UK HOUSE CONVEYANCING PROCEDURE

A house conveyancing solicitor generally deals in all issues relating to the sale and purchase of land and domestic property and will also deal with rental agreements and domestic leases. To effect and complete a sale the buyer must obtain good �title� to the property or to the land which enables him to claim legal ownership. The person selling the property or land must of course have the right to do so by being the owner. In order to achieve a valid and legally enforceable sale a solicitor acting on behalf of a buyer must make detailed enquires both about the sellers title to the land and about any property that is being sold.

Whilst the same house conveyancing solicitor can act on behalf of one client who is both buying and selling different properties, a solicitor cannot act on behalf of both buyer and seller of one property subject to just a few exceptions. A solicitor can act for both buyer and seller if the value of the transaction is less that �1,500 or in cases of higher value where buyer and seller are close family members. There is a further exception to the general rule which occurs when the buyer�s solicitor and the seller�s solicitor work within the same law firm. In this case the �firm� can act on behalf of both parties provided that neither solicitor has access to the others files.

There are essentially four stages carried out by a house conveyancing solicitor who is involved in the sale or purchase of land and property on behalf of a client. The first stage is pre-contract enquiries, the second is exchange of contracts, the third is �completion� and the fourth is �post completion� :-

1. Having agreed a price for the property, the buyer and seller will thereafter instruct solicitors to act on their behalf. The buyer�s solicitor will begin an investigation into the land or property which may include valuations and will include relevant searches in the records of various authorities.
2. Once these procedures are complete and the buyers solicitor is satisfied with the enquiries made about the property then contracts will be exchanged with a 10% deposit usually being paid by the buyer, following which both buyer and seller are legally bound to complete the contract of sale.
3. After further investigations and after the remaining documentation has been dealt with the balance purchase money will be paid to the seller. At this stage the transaction is completed and the new owner of the property or land can assume the legal �rights of ownership�.
4. Thereafter all that remains to be done �post completion� is for the solicitor to deal with the final aspects of registration of the new owners interest in the land or property with the Land Registry.

Our nationwide solicitors are all based outside of the major metropolitan centres and as such are able to offer economic conveyancing services and transfer of equity due to substantially reduced overheads. Where possible we deal with matters electronically and there is no need for any of our clients to ever attend our offices. Clients who do not have access to a computer can still be dealt with efficiently by use of post and telephones and will find our service still proceeds at a fast pace due to use of modern technology again without the necessity to attend any law office. For a free no obligation quotation just use the helpline or complete the contact form and a solicitor will contact you with free advice.