Conveyancing

How does conveyancing, the legal work for the mortgage, work?

Conveyancing is the legal transfer of the ownership of either leasehold or freehold properties. It is a process fraught with complications, but can be completed in an afternoon if all goes right, but could take several months to complete if there are problems.

The sale and purchase of a leasehold property is more complicated that with a freehold property. You must find out what kind your property is, and should it be leasehold, you should find out what the financial restrictions imposed by the leasehold are as well as the conditions and restrictions.

A solicitor or licensed conveyancer should be used for the transfer of property ownership. You need to be 101% sure that you will have exclusive rights over the land. These legal professionals will have insurance in case something goes wrong and you have comeback against them.

They will charge you anything from a few hundred pounds to up to a few thousand pounds to complete a purchase or handle a sale. The price depends on the transaction's complexity and the value of the property.

For this reason you should shop around and compare prices, but most importantly you should use someone you can trust, because fraud and corner-cutting amongst solicitors is becoming more common.

The conveyancing process starts with the investigation, where draft documentation is provided by the seller's conveyancer to the buyer's conveyancer. Then pre-contract enquiries are carried out, where the buyer's conveyancer asks the seller questions about disputes with neighbours or alterations to the policy. Then there is the local authority search, where the register of local land charges is looked at to find out about any plans that could affect the property. This could take between four and six weeks, and is required by the mortgage lender.

The next stage in the process is the assessment of draft contracts, where the conveyancer checks that the wording of the contracts is correct and unambiguous. With a leasehold property, the apportionment of expenses is checked thoroughly and the terms of maintenance and management of the property are checked. The deposit on the exchange of contracts is negotiated here as well as the time between exchange and completion.

The exchange of contracts is the first time there is a binding contract between the buyer and seller. The completion date is set and you need to get building insurance. Your conveyancer will check neither the buyer not seller has a bankruptcy notice against them. Finally, title searches at the Land registry are carried out.

On completion day, funds are transferred and the buyer gets access to the property. Finally, stamp duty is paid, and the purchaser is registered with the land registry. Title deeds are sent to the mortgage lender.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© AskFinancially.com 2008

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