What is conveyancing and do I really need it?

Before you get into buying a house it's a good idea to understand the steps involved in conveyancing.

As conveyancing is a complex process most people choose to use a professional – a solicitor or a licensed conveyancer. Their job is to take care of all the legal aspects of buying your new home, including:

• investigating the legal title to the property and carrying out all necessary searches
• dealing with Land Registry
• payment of Stamp Duty and other charges and payments
• collecting and transferring money during the sale
• providing legal advice and recommendations
• drawing up contracts.

Conveyancing consists of several complex steps, and each one must be carried out properly to ensure a smooth completion. Here’s what happens and where you come in:

You’ll need to appoint a solicitor or a licensed conveyancer to represent you. This is your responsibility so try asking friends or family for recommendations or research local firms. Once you’ve chosen your solicitor or licensed conveyancer we’ll check to see if they meet our criteria. If they do, then your chosen firm should be able to act for you and first direct.

• once you have chosen a solicitor or licensed conveyancer to carry out the work, you must instruct them to begin the process
• your solicitor/licensed conveyancer will then draft up a terms of engagement, which is a document outlining the basis on which they will act for you and which sets out their charges
• sign and return the terms of engagement as soon as possible so the work can begin
• your solicitor/licensed conveyancer may ask you to put some ‘money on account’ in lieu of search fees etc.

• your solicitor/licensed conveyancer will request a copy of the draft contract from the seller’s solicitor
• a copy of the draft contract should arrive, along with the standard forms completed by the seller. This document includes the seller’s details, along with yours, as well as details of prices, property fixtures and fittings included in the price and information on the seller’s title deeds
• if you are purchasing a leasehold property, your solicitor or licensed conveyancer will send a Managing Agents Questionnaire to the seller’s representative, which is forwarded onto the appropriate party responsible for managing the residential area.

Your solicitor or licensed conveyancer will also send an extensive set of questions to the seller's solicitor or licensed conveyancer. These are known as preliminary enquiries and can include:

• disputes - have there been any disputes with neighbours?
• boundaries - what are the boundaries of the property and who is responsible for the maintenance of hedges and fences?
• planning constraints and permissions - if any additions or alterations have been made to the property, did they meet with local planning requirements?
• rights of way - are there any shared rights of access with a neighbour to a garden or driveway?
• restrictive covenants - do the deeds specify anything in particular such as no pets or not painting the house a different colour to others in the street?
• guarantees and insurance policies - is the property covered by NHBC or any other guarantees?
• services - do the utilities come via a neighbour's property or are they shared at all?

Your solicitor or licensed conveyancer will arrange for a search to be carried out with the local authority for the property you are buying. This includes a check against any planning proposals and ownership responsibilities that might affect the property you're buying. Checks include, but aren't limited to:

• if the property is classed as a listed building
• if the property is in a conservation area
• if there are any plans for the local area which may affect the property (such as a nearby motorway, prison, etc.)
• if there is a CPO (compulsory purchase order) in place which directly impacts the property itself (e.g. plans to build a shopping centre, regeneration project).

Depending on the age or location of the property you're buying, your solicitor or licensed conveyancer may recommend carrying out extra searches. In addition, your mortgage lender may also insist on further searches. These could include:

• environmental search - is there any environmental risk from the land such as contamination from a previous use?
• mining search - is the property in an area with a mining history?

• assuming any enquiries or concerns raised by your solicitor or licensed conveyancer have been resolved, a completion date (the date which you can officially move in from) must be agreed between the parties
• the period between exchange of contracts and completion can take anywhere between one day and several weeks
• once contracts are exchanged, you are legally bound to purchase the property and the deposit must be paid to the seller
• a transfer document is prepared by your solicitor, which both you and the seller must sign. This means the deeds of the property are signed over to your name
• you must pay the Land Registry fees and Stamp Duty Land Tax at this stage – your solicitor will arrange this for you.

• your solicitor must transfer the funds to the seller or licensed conveyancer on the agreed completion date, which finalises the sale of the house (they will liaise with your mortgage lender beforehand to ensure the funds are ready for the transfer)
• the transfer deed and the mortgage deed will be sent for registration
• you are handed the keys and are free to move in!

Feeling more clued up about conveyancing? If you’d like to learn more about buying your first home, take a look at our other first-time buyer guides.

^{The material contained in this document is for information purposes only and does not constitute advice.}

^{You should obtain relevant legal or other advice if you are unsure about the effect on you of any matter in this document.}

Think carefully before securing other debts against your home. Your home may be repossessed if you don't keep up repayments on your mortgage.