Buying a property – step by step Conveyancing process

Everyone buying a home has to go through the conveyancing process.

Thursfields is one of Worcestershire and the West Midland’s most long established and reputable law firms. We advise clients on their legal rights and responsibilities, offering them excellent customer service and expert legal advice when buying a property.

When buying a house, a conveyancing solicitor’s responsibilities include local search, land charges search, advising on land registry and stamp duty.

  • The local search exposes any factors which weren’t on the estate agent’s details but may possibly affect your future plans of your new home.
  • The land charges search checks to see if your home is subject to certain restrictions that may affect its development.
  • Land registry is the legal documents you personally need to see to verify the seller’s ownership.
  • Stamp duty is the tax due on the purchase of a property as per the government’s current standard.

Conveyancing is the legal work that is carried out between the offer being accepted, you and the seller exchanging contracts, as well as the completion of the sale.

We always work with your best interests in mind and will deal with the land registry, stamp duty charges and payments, collecting and transferring money during a house sale, providing legal advice and drawing up and assessing contracts.

To find out your conveyancing fees instantly please visit our online conveyancing calculator – https://thursfields.co.uk/conveyancing-calculator
Or contact our conveyancing solicitors at the location to best suit you;  https://thursfields.co.uk/contact-us/

Step One- Initial Contact

After you contact us and ask us to help you with the purchase of your new property the first step will be for us to send you our ‘New Instruction Pack’. This will set out our commitment to you including conveyancing fees and our terms of business.

Step Two- Purchase Instructions

If an Estate Agent is involved in the selling process, the Seller’s Agent will send us a ‘Memorandum of Sale’ which will set out the terms of the sale and will include the purchase price, the name of the Seller and the name and contact details for the seller’s Conveyancer. Once this has been received we will contact the seller’s Conveyancer and ask them to send the contract package to us.

Step Three – Contract Package

The seller’s Conveyancer prepares the contract package which includes a sale contract and proof of the seller’s ownership. The sellers will also complete forms which provide general information about the property and contents. If the property is leasehold then the seller’s Conveyancer will supply further information about the lease and other issues such as service charge.

Step Four – Raise Enquiries and Submit Searches

Once the contract package has been provided by the seller’s Conveyancer we shall be able to review this and ask any questions which we consider are relevant. At this stage we also submit the property searches. It is important to remember that whilst a property search will reveal important information about the property you are buying it should not be confused with a house survey (which is something different). We do not arrange a house survey but can recommend the services of a Chartered Surveyor if you want to arrange one yourself. If you are buying the property with a mortgage then your lender should be finalising the written mortgage offer, if they have not already issued the written offer of the loan.

Step Five – Report on Title

After we have reviewed the contract package we shall report to you on the essential parts of the contract and seller’s title. Once we have received answers to the questions we have asked the seller’s Conveyancer we will report to you again. If you are purchasing a leasehold property, we will review the lease and tell you about your obligations and the landlord’s obligations. Our review will also outline the service charge and ground rent costs. Once the seller’s Conveyancer has answered all our questions satisfactorily, we shall then be in a position to ask you to sign the contract and proceed to the final stages of the transaction.

Step Six – Exchange of Contracts

When you and your seller (and anyone else involved in the chain of transactions) are ready to proceed, contracts can be exchanged and a completion date set. At this point the agreement to buy your new property becomes legally binding. It is usual at this point for a deposit equal to 10% of the purchase price to be paid to the seller’s Conveyancer which they will hold until completion. Only when contracts have been exchanged and a completion date (moving date) is set, should you then book your removals.

Step Seven – Preparation for Completion

The completion date is the date that we send the purchase money to the seller’s Conveyancer, the house ownership passes from the seller to you and the seller hands the keys to you. In advance of the completion date, we will prepare a financial statement which sets out all the costs and other expenses of the transaction and tells you how much money is needed to complete the transaction. This includes the balance of the purchase monies, stamp duty land tax, land registry fees and any service charge apportionment’s. If you are buying with a mortgage, we ask your lender to send us the mortgage funds to ensure we have this money prior to completion.

Step Eight – Completion

On the day of the move the funds will be transferred from our client account to the seller’s Solicitor’s client account. How quickly this happens depends on whether you are in a chain and how quickly the banks transfer the money. We will keep in contact with you throughout the day to let you know of any developments. When the seller’s Solicitor has received the money they will authorise the release of keys for you to collect and begin the move into your new home. Good luck with the move!

Step Nine – After Completion

We will pay your stamp duty land tax, as required, from the funds you have sent us or received from a related sale and complete your registration of legal title. This includes the removal of existing mortgages and the registration of your new mortgage at the Land registry.

If you are buying a leasehold property we will ensure that any required Notice of Assignment is in place and any required share certificates provided.

For further advice please contact our Residential Property Conveyancer’s  at our offices in; Birmingham, Halesowen, KidderminsterSolihull, and Worcester.

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