Solicitors and conveyancers

Buying a home is an elaborate jigsaw; a collaboration of many parts which must all come together for things to run smoothly.

Employing a good solicitor is an essential part of this as ultimately even with your dream home secured and the finance arranged to purchase it, without completing the legal process it can never be yours.

The legal process for buying (and selling) property is known as conveyancing and some firms will label themselves simply as conveyancers rather than solicitors or lawyers; either way, you need a legal property expert on your side.

They will not visit the premises to physically check out the property; this is done by a surveyor – a qualified professional, employed by the mortgage lender. You may employ a surveyor too.

The solicitor’s job is to inspect the less obvious points. They ensure the vast sums of money involved are transferred directly and they bring all other parties in the chain together – in conjunction with their legal representatives – to agree a mutually convenient exchange of contracts and completion, the day you move in.

Your credentials need to be checked so that they know your deposit is from a genuine source and you are who you say you are; they’ll also check that the seller (known as a vendor) legally owns the property and has the right to sell it to you via land registry searches.

Then there are the local authority searches, such as: planning, which confirms there’s not a huge new housing estate due to be built at the end of your garden, or similar; drainage, to ensure no nasty underground surprises; highways, to make sure there’s not a motorway extension due to run past the end of your road, for example. There are also environmental searches to cover issues such as planned factories or the expansion of local railways, and so on. If you are buying a leasehold property – usually a flat – the solicitor has some additional checks to carry out on the lease and any communal areas. Your solicitor will also undertake a few checks for the mortgage company, which is far less costly for you than if the bank/building society were to employ their own legal expert.

Whilst all of this can be done before you receive your formal mortgage offer from the mortgage lender, such checks are usually carried out once it is proven that the money is available for your purchase.

So, you have your mortgage offer in place, the survey confirms the property is safe and worth the amount you are paying for it, you know the seller is genuine and there are no hidden nasties in the property. At this point, your solicitor can ask you to sign contracts to buy which – once everything is agreed – are exchanged with the vendor; you may also agree a moving in date (known as the completion date) at this stage.

Now it is the solicitor’s job to bring the chain together (with the help of other parties’ solicitors). They will request the deposit money from you and the mortgage funds from the mortgage lender. You’ll also need to pay them the government’s stamp duty tax, at this stage, if you are liable for this.

Once all solicitors involved have successfully completed these actions, you should be ready to complete on the agreed date; you will be literally home and dry!

June 2018