Conveyancing FAQs

Conveyancing is the word used to describe the legal process which must be followed to transfer land and property from one party to another.

The deposit is paid by the buyer, to the Seller, on exchange of contracts. This is usually 10% of the agreed sale price, however, the amount of this can vary depending on what has been agreed between the parties. This must be paid to the conveyancer to be held in a specific account until the completion date.

Conveyancing fees are paid at the time that completion of the matter takes place. This will generally exclude the cost of any searches which will need to be paid upfront during the process.

The time that it takes to complete a conveyancing matter varies quite a bit and depends upon a number of different factors, however, the average time is around 8 – 12 weeks.

If you are purchasing a property with the assistance of a mortgage, then it will be a requirement of your lender that certain searches are carried out on your behalf. Each Lender’s requirements can differ, however, the main searches that are required by all lenders are as follows:

• Local Authority Search – this is a search which is provided by the local council and provides all data that they hold in respect of the property, including, but not limited to, planning and building control matters and highways data.
• Drainage and Water Search – this is a search which is provided by the local water authority and confirms whether the property is connected to mains water supply and sewerage, confirms who owns certain infrastructure and shows the routes of this.
• Environment Search – this is a search which provides a snapshot of the environmental data held about the property and provides information relating to flooding, subsidence, radon and land contamination, amongst other things.

When you exchange contracts, you will need to pay a deposit to your solicitor or conveyancer and you will need to sign a contract agreeing to buy the house. The seller will also sign a contract to say they will sell the house to you. Once this is done the contract is legally binding and if either of you decide to back out there is a serious financial consequence. At this point you should also ensure you have buildings insurance and life insurance is also advisable.

You are not legally bound to have a survey carried out as part of the conveyancing process, however, we would always strongly advise any buyer for whom we are acting that it is prudent to have one carried out. It can reveal any structural or maintenance issues that may exist in respect of the property, before you purchase it.

It is the responsibility of the buyer to arrange a survey of the property, if they wish to have one carried out. This is not done by the conveyancer on their behalf.

Title deeds are paper documents which show the chain of ownership for land and property. However, in 2003 a process came into place whereby the Land Registry adopted an approach of ‘dematerialisation’ in which hard copy deeds were destroyed and electronic copies were held by the Land Registry instead.

Once completion has taken place and you have received the keys for your new property, the seller’s solicitors will send the hard copy deeds (if any) to your solicitors. Your solicitors will then hold onto these until you have been successfully registered as the new owner of the property at HM Land Registry. Once registration has been finalised, you will be sent any available deeds together with a copy of the updated electronic Land Registry Title Register for your records.