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We can help with:-
- Buying and Selling Houses – Freehold
- Buying and Selling Flats
- Mortgages
- Joint ownership/Transfer of ownership
- Transfer of equity
- Remortgages
- Buy to Let and investment property purchases
- Buying and selling at an auction
- Land purchases
- Extending a Lease
And if you want to know more about the process, we have outlined exactly what happens:-
The Conveyancing Process Explained
The term ‘Conveyancing‘ is the legal process by which the ownership of a property or piece of land from one party, the seller to another, the buyer. It involves many legal and administrative duties that ensure the smooth and secure transfer of property rights. These tasks include conducting property searches, drafting and reviewing contracts, handling financial transactions, and registering the property with the relevant authorities.
There are three stages:-
The Pre-Contract Stage
During the pre-contract stage, the buyer’s solicitor conducts a range of searches and investigations to gather essential information about the property. These searches include checking the title of the property, searches in the records of the local authority, environmental searches, and drainage searches. This is a vital stage as it ensures that you will be fully aware of anything that could affect the property value or future owners. For example: planning permission, planned developments and land searches make sure such things like the area having a history of flooding or subsidence are understood.
Exchange of Contracts
The exchange of contracts is a significant milestone in the conveyancing process. It is at this stage that the buyer and seller become legally bound to complete the transaction. The buyer’s solicitor will ensure that all necessary documentation is in order, including the mortgage offer (if applicable), deposit funds, and signed contracts. Once contracts are exchanged, a completion date can be set.
Completion and Post Completion
On the completion date, the buyer’s solicitor transfers the purchase funds to the seller’s solicitor. Once the monies are received, the seller’s solicitor releases the keys, and the buyer legally becomes the owner of the property. Post-completion, the buyer’s solicitor will register the property with the Land Registry and handle all outstanding issues, such as paying stamp duty and notifying relevant authorities of the change in ownership.
Basically this means that they:-
- Handle all the documentation and contracts
- Carry out the all important searches with the local council
- Communicate with the land registry, registering and stamping the deeds etc
- Deal with any leasehold issues such as transfers and extensions
- Issuing new share certificates (required when a management company is being used)
- Transfer all the monies involved in the buying process, such as stamp duty
- Exchange the contracts
- Provide legal advice as necessary
How Long Does The Conveyancing Process Take?
The whole process normally takes around eight to sixteen weeks, but this is only a guide. There are many reasons why delays take place, especially if the other parties are not using an experienced and efficient conveyancing agent like WardRider!
Conveyancing Costs
The legal costs incurred when purchasing a property are affected by many factors, such as the complexity of the title deeds and how you raise the capital to buy the property. Some of the factors that affect the overall costs are:-
- If you are buying a new build property
- Taking advantage of ‘Right to Buy’
Besides the legal costs of carrying out the purchase, there is a range of fees payable to other parties, these being known as ‘Disbursements’.
These include:-
- Search fees payable to the local council
- Land Registry Search fees
- Bankruptcy search fees
- Anti Money Laundering checks
- Money transfer fees
- Transfer, Notice of Charge and Compliance certification costs when a lease is involved
- Deed of Covenant fee when using a management company
As you can see, whatever your property or land purchase issues are, our experienced and friendly team are here ready to help you with just about anything to do with buying, selling or owning property.
Our experts are waiting to help, arrange your free one-to-one consultation today .
We cover the counties of
Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and The West Midlands including Birmingham
