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.
Other key searches include:
- Water and drainage search (Is there public mains access? Where are the drains located?)
- Environmental search (Is there contaminated land? Need for a mining search?)
- Planning search (Is there permission for changes to the property?)
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.
