I am often asked about the role of
a solicitor in the process of purchasing
a property in the UK and this article
aims to explain just that.
Conveyancing
The legal process involved in the
purchase of a property is called Conveyancing
and this is usually carried out by
a solicitor or sometimes a licenced
conveyancer. As soon as your offer
on a property is agreed by the estate
agent / seller of the property you
would be asked for the contact details
of your solicitor so it is a good
to identify your solicitor even before
you finalise the offer with the estate
agent / seller.
Once the contact details are given
to the other side your solicitor will
get in touch with the seller solicitor
and start the Conveyancing process.
The usual first steps involve getting
proof of identity and proof of address
for you the buyer to comply with the
money laundering regulations and its
also usual for them to collect a small
payment of say about £100 or
so on account for them to spend on
your behalf to collect more information
about the property. Once this is all
set up they will approach the seller
solicitors to get more details from
the about the property and also collect
the draft contract.
A conveyancer's job is to take care
of all legal aspects of moving house
and they also become your channel
of communication with the sellers
their job includes:
Local search with the local council to make sure all their requirements are met
Land charges search
Environmental search (if applicable)
Land registry which maintains the names and addresses of owners of the property and other interested parties such as mortgage lender
Stamp duty that is payable to HMRC
Home information packs (HIP)
They do a detailed title investigation to make sure the property you are buying has no legal problems and there is no one else apart from the seller who has a claim on the property
Raise questions about the property and seek answers from the seller side
Deal with the leaseholder of the property (if applicable - applicable for flats / maisonette)
Collect information about what is included and not included in the sale of the property (furniture and fittings) so if you assume the sale includes something then make sure it is mentioned in this list, if it is not mentioned in the list then the chances are the property will not be sold with it.
Give you contact details of the utility service providers and usually their contact details as well
They also act as a trusted source for the mortgage lender to hand over the mortgage money at an appropriate time to ensure that this money is used only for the purchase of the property and for no other purpose.
They would also act to ensure that the interest of the mortgage lender and the conditions mentioned in the mortgage offer are complied with
They would discuss with you, the seller and other interested parties to arrive at a date in which you can exchange contracts (the date in which you are legally bound to buy the property ) and date of completion ( the date at which you get the keys to the property and from where the mortgage payments begin)
Do you always need a solicitor?
In theory you don’t need to have
a solicitor or a licenced conveyancer
to act for you in the purchase of the
property however in reality for most
of us buying a property we would need
to appoint one simply because of the
complex nature of the work they under
take and the fact that any mistake could
be absolutely expensive and also the
other parties involved such as the sellers,
estate agent, mortgage lender would
not be happy to deal with you directly
instead of your solicitor.
Solicitor fees
The fees payable to the solicitor would
depend upon a lot of things such as
the property price, the property type
(leasehold / freehold) etc. Apart from
the fees that you directly pay to the
solicitor for their services, solicitors
are you window to a lot of other payments
such as stamp duty, land registry charges,
search fees etc (called disbursements)
So it is always best to get a quote
from the solicitor and carefully go
through it to understand what is involved
and what are the other likely extra
costs.
Ideally a solicitor should give you
a transparent fee structure and explain
the disbursements in full. However sometimes
you come across solicitors who don’t
give you the full picture at the beginning
and come up with surprises that upset
your financial planning.
From my personal point of view, whilst
the fees for the solicitor is a very
important consideration you must select
a solicitor based on his performance
levels, transparency and trust. Don’t
forget that the solicitor will be your
point of contact for the entire transaction
and choosing an inefficient solicitor
simply because he is a few pounds cheaper
could prove to be a disaster.
Sekkappan
Alagu (15th June 2010)
Your home may be repossessed if you do
not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
Sekkappan Alagu trading as Nachu Finance is an
appointed representative of The Whitechurch Network
Limited which is authorised and regulated by the
Financial Services Authority. We do not usually
charge a fee for mortgage advice. However you
do have the option to pay a fee of 0.80% of the
loan value and The Financial Services Authority
may not regulate all products or services on this
website
Address :
225 Beverley Drive, Edgware, Middlesex, Ha8 5NL,
North West London - Near Wembley & Harrow
