratis promotion to bring in customers. You’ll also need to have any other required surveys completed. Your unique circumstances will determine the kind of survey you do.

Your lender will need you to get building insurance for your new house when contracts have been exchanged. That’s because once contracts have been signed, you are responsible for the property, so it’s in your best interests to protect yourself against risk.

Disbursements are charges that your conveyancer incurs on your behalf while the conveyancing procedure is in progress. These are costs associated with buying or selling a home, such as fees from the Land Registry and property searches. Your solicitor will provide you with a comprehensive explanation of any anticipated disbursements.

When contracts are exchanged, the deposit must be paid to the seller’s conveyancers. The seller’s conveyancers may utilize the deposit for any purchase-related to the seller if there is a chain of conveyancing transactions.

The deposit provides the seller with the assurance that you will keep your end of the bargain. Once contracts are exchanged, you become legally bound to follow through, and if you don’t, the seller is legally obliged to keep your deposit. 

When the purchase is completed, the deposit is released so that this money, in addition to any interest accrued on the deposit and money sent towards closing, may be used to pay off the seller’s mortgage on the property and for other seller’s related costs.

When we say “cleared funds,” we mean money that has passed through the banking system. For example, after a cheque is deposited in our client’s account, we usually have to wait at least ten business days before utilizing it to make a payment to a third party.

If money is transferred via telegraphic transfer (often known as CHAPS payments), it will generally be received the same day it is sent since these are considered cleared funds. Please be advised that these might sometimes take a few hours to go through the banking system. To make CHAPS transfers, banks generally charge an administration fee.

It’s better to postpone your removals until after contracts have been exchanged. The moving date is not set until after the exchange of contracts, and you may lose money if it changes afterward.

Completion is generally scheduled for noon on the date specified, although it can be delayed until the seller’s solicitor informs you that they have received all of the money owing. After that, the keys should be delivered to the buyer’s conveyancer for collection. This indicates that the conveyancing procedure has ended, and you can now reside in your home.

If you are a first-time buyer, things are much simpler. You don’t have to worry about selling at the same time, so there are no deadlines. There may be government programs and incentives available to assist you in buying your property, such as equity loan programs and Lifetime ISAs.

It is dependent on the sort of transaction. However, we currently scan papers and send them to our clients to print, sign, and scan them back to us. We’d then ask that you mail the original copies to us.

Please keep in mind that documents may not be witnessed without the physical presence of an independent adult witness. The Law Society states that electronic signatures can be utilized to sign purchasing and selling agreements unless they are recorded as deeds. Electronic signatures may not be used when a signature needs to be witnessed unless the signer was present when it was applied.

We may either proceed based on scanned copies, as long as the opposing conveyancers agree with that approach or in the usual way if we have access to original signed papers at one of our offices. Once you’ve sent them to our office, we’ll have them dated with the date of completion. Then, as part of our post-completion formalities, we’ll send them to the other side’s lawyers.