Christelle Thompson Solicitors Near Me

Is A Conveyancer A Solicitor?

This is a common question among people wanting to buy or sell property. So, is a conveyancer a solicitor?

Well, the answer can be confusing. The short version is “usually, but not always”.

A conveyancer can actually be a legal executive, a paralegal, or a solicitor. These are legal terms that sound very similar but they do have key things that separate them.

To be connected to a specialist conveyancing solicitor near to where you live, please either call us now on 0845 1391399 or complete a Free Online Enquiry.

Here is what you need to know about the differences between them and why you might want to make sure which you are using before you choose your conveyancer:

Is A Conveyancer A Solicitor?

There are broadly three types of legal professionals who can provide conveyancing services:

What Is A Legal Executive?

You can think of legal executives as solicitors who specialise in only one or two fields of law.

A legal executive is normally qualified to the same level as a solicitor in their chosen field. They do the same kind of work in it and can work in legal offices. They often have their own clients and are allowed to represent them in court if necessary. They can even become partners in law firms.

Technically speaking though, a legal executive is not a solicitor. The work they do every day might be much the same as a solicitor working in the same field, such as conveyancing (a common field for legal executives to specialise in).

However, a legal executive will not have completed the study of wider legal practice that is mandatory for solicitors. If they choose to become chartered (specialising in only a single field), they can continue training and aim to qualify as a solicitor though.

What Is A Paralegal?

Paralegals are more commonly found in US legal practices but have recently started to have a growing role in UK law.

Paralegals are often thought of as legal assistants – a large part of the work of most paralegals will be assisting a solicitor. They may draft legal documents, work on financial documents, do research, or help prepare a case.

This will differ depending on the practices of individual law firms. Each sets different expectations for its paralegals. In some firms, a paralegal might have completed the same legal practice course as a full solicitor. In others, they might be a non-law graduate with a graduate diploma in law.

In an increasing number of larger firms, responsibility for a great deal of conveyancing is handed over to paralegals (who must be licensed by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers).

That said, paralegals cannot do all the work a solicitor or even a legal executive can. They are not allowed to give legal advice, cannot sign documents on behalf of clients, and cannot represent a client in court (unless they have special discretion from a judge).

What Is A Solicitor?

A solicitor is a legal professional qualified to give specialist advice on a wide range of fields of law. They will have passed that key legal practice course (covering 24 fields of law) and are also able to represent their clients in most courts.

A solicitor is “instructed” by their client. That is to say, they follow their clients’ wishes. But they can advise their clients on the best way to proceed based on their in-depth knowledge. A solicitor will be:

Qualified in many different fields of law – such as conveyancing, wills and probate, family law, commercial law, and litigation. Many specialise in certain fields, but they will have passed that important legal practice qualification covering them all.
Able to offer expert legal advice – unlike a paralegal, for example, a qualified solicitor can offer legal advice as to your rights or the best legal remedy or way to proceed in a wide range of circumstances.
Permitted to represent clients in court – in Magistrates’ Courts and County Courts, solicitors can represent their clients in person. They can do so in what are often called the “higher courts” too (Crown Court or High Court, for example) if they have additional training.

Is My Conveyancer A Solicitor?

In terms of conveyancing, there should – in theory – be little to choose between the quality of service offered by licensed conveyancers or conveyancing solicitors.

The only added advantage of using a full solicitor is that they are qualified to advise you on other fields of law – and they can represent you if any legal problems do arise too.

The best approach is usually to speak with several good options and see if you feel confident in their knowledge and their approach to communication. But where to start?

Why not let Solicitors Near Me do all the hard work? Founded by a former solicitor, we find you friendly and approachable legal experts near you for FREE and with no commitment to use them.

To be connected to a specialist conveyancing solicitor near to where you live, please either call us now on 0845 1391399 or complete a Free Online Enquiry.

Residential Property Solicitor

Commercial vs residential property solicitor – the differences

On the surface, the differences between a commercial and residential property solicitor sound like they will be obvious.

One deals with the kind of property we live in. One deals with the kind of property we do business in.

To be connected to a specialist conveyancing solicitor near to where you live, please either call us now on 0845 1391399 or complete a Free Online Enquiry.

But – while the conveyancing process is very similar for residential and commercial properties – there are actually a few subtle yet important differences between the two:

What Does Conveyancing Mean?

The conveyancing process is the means by which ownership of a property is transferred. This involves changing the names on the property title via a legal document known as a transfer deed.

Not everyone knows that there is actually no requirement that you use a professional conveyancer or conveyancing solicitor to handle the legal aspects of this transfer. However, because all mortgage lenders insist that all parties get professional representation, it’s essentially a must.

There’s also the size of the transaction and the potential for legal issues to consider. Unless you are deeply familiar with the relevant regulations, it’s very risky indeed to try to sell or buy any property without legal advice of any kind.

The conveyancing process itself involves property searches and surveys that inform you of the condition of a property you are buying. It also includes the negotiation of contracts between buyer and seller, registering the new owner with the Land Registry, and a variety of other tasks.

What Is The Difference Between Commercial And Residential Conveyancing?

There are only a small number of differences between commercial and residential conveyancing, but they are important:

1) Property Use Type

This is the most obvious difference. Residential property conveyancing deals with sales and purchases of property intended for human habitation. This is ordinarily a single house or flat. So far, so simple.

Commercial property is a little different though. Not just because this is property intended for business use but because the person buying the property frequently wants an entire area not just “a shop”.

There is also the common circumstance of a commercial property being purchased as part of a larger business.

2) Goodwill Payments (When Buying A Whole Business)

Sometimes, a commercial property is purchased as part of the business that is already operating out of the premises. In these circumstances, the buyer may make what is known as “goodwill payments” if they want to do things like:

Use the existing business’s name
Access their client base or contact lists
Keep trading under the same business name
Retain or re-hire the same staff
Take ownership of the stock or use the existing processes

There isn’t really an equivalent to this in residential property purchases.

3) Leaseholds And Freeholds

These are the two different ways to own property in the UK. In a freehold, you own the property, the land it sits on, and even the airspace directly above. In a leasehold, you lease often part of the property (e.g. a flat in a larger building) from the freeholder.

As of around 2005, roughly 1 in 5 residential properties in the UK were owned as leaseholds. As of 2015, this figure had shot up to around 43%.

This is likely because potential for additional profit was identified. A leasehold arrangement frequently means paying things like ground rent and service charges to your freeholder, though the laws on this are changing “to cut unfair and abusive practices” (according to the UK government).

Despite this, while there are huge numbers of leasehold residential property owners in the UK, the majority remain freeholders. This situation is reversed in commercial property.

The majority of commercial property owners are leaseholders. This situation is more beneficial in commercial situations because a business may wish to do things like expand into adjacent properties if demand increases.

4) Commercial Lease Negotiation

Because of all of the above, solicitors specialising in commercial property frequently need to negotiate a detailed lease with the freeholder of the property.

There are different kinds of commercial leases covering different types of commercial property use.

5) Property Searches And Price

Property searches are a vital way of confirming you know everything about the condition of the property you are buying. If you are buying a residential property, they aren’t usually very expensive.

Commercial property searches tend to cost a little more. This is partly because the properties themselves tend to be larger. There is also a need to conduct additional Commercial Property Standard Enquiries (CPSEs).

Find The Right Commercial Or Residential Property Solicitor

If you are looking to buy or sell commercial or residential property, Solicitors Near Me can help.

We find you the most suitable commercial or residential property solicitor – for FREE and with no obligation to use them.

To be connected to a specialist conveyancing solicitor near to where you live, please either call us now on 0845 1391399 or complete a Free Online Enquiry.

Good Conveyancing Solicitors Near Me

How to find good conveyancing solicitors near me

The solicitors you use to buy and sell property don’t always have the best reputation. So how do you find “good conveyancing solicitors near me”? It’s one of the most common search queries for legal services!

To be connected to a specialist conveyancing solicitor near to where you live, please either call us now on 0845 1391399 or complete a Free Online Enquiry.

Here are some of the best ways you can ensure that you get the kind of positive experience you want from your conveyancers when you are buying or selling a house:

How To Find Good Conveyancing Solicitors Near Me

1) Check The Basics

This is the groundwork you would do with any legal service to confirm that they’re legitimate and qualified to do the job you need them to.

You can confirm this legitimacy with several of the legal sector’s independent bodies. Check the name of either your individual solicitor or the law firm they work for with:

The Solicitors Regulation Authority – the SRA is the industry regulator for England and Wales. It offers the best register of details of individual solicitors in the UK and who they work for. Solicitors have to be listed with the SRA to remain on the roll.
The Law Society – this is the professional association that represents solicitors in the UK. Their original Regulation Board split off and became independent, forming the SRA. The Law Society still exists though.
The Council of Licensed Conveyancers – is the specialist industry regulator for property law. You can search for lawyers that are signed up with the CLC on their website.

2) Check Reviews, Testimonials, And Word Of Mouth

Online reviews and testimonials are an easy place to start if you want to get some idea of the quality you can expect from a law firm. Be wary though.

Because the image online reviews project isn’t perfect. For example, people who are happy with a service don’t tend to take the time to leave a review. People who are unhappy often will.

Word of mouth can be a good source of more personal reviews if you go with a local conveyancer. This is often a good choice because of their knowledge of the local property market and relationships with the necessary local authorities.

Again though, while word of mouth can be a useful weathervane, it’s no guarantee that a person’s perception of a conveyancer’s quality isn’t influenced by things outside of that conveyancer’s control…

3) Communication, Communication, Communication

The conveyancing process is a long one. It’s also one in which unexpected events can and do regularly crop up. Here is just a taste of the many tasks your conveyancing solicitor will be taking care of for you and what can take up more time than planned:

Carry out property searches – relying on anywhere up to a dozen different organisations to respond in a timely manner.
Raise issues – if any of those conveyancing searches turn up problems with the property, if you are buying, your solicitor will need to raise the issues and get further information.
Negotiate contract terms – everything from a completion date that works for everyone to changes in asking price to deciding who has responsibility for making-good works relating to issues raised by the searches.

Unfortunately, if you’re buying or selling a property for the first time, all of this isn’t always obvious or made clear to you.

This is often the reason that conveyancing as a whole attracts a not-always-positive reputation. It’s not always that a conveyancing solicitor is doing their job poorly. It’s that many conveyancing tasks can become more time-consuming than expected.

Problems occur when a solicitor fails to update their client on how things are going. This means the ability to communicate clearly and regularly and to respond to your queries is perhaps the most vital quality any conveyancing solicitor can have.

This can be difficult to judge at the outset. It can be good to run some tests. Email them. Call them. See how quickly they respond or call you back and how helpful they are when they do.

Get A Little Help Finding Good Conveyancing Solicitors Near You

Of course, there is an easier solution. Solicitors Near Me was created by a former solicitor who realised how difficult it was for people to find a legal expert they could trust without a lengthy search.

Why not let us do the hard work for you? We’ll find you a good conveyancing solicitor near you for FREE and with no obligation to use their services if you don’t want to.

To be connected to a specialist conveyancing solicitor near to where you live, please either call us now on 0845 1391399 or complete a Free Online Enquiry.

House Conveyancing Near Me

House Conveyancing Near Me – Solicitors Near Me

Online searches for “house conveyancing near me” return lots of options for solicitors and conveyancers offering this kind of service.

What they return less often is useful information that helps you understand the process itself.

Here is everything you need to know about the conveyancing process when you’re buying a house and how long you can expect everything to take:

The Conveyancing Process For House Buyers – Timeline

1) Instruct A Conveyancing Ssolicitor (Up To 2 Weeks)

After you’ve had your offer on a property accepted, it’s time to instruct a conveyancing solicitor.

This can take a little while (although it’s much easier if you let Solicitors Near Me find you a trustworthy house conveyancing specialist for FREE and with no obligation to use their services. Tell us about your needs on 0845 1391399 or complete a Free Online Enquiry).

So, although you won’t need a solicitor until after your offer is accepted, it is wise to have one lined up ready to get the process started.

2) Get A Property Survey – Roughly 1 Week

You aren’t legally required to get a property survey. But it’s a sizeable risk to buy a house without having one done first.

A survey will identify any structural issues or other faults with the property. This lets you know about its condition and any work that might need doing (potentially meaning you can negotiate to reduce the asking price).

Knowing the condition of a property before you buy is vital. If you decide there’s too much work to do, you can still pull out at this phase (you normally can all the way up until contracts are exchanged – and you still can then even then if you can face losing your deposit).

The survey itself will only take a matter of hours (potentially up to eight hours for a detailed property survey), but you can expect it to take around a week after the appointment for the surveyor to get the report to you.

3) Carry Out Property Searches – 2 To 8 Weeks

Property searches or “conveyancing searches” are how you find out more about the property you want to buy. They involve your solicitor reaching out to a whole range of authorities to find out more about it.

The Local Authority is perhaps the most important search. Different authorities work at differing degrees of efficiency, meaning some local authority searches can take up to eight weeks to get back to you.

4) Draft The Contract – 0 To 3 Weeks

After the seller has completed their property questionnaires, your seller’s solicitor can use the information to draft the contract. This will specify the terms of the sale and is needed for some of the steps below.

5) Secure A Mortgage And Negotiate Contract – 0 To 6 Weeks

Your solicitor will then view the contract and possibly negotiate the terms. For example, perhaps the survey indicated significant work will be required. You might be able to negotiate a reduced sale price.

There may also be other questions posed by either you or your solicitor after they have investigated the contract papers and other documentation.

Once you have these details, you will need to arrange a mortgage with a lender. Your solicitor can then liaise with that lender as the process continues.

6) Contract Signing And Exchange – 0 To 3 Weeks

It is now your solicitor’s job to confirm they are happy with the finalised contract. If you are buying a leasehold property, this may take some time because of the complexity of the documents.

Your solicitor can either raise issues or signal they are happy. After this, you and the seller will sign the contracts.

You can then send across your deposit, formally exchange contracts, and arrange a completion date.

7) Completion (Around 2 Weeks Sfter Exchange Of Contracts)

Well done, you’ve bought a house! The money can be transferred from your mortgage lender to the seller’s solicitor, who will in turn hand over the keys to you.

After some final checks, the property’s title will be transferred to you via a document called a transfer deed, making you the new owner.

After completion, your conveyancing solicitor will still need to pay Stamp Duty Land Tax on the property and register you as the new owner with the Land Registry.

Find The Best Solicitor For House Conveyancing Near Me

All of this means that the solicitor you choose for house conveyancing near you has many jobs to complete on your behalf. They need to be one you trust. But where to start looking?

Let us do the hard work for you. We can find you a friendly and approachable conveyancing solicitor for FREE and with zero commitment to using their services

To be connected to a specialist conveyancing solicitor near to where you live, please either call us now on 0845 1391399 or complete a Free Online Enquiry.

House Sale Solicitors Near Me

Conveyancing timeline and your house sale – House Sale Solicitors Near Me

The conveyancing process can be complicated and time-consuming. When it comes to a house sale, Solicitors Near Me would always suggest finding a trustworthy conveyancer roughly around the time you find an estate agent.

Some people put this off. Partly because the public perception of conveyancers is sometimes less than stellar. But the reason for this is often that people don’t understand how the conveyancing process works or how long it can actually take.

To be connected to a specialist house solicitor near to where you live, please either call us now on 0845 1391399 or complete a Free Online Enquiry.

Here is a good timeline for conveyancing so you know what to expect going in:

Do I Need My Own Solicitor To Sell My House?

Before we start, it is worth reinforcing that – while you do not legally need to get your own solicitor to sell your house – it is a very good idea to instruct one.

Firstly, this is because this is a financially large and legally complex transaction. You don’t want to leave yourself open to legal issues because you have failed to complete a required part of the process in line with the law.

Secondly though, if mortgages are involved in the process, it’s likely that any lender will insist on everyone involved having professional legal representation. They’re not likely to lend without this.

In practice, this means you will almost certainly need a solicitor to sell your house.

When Do I Instruct A Conveyancing Solicitor?

The time to instruct a conveyancing solicitor (this is the term used to mean hiring one and telling them what you need them to do) is after you have initially accepted an offer on your house.

However, finding a solicitor you trust can take time (unless, of course, you let Solicitors Near Me find you a good option for FREE and with no obligation to hire them – give us a quick call on 0845 1391399 or complete a Free Online Enquiry to get us started).

This means it’s normally a good idea to choose your conveyancing solicitor immediately after you choose your estate agent. You then have plenty of time to compare quotes from the conveyancers you like.

As soon as you accept your preferred offer, it’s time to formally instruct your solicitor to begin the conveyancing process.

The Conveyancing Process – Timeline

1) Conveyancing Questionnaires For Sellers – 2-4 Weeks

As the seller, you need to respond to several conveyancing questionnaires specifying the condition of the property.

One of the key details will be the bounds of the property that you want to sell. You will also be asked about any related ongoing disputes (legal or personal) and your solicitor may be able to help you include details about any new developments proposed in the local area.

These questionnaires are a legal requirement and have to be filled out truthfully. Even honest mistakes can lead to buyers pulling out or later legal action.

2) Draft Contract And Negotiations – Up To 10 Weeks

The questionnaires are the basis for the contract your solicitor will then need to draft. They will negotiate with the buyer’s solicitor on your behalf to finalise the terms of this document.

The solicitors will work out details like who will pay to fix any problems identified by the property surveys. There is also a wide range of other things to negotiate on, including the completion date.

3) Mortgages – Up To 4 Weeks

The buyer will need to arrange a mortgage and you will need to get ready to pay off yours by requesting a redemption figure. This process can take up to four weeks, mainly on the buyer’s side.

4) Exchange Of Contracts And Completion – Around 1 Week

Your solicitors will meet to confirm the contracts are the same and then exchange them. This can take longer if you have a whole chain that needs to complete the same process.

Once contracts are exchanged, the buyer legally has to go through with the purchase. If they don’t, you get to keep their deposit. If you don’t, you open yourself up to legal problems.

Technically speaking, you can remain living in the property up until completion day.

5) Completion – Total 12 To 16 Weeks For Whole Process

Finally, completion day is here! You hand over the keys to your old property, get the sale money, and pay off your old mortgage. The whole conveyancing process could take anywhere up to 16 weeks or four months, but potentially less as some of these tasks happen concurrently.

This is important to understand going in. But a good house sale solicitor – one who knows how important it is to keep you updated – can make all the difference to how you feel about the process.

House Sale Solicitors Near Me

To be connected to a specialist conveyancing solicitor near to where you live, please either call us now on 0845 1391399 or complete a Free Online Enquiry.