Residential Conveyancing
We offer a full range of residential conveyancing services including buying and selling of houses and flats and remortgaging. We are also pleased to assist in equity release mortgages. For help in extending a lease see our landlord and tenant section. For help with transferring a property between family members such as on divorce see our family section.
Julian Titt, partner, heads and supervises the team comprising Hilary Marshall, Sheila Harvey and Haashim Poswall. Please see details provided in “meet the team”.
The conveyancing process can seem daunting so we are conscious of the need to take you through step by step. We report to you on all of the relevant documentation and, in the case of a flat, provide a report summarising the main terms of the lease so that you are aware of your obligations. We are always happy to meet with you to go through the documentation. We can also advise you on the ways that co-owners can own the property and, if necessary, prepare a declaration of trust which sets out the shares of the parties in the property.
Over the years we have gained much experience acting for buyers of shared equity and shared ownership properties from Housing Associations and are fully conversant with all of these schemes. This includes:
- New build shared-ownership purchases
- Resales
- Purchases of existing shared-ownerships and the purchase of additional shares of properties
We work closely with a number of Housing Associations both locally and elsewhere.
We are conversant with the various government schemes to aid home buyers including Help-To-Buy ISAs and Help-To-Buy.
What work is covered?
This depends on the circumstances of each particular case but for purchases we would suggest that the following is covered: –
- Take your instructions and give you initial advice
- Check finances are in place to fund purchase and contact lender’s solicitors if needed
- Receive and advise on contract documents
- Carry out searches
- Obtain further planning documentation if required
- Make any necessary enquiries of seller’s solicitor
- Give you advice on all documents and information received
- Go through conditions of mortgage offer with you
- Send final contract to you for signature
- Agree completion date (date from which you own the property)
- Exchange contracts and notify you that this has happened
- Arrange for all monies needed to be received from lender and you
- Complete purchase
- Deal with payment of Stamp Duty/Land Tax
- Deal with application for registration at Land Registry
How long will it take?
How long it will take from your offer being accepted until you move in to your house will depend on a number of factors. In our experience the average process takes between 8 and 10 weeks. It can be quicker or slower, depending upon whether there is a “chain” and how many people are in it. For example, if you are a first time buyer, purchasing a new build property with a mortgage agreed in principle with no chain, it could take 4 weeks. However, if you are buying a leasehold property that requires an extension of the lease, this can take significantly longer, between 2 and 4 months. In such situation additional charges would apply.
How Much will it cost?
We provide you with a fixed conveyancing fee estimate at the outset of the transaction and this will include all the extra payments (e.g. search fees, bank transfer fees, stamp duty land tax, land registry fees) that are part of the transaction so you will not get any nasty surprises at the end. Find out now how much our fees will be by completing the conveyancing quote calculator on this page. We aim to get back to you as quickly as we can.
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The quote you can obtain below assumes no undue complications and a usual level of communication between us. If you require more than usual levels of communication then we may have to charge more but will advise you in advance if we feel that it is likely to reach that level. Complications in the transaction could also mean extra charges as for instance if there is discovered to be a breach of planning or building regulation consent or the title to the property is defective or part unregistered or a crucial document unavailable to us which we have requested from you. Likewise, if a new lease is required this will add to the cost as will unreasonable delay in third parties providing documentation requiring chasing on your behalf. If an insurance policy is needed to cover a defect in title then a fee will be needed to be paid to an insurance company for such.
There will be additional charges if the matter is not straightforward which could include: –
- You requiring a document (called a declaration of trust) setting out what percentage of the property each own
- Where the person selling to you has also sent out a contract to another person and will sell to whoever is in a position to be bound by that contract first (“a contract race”)
- If any consents are required from somebody else before the property can be transferred to you
- You are selling a property with an unknown landlord
If these or other matters out of the ordinary arise then we will advise you of the additional cost at the earliest opportunity.
However please note that there may be circumstances where we are unable to take instructions or act further such as where you are unable to make payments to us to enable us to pay others eg on searches, where we do not have the capacity in the office to do the work properly, the transaction turns out to more complex or difficult for us to deal with or, having done the checks we are required to carry out there is a problem such as a conflict between you and another client.
If having taken the matter on it does not proceed to completion then we will charge for the work carried out reflecting the quotation or estimate given, the stage reached in the transaction and any complications that have arisen examples of which are given above.