A Basic Guide to Conveyancing Your Property

conveyancerIn law, conveyancing is the transfer of legal title of property from one person to another, or the granting of an encumbrance such as a mortgage or a lien.

A simple definition of conveyancing is the process by which the ownership of a home is transferred legally from the seller to the buyer. This process begins once an offer on the house is accepted and ends when the keys have been handed over to the new owner of the house. Usually, the conducting of the entire conveyancing process is carried out by a conveyancer or a solicitor. This doesn’t mean that it cannot be done by the seller or the buyer involved. He or she just has to make sure that they are not taking out a mortgage. Where you can’t get this done yourself, find a conveyancer or a solicitor to do it for you.

 
The first step here is for the buyer’s conveyancer to contact the seller’s conveyancer to release the contract pack to him. The seller’s conveyancer then draw up terms of engagement or a draft contract thereby setting out charges and any deposits required. Meanwhile, the buyer would accept the offer on the property and make sure that his mortgage has been approved. Also, a survey to be conducted by an independent surveyor should be arranged.

 
This done, the buyer’s conveyancer requests a copy of buyer’s mortgage offer and then carries out the local authority searches while the buyer goes ahead to arrange for building insurance on the property. An analysis of the contract pack, buyer’s mortgage offer and results of the local authority search would be carried out by the conveyancer and important details will be passed on to the buyer.

 
Following this, discussions by the conveyancer and the buyer on the possible dates for completion of the contract would be held and the most appropriate completion dates would be passed onto the mortgage provider by the buyer. The buyer equally then reviews the information that has been presented to him asking questions if any and signs the final contract before returning it to their conveyancer.

 
The buyer’s conveyancer would then inform the seller’s conveyancer of your plan to go on with the contract exchange while the deposits are sent by the buyer to his conveyancer. The buyer’s conveyancer then goes ahead to meet with the seller’s conveyancer and swap the signed contracts with him. The buyer’s conveyancer then sends the deposits to the seller’s conveyancer.

 
The buyer’s conveyancer then prepares the completion statement and sends to the buyer while carrying out any priority searches. He equally prepares the transfer deed and sends to the buyer. The buyer then studies the transfer deed, signs it and returns it to his conveyancer. His conveyancer then sends the signed transfer deed to the conveyancer of the seller and requests for finances from the buyer’s mortgage lender. Buyer’s conveyancer then transfers the payment for the house minus payment to the seller’s conveyancer and then receive the title deeds, transfer deeds and all proofs that any outstanding mortgages have been redeemed.

 
The buyer then collects the keys to his new house and then moves in while his conveyancer sends buyer’s transfer deed and any applicable stamp duty to the Stamping Office and all documents to HM Land Registry so as to register buyer’s new ownership of the property. Buyer’s conveyancer then receives title deeds from HM Land Registry and sends them to your mortgage lender if they have provided finance.

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