Conveyancing is the process of transferring ownership or certain rights in property from one person to another. Your solicitor¹s job is to ensure that you get what you pay for and that you will not discover problems with the property you are buying or selling when it is too late. 

 

 

This is the stage where both the seller and the buyer have signed their own cntracts and these are literally exchanged between solicitors. It is of particular significance as the agrement becomes totally legally binding at this point and neither party can back out afterwards without suffering a loss.

 

Before this stage is reached, your solicitor will make numerous enquiries about the property. For example, they will check exactly what is and is not included in the purchase or sale price, and that the person you are buying from actually owns the property in the first place. They will also carry out the very important local and other searches.

 

 

Your solicitor will carry out a number of investigations with the local authority. The purpose is to find out if there are any matters which you ought to know about that might affect your decision to proceed. For example, if the solicitor discovers that a new motorway route is planned near the property you might want to think again.

 

 

An agreed percentage of the purchase price - usually 10% - is payable when contracts are exchanged. If you are selling as well as buying, your solicitor will attempt to exchange on both transactions at the same time.

This is so that the deposit taken from your buyer can be put towards the deposit on the property you are buying. Co-ordinating the two transactions is one of the many jobs that yor solicitor will carry out for you.

 

 

It is unlikely that you will get the keys until ownership of the property has passed to you. This will not normally take place until you have paid the purchase price. This is known as completion.

 

 

It is impossible to be specific over this, as no two tranactions are identical. On average, however, it is likely to take between four and six weeks. Solicitors like Barber Titleys, who are very sensitive to clients¹ needs, will make every possible effort to try to meet any deadlines that are important to you, providing it does not compromise the quality of work and your long term interests.

 

 

Barber Titleys will charge you a fee for the legal work we carry out. On top of this we have to ask you to pay for those expenses payable to others, over which we have no control. These include, amongst other things, stamp duty land tax, registration fees and the fees for the searches mentioned earlier.

 

At the start of a transaction we will write to you setting out all the costs and expenses likely to be incurred.

 

Note - these additional expenses (disbursements) are exactly the same regardless of which legal firm you use and are not connected to your legal fees at all.