Conveyancing

We will send you a bundle of documents to complete to ensure we have all the information necessary as early as possible, i.e. are you having a mortgage, a gifted deposit or any help to buy funds. You will also need to ensure we have sufficient ID and we can guide you through this process.

Once we receive the contract pack from the buyers’ solicitors, we will need to investigate the property thoroughly and this does take time. We will simultaneously order searches and over the coming weeks will raise enquiries with the buyers solicitors on the contract pack and search results.

If you are using mortgage finance to fund the purchase, then a mortgage valuation and sometimes a survey will be needed too.

Once we have received all the searches, your mortgage offer and we are satisfied with all the replies to the enquiries we have raised we will report to you and send you documents for signing.

At this stage a target completion date will be agreed between the parties involved. This may be just you and the seller or there may be a chain of other related properties. The date has to be agreed by all parties.

Leasehold properties If the property you are purchasing is leasehold and either a ground rent or service charge is collected, then we also require a sales pack from the Landlord and/ or the Management company. There are normally additional fees payable on completion to the Landlord/ Management Company and we will advise you of the same as soon as possible.

Exchange only when all parties are ready and have agreed a date will contracts be exchanged. This makes the completion date legally binding. We will carry our some pre completion checks and request your contract deposit – this is never more then 10% of the purchase price.

Completion the sellers will vacate the property on the day of completion and you will collect the keys. There is no set time for completion, but this is generally early afternoon.

Timescales The industry average timescales for a purchase of property is 10-14 weeks from receipt of the draft contracts, however this is dependent on a multitude of factors and each transaction is particular to its own set of facts which can either increase or decrease the average timescales​

Once you have accepted an offer for the sale of your property then you will need to choose a solicitor to act in the sale and that is where we can help.

If we are acting as your solicitor, we will need information from you to enable us to prepare the contract pack and send it to your buyers’ solicitors. We will send you a bundle of documents to complete to ensure we have as much information as possible at the start of the transaction. You will also need to ensure we have sufficient ID and we can guide you through this process.

Once we issue the contract pack to the buyers’ solicitors, they will need to investigate your property thoroughly and this does take time. They will order searches and over the coming weeks will raise enquiries with us on the contract pack and search results.

If the buyer is using mortgage finance to fund the purchase, then a mortgage valuation and sometimes a survey will be needed too. The mortgage company will most the time send their surveyor to your property for this purpose, however sometimes this is done virtually.

Once the buyers’ solicitors have all their searches back, the buyers mortgage offer and they are satisfied with all our replies to enquiries they report to their client. At this stage a target completion date will be agreed between the parties involved. This may be just you and the buyer or there may be a chain of other related properties. The date has to be agreed by all parties.

If your property is leasehold and either a ground rent or service charge is collected, then we are also required to obtain a sales pack from the Landlord and/ or the Management company. This is generally an additional cost that varies on every property. We will ascertain this cost as early as possible and advise you accordingly.

Exchange only when all parties are ready and have agreed a date will contracts be exchanged. This makes the completion date legally binding.

Completion You will need to vacate the property on the day of completion. The deeds to your property will be sent to the buyer’s solicitor on completion of the sale.

Equity is the residual value of an asset once any mortgage or liability secured on it has been paid. You can transfer this equity to someone by way of Transfer deed. You can transfer the whole of the equity to another or you can transfer a part.

There are many reasons why you may wish to affect a transfer of equity, you may wish to gift your asset or part of it to another, perhaps a spouse if you have recently married and owned the asset prior to the marriage. In some cases, transfers of equity can arise following the ending of a relationship and the co ownership needs to come to an end, the house equity can be transferred from joint names to just one name.

If the asset is in mortgage or otherwise subject to a liability, then you will need the permission of the mortgage company or secured creditor before you can make the transfer.

If you transfer your equity in an asset to another and receive a payment in respect of its value, then this payment may attract a stamp duty land tax liability.

Whatever your reason for wanting a transfer of equity we can ensure this is the correct route for you ensuring that you receive advice from the conveyancing team and private client where necessary.

Timescales The industry average timescales for a right to buy transaction is 3-4 weeks, however delays can occur if there are delays with the other party in returning their signed documentation. These timescales are dependent on a multitude of factors and each transaction is particular to its own set of facts which can either increase or decrease the average timescales.