No. The lawyers at Simply Conveyancing have dealt with the conveyancing for houses across the whole of England and Wales for many years. Everything can be handled efficiently by telephone, email, internet and as needed the post. There is no need to meet face to face or take time off work to visit a solicitor at a time when it's convenient for them. Searches and the conveyancing process are the same wherever you are in the country.

Timeframes cannot be guaranteed because your sale or purchase may be part of a chain, so you can be waiting for other people to catch up and for third parties to supply information and answer questions. What we can do is to be proactive and make sure we are always chasing up other people and that no-one is ever waiting for Simply Conveyancing to get back to them.

A series of linked sales and purchases. It usually starts with a first time buyer (who has nothing to sell) and ends either with someone emigrating, moving into a retirement home, or a property sold by executors dealing with the affairs of someone who has died (not buying a property). The longer the chain the greater the risk of delay, as everybody needs to get into the position of being ready to exchange before anything can be made legally binding.

You buy the property 'as is' with all its defects. A mortgage valuation is not a survey. The safest advice is to have a structural survey carried out before buying.

These are costs payable to third parties such as the Land Registry. They will be the same whichever firm of lawyers you instruct.

A deposit, usually 10% of purchase price, is paid over on exchange of contracts by the buyer to the seller to prove their good faith about going ahead with the transaction. If you are selling and buying, we may be able to use the deposit received on the sale as the deposit for the purchase. You might have to top-up the amount of deposit to 10% if you are buying a more expensive property, but we will make every effort to avoid this. Remember, the seller can keep the deposit where the buyer refuses to complete the purchase.

An ancient right where homeowners have to pay towards the costs of repairing the local church. The right is still enforced, and affects properties in urban as well as rural areas. Any potential liability you may have is insured against.

Developers may impose a very early exchange deadline with a date for completion 10 or 14 days after the developer gives notice that 'build is now complete'. This means the exact date for completion is unknown when you exchange, and you may have to be ready to complete at short notice.

Do not hand in your notice to quit before contracts are exchanged. Otherwise, you could find yourself homeless as you have to move out of the rented accommodation but cannot yet move into your purchase property until the day of completion

You cannot do this unless you get permission from your lender. Also the title documents may contain legal restrictions preventing you from doing this

You need to keep insurance cover in place until completion.

Buyers are responsible for insuring the property from exchange of contracts. You must make provisional arrangements beforehand as we cannot exchange contracts where you are buying with a mortgage unless buildings insurance cover is in place.

Any adult occupiers will have to sign the contract for sale agreeing to move out of the property on completion, before contracts can be exchanged. Any adult occupiers who will not be on the mortgage for the purchase property will have to sign a form agreeing to leave the property if it is re-possessed by the lender.

We will ask you to sign the contract before contracts are exchanged. Signing the document does not commit you to anything. You are only bound to sell or buy the property once contracts are exchanged. We will not exchange without taking your instructions first.

You must continue to make payments for mortgages and loans secured on the property until completion. The terms of your loan may mean there is a penalty for early repayment.

If the amount to repay your mortgages and loans is more than the sale price of the property, you will need to let us have cleared funds for the difference before we can exchange contracts.

We will pay the estate agent's account directly from the sale proceeds unless you instruct us in writing not to.

We must have cleared funds for the full amount of the balance to complete before the day of completion. If we don't have cleared funds, completion will be delayed until they clear. You will be liable for compensation and damages if completion is delayed.

Searches such as local authority, contaminated land, mining, flooding can only tell you what is known about the property today. They cannot tell you about future developments or changes to surrounding land or neighbouring properties.

The date for completion is not fixed until contracts are exchanged. So you cannot confirm removal arrangements until you have exchanged contracts. However, you may have to book removals 'provisionally' as sometimes there is only a short time period between exchange and completion. Remember packing up a home can be a big job, so leave yourself enough time to complete the task.

The keys to the property you are buying will not be available until the money has been received by the seller's lawyers. The time the money arrives is controlled by the banking system and not Simply Conveyancing.

On completion you must leave the property in good condition, remove any unwanted items and clear the house of rubbish.