Our Guide To Conveyancing Understanding the role of a conveyancer can really support your journey with Challenor Gardiner Solicitors. When it comes to buying your home or any other property you will need the help of professionals that you can trust, which you can find right here with our experienced team .
Residential Conveyancing Conveyancing concerns the legal transfer (or conveyance) of a property by its legal owner, the seller, to a buyer and the preparation of all the necessary documents to give the sale legal effect.
Conveyancing involves investigation of the legal title by the buyer's conveyancer, enquiries of the seller about the property being sold, local authority and water searches to find out what restrictions or charges may affect the property and to ensure that it is legally transfered to the buyer on completion when the title is transferred, the purchase price is paid and that the buyers' legal title is registered at the Land Registry.
The conveyancing process usually involves a number of parties, including solicitors or conveyancers for the buyer and the seller, estate agents, lenders and surveyors. A good conveyancing lawyer will ensure that all of these parties work well together so that you can concentrate on the practical aspects of moving home.
Why you should instruct Challenor Gardiner on your sale or purchase As this is probably going to be the most important transaction of your life it pays to instruct an experienced conveyancer to do the legal work. At Challenor Gardiner our residential conveyancing lawyers have many years' experience acting for clients buying and selling property and also acting for their lenders in the transaction.
Not only that, we have been accredited specialists under The Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) since 2013 and have to meet the schemes stringent quality standards.
We also have the Law Society's quality mark Lexcel accreditation v6 and we offer excellent client service, cost efficiency and minimum risks and work to the highest standards.
We are committed to delivering the best client service and make sure that we understand and deliver what you expect.
We aim to deliver a personal and friendly service where your chosen solicitor will handle your transaction from start to finish and will meet with you to go through the paperwork and sign the necessary legal documents.
Types of property transactions we deal with Our residential conveyancing services are able to provide our clients with the right legal advice on all manners of property transactions selling and buying freehold and leasehold properties. We endeavour to ensure all transactions proceed as smoothly and as efficiently as possible, keeping our clients up to date at key stages in the transaction.
We deal with the following types of property transactions:
Buying or Selling Freehold and Leasehold Equity release Transfers of Equity Re-mortgaging Auctions Buy-to-Let Shared Ownership First registrations Leasehold Enfranchisement Help to Buy New Builds A Quick Guide to the transaction from start to finish
In this brief guide to residential conveyancing, we look at what the solicitors do, the main steps involved in the process and some of the key issues a buyer or seller needs to be aware of.
What are the stages in the process? Once the price of the property being conveyed has been agreed, there are a number of steps your solicitor will go though:
Sending Out a Draft Contract
The seller's solicitor prepares the contract of sale which may need to be negotiated with the buyer's solicitors.
Searches and Enquiries
The buyer's solicitor sends out searches to the Local Authority and Water and Drainage Authority to make sure there are no hidden surprises.
Investigating Title
The purchaser's solicitors send enquiries to the seller's solicitor to find out about things such as whether there are any ongoing disputes or restrictions on the property and to ascertain the boundaries, any planning permission issues and rights others might have over the property. In certain parts of the country, additional searches may be necessary, such as obtaining flood reports, environmental reports and coal mining searches. Searches at the Land Registry confirm the current ownership of the property and any restrictions that might exist or registered legal rights over the property.
Replies to enquiries
After receiving replies to enquiries, the buyer's solicitor may have follow-up questions to ask. If a survey is being carried out, the buyer and their solicitor should make sure they are happy with the information contained in the report:
Exchange of Contracts
Once we have reported to you and you have your mortgage offer or finances in place and are ready to proceed we then try and agree a completion date for your sale or purchase when the purchase price is paid and change of ownership takes place. There may be a long chain of sales and purchases and it is not unusual for delays to happen while other buyers or sellers in the chain get ready and all can agree a date for completion. It can be a frustrating time waiting or you can feel pressured to be ready to exchange when you are not. The contract will have to be signed and a 10% deposit paid (if you are buying) before exchange can take place.
Between Exchange and Completion
Once 'exchange of contracts' has taken place, there is a commitment to buy and sell. It is difficult and can be expensive for either the buyer or seller to back out. A 10% deposit will have been paid and may be lost if a party pulls out after exchange. We make a Report on Title to the mortgage company and request funds in time for completion. The form of Transfer is prepared and signed by both parties and the buyer's mortgage deed and a completion statement is sent to you showing how the receipts and payments to be made and any balance to be paid by you before completion can take place. The buyer's solicitor will also prepare a transfer document and send it to the seller to be agreed. Before completion, final Land Registry, or Land Charges Registry, searches are made to ensure nothing new has popped up on the title and which provides a priority period to prevent any further entries being placed against the title of the property before your registration of title is completed.
Completion
On the day of completion, the buyer's solicitor will send the completion monies required up the chain of buyers and sellers. The Transfer and mortgage deed will be dated and we will let you know and let the agents know when that has taken place so that the keys can be released to you. Time for you to relax, unpack and have a well deserved cup of tea!
Post Completion
We can't put our feet up yet. Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) on your purchase has to be paid within 14 days of completion and registration of title at the Land Registry in your name and your lender's charge both have to be registered within 30 days of the Priority Search. Once completed, we will send you the new title entries and close your file.
What are the benefits of using local conveyancing solicitors? Challenor Gardiner is a long established Oxford firm. Our solicitors know about Oxford property market with professional contacts with all the local estate agents. Our offices are based in the centre of Oxford, close to the train, coach and bus stations and most bus routes into Oxford.
Get in touch To find out more or to find out how we can help you, call us on 01865 721 451
