Conveyancing FAQs

1. How long is the conveyancing service for buying or selling property?
2. Do I need to visit your office at any time during the conveyancing process?
3. How much does the service cost?
4. When will I have to pay?
5. Do you still charge if the deal falls through?
6. What is a ‘Search’?
7. What is the difference between a Search and a Survey?
8. What is a ‘Chain’?
9. What happens if we find a problem?
10. What is ‘Exchange of Contracts’?
11. What happens on the completion date?

1. How long is the conveyancing service for buying or selling property?

The conveyancing process generally takes between 6-8 weeks, from the receipt or issue of the contract documents. It all depends on whether you are buying, selling or both, and also on the co-operation of any parties involved and the length of the ‘chain’ of transactions.

2. Do I need to visit your office at any time during the conveyancing process?

You are not required to visit us on site at any point. The whole conveyancing process can be completed contactless by letter, email, phone and voice calls if necessary.

3. How much does the service cost?

There are too many factors that can affect the overall cost of the conveyancing process. Your best bet would be to call us FREE on 0800 616 035 or by filling in our Conveyancing Enquiry form should you require a callback. We can then contact you and discuss your situation before giving a quote that fits your needs.

We do have a Price Transparency page available which gives you some idea of our costs, our team and why you should choose us as your conveyancing solicitors.

4. When will I have to pay?

Initially we may request up to £200 to cover the cost of the searches. Searches are done externally and are not part of the cost of our service to you.

You will pay us for our service upon completion of your conveyancing deal. You will be sent a Completion Statement detailing all the fees associated to your sale or purchase.

5. Do you still charge if the deal falls through?

If you want the piece of mind of ‘no completion, no fee‘, then we can offer this service to you. However, we do charge a little bit more if the deal goes through for the risk we’re taking.

Should you take this offer, we will not charge for our service if your deal falls through. External costs such as for searches, surveying, etc… would still have to be paid but you will receive no bill for our fees.

6. What is a ‘Search’?

A ‘Search’ in conveyancing terms covers a wide variety of different searches that includes water searches, drainage searches, mining search, property searches, local authority searches, etc.

A search reveals additional information about the property that you would not know simply by looking at it. For example the search would reveal the list of building regulations affecting this property, planning permissions, the quality of ground that the property is built on, etc.

If you require a mortgage to help finance your property purchase your lender will almost certainly require you to obtain the searches on their behalf.

7. What is the difference between a Search and a Survey?

As described above, a search informs you of what affects your property. Examples include the planning constraints, chances of flooding, sewer maintenance, disputes and more.

A survey is carried out by a surveyor to highlight the areas of potential concern of the property. For example, the surveyor can identify damp, missing roof tiles, structural damage to the property, and more.

8. What is a ‘Chain’?

In a simple deal, the seller sells their property to the buyer. In a more complex deal, the seller can only sell their property when they themselves can buy or have bought a property. The link between multiple sellers and buyers is known as a ‘Chain’.

9. What happens if we find a problem?

Problem with the property or environment

Re-negotiation of the price with the seller of the property.

Problem with legal documentation

We will try to obtain the correct documents if the legal documentation is incomplete, or if available arrange suitable insurance, to cover the issue.

Problem with the chain

Problems with the chain will usually mean inevitable delays to your deal. A collapse of the deal can occur if the chain breaks, due to one or more of the parties no longer proceeding. There is nothing we or you can do in such circumstances.

If there is nothing we can do given the situation, then we will provide you with options on whether or not you should proceed with the current transaction.

10. What is ‘Exchange of Contracts’?

Exchange of Contracts is the process of when the contract between the Buyer and the Seller becomes legally binding. During this process the Completion Date is set and the deposit is paid. Once exchange of contract has taken place then neither party can withdraw without incurring substantial financial loss, so exchange should not be finalised until you are fully ready to proceed.

11. What happens on the completion date?

Completion date is the agreed date between all parties for the transaction to go ahead and conclude. This means if you are buying property, you will be given the keys to the property on completion day and can begin moving in. If you are selling property, you will receive the funds and must vacate the property on this day so that your buyer may move in.

Although the transactions are complete on this day, there are just a few minor issues left for us to finalise, such as applying for the registration of your legal title to the land registry. This will be handled by us and is usually done within a 4-6 weeks of your completion date, depending on the current work schedules of the Land Registry.

This is a disclaimer to say we do not accept liability for any inaccurate or out-of-date information contained on this website at any given time. Whilst we do make every effort to keep the information accurate and up-to-date, you should only treat this information as a guideline. For more information relevant to your case, you should speak directly to your case handler.