Conveyancing explained

Once you have chosen one of our property lawyers it is their job is to make the legal side of your sale proceed as smoothly as possible

The process begins when they write to you confirming their terms of business. They will also ask you to complete their client and property information forms – this will provide them with important information about you and your sale.

Please note without your completed forms the property lawyer will not be able to begin work on your sale.

What can you do to prepare?

• Ensure you provide your estate agent with our property lawyers full details so that they can let us know the terms of your sale, who the buyers are and who their lawyer is.

• Provide your property lawyer with any valid guarantees for your property, for example NHBC, damp and timber or window replacement. The buyer’s lawyer will request copies of these if applicable.

• Provide your property lawyer with any installation certificates, for example boiler installations, electrical work or window replacement. The buyer’s lawyer will request copies of these if applicable.

• If you have carried out any building works such as extensions you will need to let your property lawyer have copies of the planning permission and building regulation approval. The buyer’s lawyer will request copies of these if applicable.

This is when most of the legal work is done.

Preparing Contracts

Once we have completed Stage 1, your property lawyers are ready to prepare and issue contract papers to your buyer’s lawyer.

• Your property lawyers will obtain and check the Land Registry documents to the property, or if unregistered the original deeds.

• They will prepare the Contract and Transfer and send this to the buyer’s lawyer along with your property information forms and any other relevant information.

• They will also send you a contract report with the Contract and Transfer to sign together with a property plan so that you can confirm the boundaries are correct.

Mortgages

If you have a mortgage secured on your property your property lawyers are required to give a legal undertaking to the buyer’s lawyer to ensure the mortgage is repaid on completion.

• Your property lawyer will need to request an initial redemption statement from your lender which shows the amount owing.

• They will prepare a draft completion statement for you to check together with a copy of the lender’s statement.

Additional Enquiries

The buyer’s lawyer will review the Contract, Transfer and other documents your property lawyer would have sent to them and may raise enquiries. This is a normal step in the selling process. Your property will respond to enquiries if we are able, but they may refer some to you as we do not have personal knowledge of your property. The property lawyers will clearly explain what you need to do and be on hand if you need any help.

Buyers’ Lawyers

Before the buyer’s lawyer can exchange there are various steps they need to deal with such as:

• Raising additional enquiries.

• Reviewing our replies to their additional enquiries.

• Requesting searches, such as Local Authority search, water and drainage search, environmental search.

• Reviewing search results.

• If the buyer requires a mortgage they will need to receive a copy of the mortgage offer and comply with the lender’s requirements.

• Report on the property to the buyer and request contract and mortgage papers are signed.

If you are selling within a chain it is important to note that everyone in the chain must exchange contracts at the same time and complete on the same date. This means that all lawyers in the chain must complete their parts of the legal process before they can exchange. Your property lawyer will do their best to ensure we reach exchange as quickly as possible.

Exchanging contracts is when the sale becomes legally binding for both buyer and seller – there is no turning back after contracts exchange! Both buyer and seller must complete on the agreed completion date at the agreed price. If the buyer decides not to proceed at this stage they risk forfeiting the deposit and possibly incurring other costs for damages.

• When your property lawyers are ready to exchange contracts they will telephone you on the day to expressly obtain your permission to proceed before committing you to the contract.

• Once they have exchanged contracts they will telephone you to confirm completion, inform your estate agents, request their invoice and request a final figure from your mortgage lender if applicable.

You can now safely make arrangements to vacate your property on the completion date. Arrange removals, inform your utilities providers and remember to take meter readings on the completion date.

The completion date is the day you must vacate the property and your buyer can move in.

Legal completion takes place once we receive the sale money from the buyer’s lawyer. Your property lawyer will then authorise the estate agent (if applicable) to release the keys to your buyer.

Your property lawyers will pay all sums due to your mortgage lender where applicable and send you the balance. They can send monies by bank transfer to reach your account the same day.

Remember to leave all keys with the estate agents (unless you have made other arrangements direct with your buyer) and take final meter readings.

Once you have chosen one of our property lawyers, their job is to make the legal side of your purchase proceed as smoothly as possible.

The process begins when the property lawyer writes to you confirming terms of business. They will also ask you to complete a client information form – this will provide us with important information about you and your purchase.

Please note… without your completed forms they will not be able to begin work on your purchase.

What can you do to prepare?

Ensure you provide your estate agent with the property lawyers full details so that they can let them know the terms of your purchase, who the sellers are and who their lawyer is.

This is when most of the legal work is done. The property lawyer will investigate the legal title to the property, request and receive searches and receive your mortgage offer if applicable.

Receiving Contract Papers
The contract papers will be sent to your property lawyer by your seller’s lawyer and will include information about the legal title to the property, property information forms completed by the seller and any other documents relevant to the property such as guarantees or planning consents.

Your property lawyer will inspect the contract papers and raise any relevant enquiries with the seller’s lawyer in respect of the legal title and other aspects that we feel you may need to know.

At this stage your property lawyer will also send you a contract report explaining information about the property and enclose the contract papers that you need to sign.

Once the seller’s lawyer replies to your property lawyers enquiries they will report to you again explaining their replies.

Searches
Your property lawyer will need to request certain searches about the property you are buying, these are:

• The Local Authority search will show information such as local land charges, planning consents, building regulation history and whether the road is adopted and maintained by the Council.

• A water and drainage search will indicate whether the property is connected to the foul sewers and mains water or if any sewer pipes or mains water pipes run through the boundaries of the property.

• An environmental and land contamination search will indicate if a property is at potential risk of contamination. A ‘clean up notice’ can be served on the current homeowner which could lead to considerable expense.

Survey
Its best advice that you instruct a surveyor to ensure that the property is structurally sound. You buy the property as seen with any structural problems it may have. Your property lawyer cannot advise you on the structural adequacy of the property. You should let your property lawyer have a copy of your survey once available so that we can check any legal recommendations the surveyor makes.

Please note… that a mortgage lender’s valuation is NOT a survey. The lender’s valuation is for the lender’s benefit and to determine if the price you are paying is acceptable to them.

Mortgage
If you need a mortgage to buy your property your property lawyer will need to receive a copy of the mortgage offer direct from your mortgage lender. When a mortgage is required the mortgage lender essentially also becomes the law firms client and they are obliged to comply with any requirements they have in order to proceed.

• Your property lawyer will, on receipt of the mortgage offer, check for any conditions or requirements the mortgage lender needs us to comply with and advise you if necessary.
• They will report to you regarding the mortgage offer with documentation to complete and a draft completion statement showing any money we may need from you.
• They will request buildings insurance information from you and a copy of your mortgage lender’s valuation.

Please note…if your property lawyer needs money from you to complete the purchase we may request evidence from you to verify the source of your money such as copy bank statements.

Exchanging contracts is when the sale becomes legally binding for both buyer and seller – there is no turning back after contracts exchange! Both buyer and seller must complete on the agreed completion date at the agreed price. If you decide not to proceed at this stage you risk forfeiting the deposit and possibly incurring other costs for damages.

• When your property lawyers are ready to exchange contracts they will telephone you on the day to expressly obtain your permission to proceed before committing you to the contract.

• Once we have exchanged contracts we will telephone you to confirm completion.

• If applicable, we will submit our final report to your mortgage lender and request funds be released to us for the completion date.

You can now safely make arrangements for the completion date, arrange removals and ensure your buildings insurance is ‘on risk’.

The completion date is the day the seller must vacate the property and you can move in.

• Legal completion takes place once the seller’s lawyer receives the purchase money from your property lawyer. The seller’s lawyer will then authorise the estate agent (where applicable) to release the keys to you.

• After completion your property lawyer will then apply to the Land Registry to register your ownership, this can take a few weeks after completion. They will then provide you with our final report confirming your ownership is registered.

Please note…remember to take meter readings at the property on the completion day.