Conveyancing Information
The legal procedure of selling or buying a house is known as conveyancing. The conveyancing procedure is a two-stage one. The first is the creation of a legally binding contract ("exchange of contracts") and the second is the actual transfer of ownership and the handing over of the keys for the property ("completion").
Before exchange of contracts, various formalities must be dealt with. For example, the seller's solicitors will have sent a draft agreement to the buyer's solicitors together with copies of the title deeds and detailed information about the property generally.
The information about the property covers any matters, for example who is responsible for the maintenance of the fences, what guarantees are there for the property, what the position is as to shared facilities (for example a shared access or drainage system), whether the property is subject to any restrictions on its use and whether any planning permission has been granted and plans approved in respect of the original construction of the house or any extensions.
The search and enquiries of the local authority ("the local search") made by the buyer's solicitor provides further information covering such matters as liability for the maintenance of the roads and footpaths, what planning permission has been given in respect of the building, whether there is to be a major road or gas pipe within the near vicinity of the property and many other similar matters.
Selling a house
We will obtain your title deeds (from your building society or bank if you have a mortgage) and will check them through to make sure that everything is in order. We will then make any necessary preparations for the time that a buyer is found.
We will ask you to complete a property information questionnaire. This, together with other details from the title deeds, will be sent to the buyer's solicitor together with a draft agreement for sale and any other relevant documents.
We will also ask you to complete a fixtures, fittings and contents form, a copy of which will be sent to the buyer's solicitor, giving details of what items are included or excluded from the sale of the property.
Buying a house
On the purchase of a property, it is most important to consider whether or not a survey should be carried out on the property. An intended buyer of a property should have a survey carried out unless the property is newly built. The reason is that there is no consumer protection for anyone buying a house and a buyer must therefore try and find out if there are any faults in the property before exchange of contracts. A buyer is not able to claim compensation for faults found in a property after exchange of contracts no matter how serious those faults may be. A survey report will tell you whether or not there are any faults with the property and if so, how serious they may be. If a property has serious faults, the buyer may be able to re-negotiate the price with the seller on the basis of the findings of a surveyor as set out in his report. A building society's surveyor will normally only do a simple valuation of a property. However, a House Buyer's Report (in a form specified by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) should be adequate and may also be used by the building society for valuation purposes which will mean a saving in surveyor's fees. You should enquire further of your building society or alternatively we can make arrangements for you.
Most house buyers need a mortgage from a building society or a bank. Many mortgages are now on an endowment basis which means that you only pay interest on the amount that you borrow. The actual loan repayment is secured by a life policy. If you do have an endowment mortgage, you must ensure that the life policy is brought into effect at the time of exchange of contracts. It is important to remember this because if the policy is forgotten about, then the loan repayment will not be secured to the building society and at the end of your mortgage term you will still owe to the building society the amount that you borrowed originally. (We can arrange independent financial advice for you - please ask for details)
If you require any further advice or information concerning any aspect of the conveyancing transaction, please remember that your solicitor is here to help you. Please therefore do not hesitate to telephone us in the event of a query which will assist us in dealing with your transaction efficiently and help us to take some of the burden of moving house. In the event that you have reason to be dissatisfied with the quality of our service, please contact our managing partner.
