Conveyancing is extremely important. The reason being, it affects a number of other legal processes. For instance, wills, trusts, employment and matrimony. Therefore, those buying and selling a property cannot afford to get it wrong. With that being said, here’s everything you need to know about conveyancing solicitors and the conveyancing process:
What Does Conveyancing Involve?
Conveyancing comprises the transfer of home ownership from a seller to a buyer. The process begins when the seller accepts an offer and ends when the buyer acquires the keys to their new property. Conveyancers carry out property searches on behalf of a buyer and are responsible for providing legal contracts and advice.
Who Carries Out the Conveyancing?
According to law, homebuyers can carry out the conveyancing themselves, which may be referred to as DIY conveyancing. Yet, the process is complicated and buyers are at risk of hindering their rights as a property owner if they fail to conduct a vital search, for example. Thus, conveyancing usually falls on either a conveyancing solicitor or a licensed conveyancer. Conveyancing solicitors are fully qualified to conduct conveyancing on behalf of a buyer and have a wider knowledge of many legal aspects. Licensed conveyancers are specialist lawyers who only deal in property law and conveyancing.
What Are the Duties of a Conveyancing Solicitor?
The duties of a conveyancing solicitor are plentiful. Here is a breakdown of their duties during the whole process:
Legal Contracts
A conveyancing solicitor goes through the draft contract and supporting documents and forms with the buyer. They note any queries and raise them with the seller’s solicitor.
Property Searches
They carry out a number of specialist searches related to legal aspects. This includes local authority searches, environmental searches, water authority searches and checking the title deeds at the Land Registry.
Contract Signing
At this point the buyer’s solicitor checks that queries have been returned. They also organise a date to exchange contracts, as well as arrangements for the buyer to transfer the deposit into their account.
Exchange of Contracts
On the agreed date, both solicitors read out the contracts to make sure the details are identical. Then they send them via post. The buyer is now in a legally binding contract to purchase the property.
Exchange to Completion
The conveyancing solicitor ensures that the deeds to the property are now frozen for 30 working days. And the buyer and seller get ready for the move. On the day of completion, the seller’s solicitor confirms that the full payment for the property has been received. They then leave the keys with the estate agent.
Post-Completion
The solicitor makes sure all loose ends are tied up, such as processing the buyer’s stamp duty payment. And at this point conveyancing process is complete.
Our team of experts act as a point of contact for every party, including solicitors, during a sale. For more information on conveyancing, feel free to send us a message.
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Garrett Whitelock
Garrett Whitelock was set up by Ben Garrett and Lee Whitelock in 2012. We’re passionate about property and we wanted to do things differently after becoming frustrated with the general lack of accountability, integrity and professionalism in the industry.
We had a very smooth experience throughout the whole process, from viewing the property and signing the tenancy agreement to moving in. The team has also been very quick and helpful in responding to our maintenance queries.
A special thank you to Erin for all her help and prompt communication. We a...
audrey aspa
GW managed our flat's rental for several years and recently helped us sell it too. Friendly, professional, and responsive throughout — highly recommend them, whether you need a letting agent or help selling.
Francesco Priolo
We have rented one of the apartments management by Garrett Whitelock in Berdmonsey area and we can definitely say the experience was amazing. Along our tenancy that lasted 7 year, they provided full and quick support. Moreover, we really appreciated their being humble and humans and being open to ha...
Fanxin Xu
Erin was the most helpful and responsive agents I dealt with during my property search. She always replied to my emails promptly and regularly sent me suitable property recommendations. Although I eventually rented a property through another agency, I really appreciated her professionalism, patience...
yves b
Harry and Lucy have been very helpful, responsive and efficient throughout the process. Easy communication.
Megan Jones
Lucy has been so helpful preceding our move. She has always got back to us promptly, and has answered all of our questions.
Amanda Sills
I had such a lovely experience working with Harry at Garrett Whitelock. I bought a flat he was managing and it was such a pleasant experience. Harry was incredibly responsive and very helpful through the whole process. I would not hesitate to work with Harry or anyone at Garrett Whitelock again.
Mirko Martens
Great communication from Lucy, very quick and accommodating!
Sajini
Amazing experience with GW. They were managing an estate I lived at for 2 years and our agent (Kerri) was amazing and very efficient on every query. They even liased with the concierge several times to make things easier for us which was so helpful.
Amazing agent’s - highly recommend!
