Whether you are looking to buy or sell a property, knowing and understanding how the Conveyancing process works is invaluable. We have put together this guide to help you understand everything you need to know about the sale or purchase of your property in order to ensure a smooth transaction.

Selling a Property?

• Obtain a valuation from local estate agents once you have decided to put your property on the market. This is important for potential buyers to have confidence in the asking price as well as for to understand how to finance your move (if applicable).
• Source and Instruct a solicitor. The Conveyancing process is a fairly well established one within the legal industry and so you should ideally seek solicitors who offer competitive rates.
• Once instructed, your solicitor will send out a letter setting out the terms of business and ideally fixed fee costs.
• Your solicitor will the carry out the necessary verification of ID and source of funds checks to comply with anti-money laundering rules.
• At the same time, you should receive relevant property information forms for completion which you should complete and return to your solicitor, as a matter of urgency.
• Your solicitor will then prepare and send the draft contract, title deeds and other relevant documents to your buyer’s solicitor or legal representative as well as obtain the details of the amount outstanding on any existing mortgage.
• The buyer’s conveyancer will check the contract and supporting contract documentation and raises pre-contract enquiries with your solicitor.
• With the assistance of your solicitor, you answer pre-contract enquiries which will then be sent to the Buyer’s Conveyancer in response.
• Once the buyer’s conveyancer confirms they have acceptable results from their searches, are satisfied with the answers to pre-contract enquiries (and are in receipt of a mortgage offer if applicable, all parties then proceed to the exchange of contracts stage.
• You and the buyer will negotiate and agree on a completion date before the contracts are formally “exchanged”. Please note that once contracts are exchanged, both parties are legally committed to the transaction.
• If your property is mortgaged, your solicitor will obtain a settlement figure from your mortgage lender to repay the outstanding amount on any existing mortgage after contracts have been exchanged.
• The Buyer’s solicitor will then prepare a draft Transfer Deed for your solicitor to approve. Once approved, this will be sent to you to sign in readiness for completion.
• On the date of completion, the Buyer’s solicitor will send the proceeds of sale to your solicitor and upon receipt, your sale is formally completed. Your solicitor will inform you; your estate agents and the buyer’s solicitors that your sale transaction has completed. You must vacate the property at a time to be agreed, typically 1pm on the agreed date of completion. Arrangements for the hand over the keys are usually done through the estate agent.
• Your solicitor and the Buyer’s solicitor then deal with the post completion formalities such as redeeming any existing mortgage using the sale proceeds; settling the estate agent’s commission; remitting the balance to you; sending the title deeds and Transfer Deed to the Buyer’s solicitor etc

Buying a Property?

• Once your offer to the Seller of the property you wish to buy has been accepted, you should source and instruct a solicitor.
• Arrange a structural survey of the property with a surveyor and if required, make an application for a mortgage. It is important to note that if you are indeed using finance from a mortgage lender to purchase your property, the lender would typically carry out a valuation of the property. This is not a structural survey but a survey for valuation purposes.
• Source and Instruct a solicitor.
• Once instructed, your solicitor will send out a letter setting out the terms of business and ideally fixed fee costs.
• Your solicitor will the carry out the necessary verification of ID and source of funds checks to comply with anti-money laundering rules.
• If required, your lender will also instruct your solicitor to act for them as regards the mortgage/loan to you.
• Your solicitor will then contact the seller’s solicitor to obtain the draft contract and legal title deeds pack as well as carry out local searches.
• Upon receipt of the legal pack and results of the local searches, your solicitor will investigate the title documents, raise pre-contract enquiries and obtains a copy of the mortgage offer.
• The Sellers’s solicitors answer pre-contract enquiries and return any amended documents to your solicitor which will be sent to you with a full “report” on the property you are purchasing for you to consider.
• If there are any matters which are unclear, you will raise your enquiries with your solicitor so that they can be clarified and you are satisfied that the property you are purchasing is of marketable and good title.
• If you are satisfied, you can proceed to the exchange of contracts stage.
• You and the buyer will negotiate and agree on a completion date before the contracts are formally “exchanged”. Please note that once contracts are exchanged, both parties are legally committed to the transaction.
• Your solicitor then prepares and send a draft Transfer Deed and all other relevant completion information documents for your Seller’s solicitor to approve for use. Once approved, this will be signed by the Seller in readiness for completion.
• a draft transfer deed and completion information form and sends these to the seller’s Conveyancer for completion.
• Your solicitor will also at this stage, request the drawdown of your mortgage advance towards the purchase from your mortgage lender, carry out the requisite pre-completion searches and prepares a completion statement showing the balance due from you to complete. Ideally your solicitor should be put in funds at least 5 clear working days before the scheduled date of completion.
• On completion, the buyer vacates the property by the agreed time and buyer’s Conveyancer sends the proceeds of sale to the seller’s Conveyancer.
• On the date of completion, your solicitor will send the sale monies to the Seller’s solicitor and the Seller is to vacate the property at a time agreed, typically 1pm on the agreed date of completion. Arrangements for the hand over the keys are usually done through the estate agent. Your solicitor will inform you; your estate agents and the buyer’s solicitors that your sale transaction has completed.
• Your solicitor and the Seller’s solicitor then deal with the post completion formalities such as filing and paying the stamp duty due to the HMRC, registering your ownership of the property at the Land Registry; sending you and your mortgage lender, if applicable, the copy of the registered title documents.

At Jackson Longe Solicitors, we appreciate that buying or selling a property is the one of the most expensive and anxiety-causing transactions most people will undertake in their lifetime and so we are very committed to making the process as straight forward and seamless as possible.

We will manage your transaction efficiently from start to finish!

For a free no obligation quote or to discuss our services further, please contact a member of our very capable team on 0208 332 2069 or by email info @jacksonlonge.com.

@Jacksonlonge2016
Author- Miss Amaka Jackson