Noble Harbour Solicitors
Conveyancing Guide - A step by step guide to your property transaction.
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Introduction
We set out in this guide a basic outline as to the steps typically involved in a property transaction. Solicitors refer to this type of transaction as a conveyance which is the legal transfer of a property from one owner to another.
Steps Involved In A Sale:
- We obtain your Title deeds from you or your mortgage lender.
- You will complete Property Information Forms and a list of Fixtures, Fittings and Contents to clarify which items are and are not included in the sale. We will obtain a Home Information Pack (HIP), on the property (if avaliable).
- We draw up a Contract Pack and send this to your buyer's solicitors, to provide them with full details of the property.
- We answer any additional enquiries on the property that may be raised and agree a date when the purchase can be completed.
- Contracts are exchanged.
- Completion day - your mortgage is repaid, estate agents are paid, and legal costs paid and the balance of sale proceeds are sent to you or can be held towards the cost of your purchase (if applicable).
Steps Involved In A Purchase:
The steps involved in a purchase of a property are more complicated. We must ensure that the legal title of the house you have chosen is transferred to you. We must ensure that ownership of the property will not involve you in any unforeseen disputes and that the property is not subject to any adverse encumbrance.
- On receiving your instructions we will obtain a Home Information Pack (HIP) on the property (if avaliable). We will undertake all necessary searches including an additional local search (if required). The local search is important as it is a search of the local authority's records. It identifies whether there are likely to be any public works which will affect the property, such as new road schemes and planning issues. The information we receive is specific to the property you are intending to purchase.
- We receive a Contract Pack from your seller's solicitor and review this. We raise any additional enquiries necessary to ensure the legal title to the property is in order.
- You decide whether a Full Survey Report is obtained on the property. A building society's valuation is not a full structural survey and consequently it may not identify defects that may be present in the property. Always consider obtaining a survey report.
- We receive a mortgage offer from your mortgage provider.
- We agree a date for completion of the purchase with the seller's solicitors.
- Contracts are exchanged. You will normally be required to pay a 10% deposit. If you have a connected sale you may be able to use deposit monies received on your sale towards this. On exchange of contracts you enter into a legally binding contract to purchase the property.
- Completion day - we receive mortgage monies from your mortgage provider. We pay your seller's solicitors the balance of purchase monies. You are able to move into the property. Following completion we must take additional steps on your behalf. We must complete a Land Transaction Return and pay any stamp duty arising.
The legal title of the property you have purchased must be registered at HM Land Registry. We will receive a Notice of Completion of Registration from the Land Registry which will confirm your ownership of the property.We will forward a copy of the Notice of Completion received from the Land Registry to your mortgage provider together with any other documents required We will provide you with a copy of Notice of Completion received from the Land Registry for your records.
Glossary of Terms:
Completion:
The moment when the buyer becomes the new owner of the seller's house and the day the seller must have left the property.
Completion Statement:
A written calculation of all the receipts and payments due in respect of the transaction.
Deeds:
The official documents confirming who owns a property which are in the possession of the owner or mortgagee if the property is mortgaged.
Conveyancing:
The legal work needed to buy and sell properties.
Deposit:
The agreed amount to be paid on exchange of contracts usually forfeited if the buyer fails to complete.
Exchange of Contracts:
The formal exchanging of the two parts of the contract when the seller and buyer become legally bound to complete on an agreed date and in the case of the seller, to move out of the property.
Fixtures, Fittings and Contents Form:
A standard form where the seller sets out all those items in the property which they have agreed to leave as part of the sale price and which is attached to the contract.
Home Information Pack (HIP):
This pack is made up of a number of documents, some of which are compulsory and some of which are optional. The pack is intended to enable prospective purchasers access important information about a property at the beginning of a transaction rather than part way through.
Land Certificate:
An official certificate issued by the land registry where a property is registered detailing the ownership and interests in the property where there is no legal charge.
Land Registry:
A government organisation maintaining a register of properties and their ownership in England and Wales.
Mortgage:
A loan to buy a house or flat where the mortgagee lends the mortgagor money in return for a legal charge being registered against the property to ensure that the loan must be repaid before the property can be sold.
Mortgage Deed:
The document signed by the mortgagor to create a legal charge which the mortgagee can register at the land registry.
Registered Land:
Property which has already been registered at the Land Registry.
Sale:
The sale of a property.
Stamp Duty:
A tax paid to the government on the purchase of a property over a certain value.
Survey:
An inspection and report on the property by a surveyor as to the state of the property and value.
Title:
The owner's right to a property.
Transfer:
A document which transfers ownership of a property from one person to another.
Valuation:
A very simple form of survey designed to establish the market value of the property.
