Conveyancing is simply the legal process of transferring the ownership of a property from one person to another. Whether you are a seller or purchaser of a property, you need an expert conveyancing solicitor in your corner to ensure legalities involving your property transaction progress smoothly.
Though it is easy for you to primarily focus on the cost element alone since everything from estate agents, mortgage brokers, valuations and removals soon add up - remember that the entire marketability of the property you are selling or buying all depends on the legal work carried out.
Would you risk your property transaction by instructing anyone other than an expert property lawyer? Contact Express Conveyancing today to find out how we can help with your next property move on 0800 799 9892
It all starts with the seller’s solicitors issuing contract documents to the purchaser’s solicitors. Subsequently, their role will be to co-ordinate the transaction by supplying responses to the purchaser’s solicitors to ensure contracts are exchanged in the shortest time frame possible.
Fundamentally, a purchaser’s conveyancer’s role is to ensure that the property being bought can and will be registered at the Land Registry. If the property is being bought with a mortgage, the purchaser’s conveyancer will also be acting for the mortgage lender to ensure their security is appropriately registered against the property.
The purchaser’s conveyancer will also carry out comprehensive checks on the subject property’s title, the land upon which it sits and other locality issues. They will also ensure obvious factors such as the seller of the property does own it and is authorised to sell it, any mortgages are correctly administered and of course the property is suitably registered at the land registry.
If the property is leasehold, New Build or Shared Ownership, further enquires must be made about the lease itself, as well as any obligations you will have, as the owner (the technical term being Tenant). These can include service charges, ground rent, rent on shared ownership properties, repair obligations and responsibility for the cost of upkeep and maintenance.
It doesn’t end there though as your lawyer (be it acting for the seller or the purchaser) must consider a wide range of other factors unique to the property and its location.
Once the purchaser’s solicitor has received contract papers from the sellers, they will inspect these documents thoroughly. One of the first things they will establish is whether the property is Freehold or Leasehold in tenure.
We have over the years had countless cases where the purchaser has been led to believe that the property they are purchasing is a particular tenure by the agents or the sellers themselves and then turned out to be something completely different.
In its simplest form, a freehold property is one where you will own both the land and any other buildings built on that land outright whereas leasehold means, you only own (temporarily in relative terms) a certain part of a freehold land.
Leases with shorter terms, generally anything less than 80 years can have significant marketability issues as most mortgage lenders would not lend on these properties. Similarly, doubling ground rents or other onerous terms on leases can have dier implications both for you now as the new purchaser or any future buyers whom you wish to sell your property to.
Why not contact our specialist property lawyers to assist with your next property move on 0800 799 9892 or using our Contact Form?
Your appointed conveyancer will establish if there are any easements or rights of way affecting your property.
An easement is your right as a property owner to use someone else’s land for a designated purpose, be it access over it or trivial uses such as laying water pipes for instance. It is also worth remembering that once an easement has been granted, you can then no longer restrict access to it or build over an easement.
A right of way on the other hand is a form of easement, allowing access either on foot or by motor vehicle over someone else’s land. Rights of way are typically required to grant access to public woodland or rivers used for fishing over one’s estate.
Your conveyancer will also establish if any public footpaths (known as rights to roam) fall on your land, having either been granted by a previous owner of the property or any implied rights of way from the general public having had access over your land for years.
It is important to establish maintenance rights as you could be liable to contribute or solely bear the cost of the upkeep of these easements should they fall on your land.
Contact our team of conveyancers on 0800 799 9892 for more advice on easements and rights of ways.
This point is especially applicable if you are buying with the assistance of mortgage finance.
Your mortgage lender will also require your appointed conveyancer to act for them too in ensuring the lender’s security is appropriately registered at the land registry. Due to recent changes and restrictions imposed by most mortgage lenders, not all conveyancers or solicitors can act for all mortgage lenders.
What this in other words mean is that should your appointed conveyancer not be on the approved list of lawyers for your chosen mortgage lender, you will have to pay for an additional firm of solicitors to represent your lender.
At Express Conveyancing, all our panel solicitors are collectively on all approved mortgage lender panels. This means that regardless of who your proposed mortgage lender is, we are sure to have a solicitor who can act on your behalf.
Find out which of our firms are on your chosen mortgage lender’s panel today by phoning 0800 799 9892.
When you are purchasing a property, your conveyancer must ensure that the property has all necessary planning and building control consents.
Planning permission relates to consent from the Local Authority to develop a particular piece of land, be it adding an extension to an existing house or the development of farm land to build a new housing estate.
Building Completion Consent on the other hand is what the council’s inspector would have issued as a sign off confirming any structural work carried out meets current building control standards and is structurally sound. That said, it is not uncommon to find a lot of property transactions involving lack of an adequate Building Completion Certificate. There are usually inexpensive methods of remedying these defects by way of simple indemnity insurance policies providing certain conditions have been met.
This is particularly true when it comes to buying a brand new property, where the property is still under construction. They will also ensure that any planning obligations imposed by the council under a s/106 action could be brought against the new owner.
For further advice on planning and building consent related advice, please contact our New Business Team on 0800 799 9892 or using our Contact Form.
Our conveyancing service has been designed with one person in mind, you
Fixed Fee Conveyancing with Express Conveyancing is as straight forward as paying what you are quoted, on completion of your transaction. Our conveyancing quotes cover all your conveyancing fees – the cost of your conveyancing solicitor working on your behalf and any disbursements.
Disbursements are third party costs, common to whichever conveyancing solicitor you use and include locality searches, land registry registration fees, stamp duty (where applicable) etc. Your conveyancing solicitor will be happy to explain these costs to you.
You can obtain a comprehensive conveyancing quote using the ‘Get a Quote’ button, or by contacting our Conveyancing Team on 0800 799 9892
We are a panel of affordable, specialist property lawyers; all regulated by the SRA or Council for Licensed Conveyancers. In addition to great value for money conveyancing, our 5* service is recommended by more than 95% of our clients.
With Express Conveyancing’s No Move, No Fee promise*, you have peace of mind that you will have no legal fees payable should your transaction abort prematurely. Please speak to our Conveyancing Team for more details.
Why wait months on end to buy or sell a property? Express Conveyancing’s panel of the best and the most efficient property lawyers and solicitors, together with our market leading IT infrastructure enables us to complete transactions in one third the industry average turnaround time. Get moving quicker by instructing an Express Conveyancing Solicitor.
Express Conveyancing offer great value conveyancing at affordable prices. We have set our fees to provide the best of both worlds, customer service levels you can expect from a traditional high street law firm with the efficiency of an internet based service. Despite our top-notch service, our fees are some of the most competitive fees in the market!
Have you noticed how our conveyancing quote appears more pricey than most other online service providers?
Well we aren’t. Of course we must be doing something right to be trusted by hundreds of client’s each month.
Our secret to success is honesty. At Express Conveyancing, we say NO to hidden fees. What your fee illustration sets out when you obtain your quote is what you will pay on completion. Our fees will not change as long as instructions to us remain unaltered.
At Express Conveyancing, we say no to hidden fees. All our comprehensive conveyancing quotes are designed to take into account the range of possible fees that you might have to pay.
Though we recognise this might alienate the unwary client, we believe in honest business and refuse to entice customers with cheap, low quotes and charge extortionate amounts at the end of a transaction, leaving clients with no choice but pay.
Contact our New Business on 0800 799 9892 to discuss our service or quote you have obtained, and to find out how we may assist you.
*Disbursements and any third party costs accrued in the process are still payable should your transaction abort and our fixed fee conveyancing quote assumes one standard transaction.
Whatever your circumstances are for a property sale or purchase (or both), Express Conveyancing’s panel of Solicitors can help you.
Why not request a no-obligation call back to discuss your requirements and a free quote to discuss how we can help.
