March is National Conveyancing Month, an initiative launched to inform the property industry and the wider public about the role of conveyancers and the property purchase/sale process.
Whether you are a first-time buyer or a seasoned homeowner with several property transactions under your belt, it can be useful to review the process when purchasing a property and the work carried out by your conveyancing team when acting on your behalf. This is a brief outline of the main steps in a typical property purchase.
Before Exchange of Contracts
Once you instruct your solicitors/conveyancers, we will send you our client care documentation and ask you to complete specific paperwork to provide your contact information, the particulars of the property you wish to buy, and details of how you will fund the purchase. We will ask you for a sum of money to cover search fees, and we will also ask you to verify your ID (this is a legal requirement to prevent Money Laundering).
At this point, you should consider speaking to your surveyor about booking your survey and for advice on the appropriate level of survey for your property. You may wish to view the information on the RICS website and the RICS Consumer Guide on Home Surveys: https://www.ricsfirms.com/residential/moving-home/buying/helping-you-choose-the-right-survey/
Draft contracts and searches
We will ask your sellers’ solicitors for a draft contract and other documents so that we can check them. We will submit a search application to the local authority, the water authority, and other agencies to obtain information on matters such as sewers, roads, planning, and local land charges affecting the property. This normally takes up to two weeks. Sometimes we may carry out additional searches, depending on the nature of the property and its location, such as coal-mining searches.
Enquiries
We will make enquiries of your sellers’ solicitors regarding matters such as boundary responsibilities, fixtures and fittings, guarantees, disputes, and any other points that arise. We will send you a copy of these enquiries at the point they are raised so that you can review them, and let us know if there are any other points which you would like us to raise with the Seller’s Solicitors.
Mortgage
Following the submission of your mortgage application, you will receive your mortgage offer (if required). In most cases, where you have a mortgage, your lender will also instruct us to act on their behalf, and they will be our client in the same way that you are our client. We will receive instructions to act for the mortgage company in approving the property from their perspective and completing the mortgage documents.
Contract, Transfers, and Deposit
We will approve the contract, review the search results, reply to enquiries, and any mortgage offer. We will ensure all mortgage conditions are complied with. You will be sent a full written report on the property, along with copies of all relevant documentation.
Once the Contract and Transfer have been agreed and approved, we will arrange for you to sign these along with the SDLT Return and Mortgage Deed (if required). Your sellers should also be signing their part of the contract, and both parties should agree on a completion date. Discussions about completion dates are usually best undertaken via the Estate Agents as they can speak to everyone in the chain and agree on a mutually agreeable date.
We may ask you for up to 10% of the price as a deposit to be paid to your sellers’ solicitors when we exchange contracts. In certain circumstances, the sellers may accept a deposit of less than 10% of the purchase price. If you have a sale transaction, we will use the deposit from your sale towards the purchase deposit and will ask you to top up the deposit to the full 10% of your purchase price if required.
Exchange of Contracts
Once everyone in the chain is ready to exchange and a completion date has been agreed upon, we will seek your authority to exchange contracts. Once exchange has taken place, you are contractually committed and bound to complete the purchase, and so you should ensure that any questions you have are dealt with before you provide authority to exchange. You will also need to confirm that your building insurance is in place from the date of exchange. We will then exchange contracts with your sellers’ solicitors. Once we have confirmed that exchange has taken place, you can safely confirm your removal arrangements.
After Exchange of Contracts
We will prepare the final completion statement and provide you with details of the sums we will need to complete your purchase – the balance of the purchase price payable, together with our costs and disbursements, including the Land Registry Fee and SDLT.
We will carry out any final pre-completion searches to protect your position and that of any mortgage lender. We will request completion funds from the lender in readiness for completion. To ensure there is no delay on the day of completion, we will request that these arrive on the working day before completion. We will also need to receive the balance from you on the working day prior to completion.
The Day of Completion
We will send the balance of the purchase price to the sellers’ solicitors by direct bank transfer as early as possible. It is not possible for us to confirm how quickly funds will pass through the banking system and arrive with the sellers’ solicitors. Generally, we aim for completion by lunchtime, and we will keep you updated on progress on the day. The timing of completion will also depend on whether you have a linked sale and on the length of the transaction chain.
Once the sellers’ solicitors have received the funds, they will confirm completion has taken place to us and authorise the release of keys to you by the estate agents or possibly directly by the sellers. Unfortunately, sometimes delays can occur in the transfer of funds between banks, and this delays the release of the keys – we do what we can to minimise any problems.
You can then move in
Following completion, we will receive the transfer and other relevant documents from the sellers’ solicitor; we will pay any Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) and apply to register your ownership and any mortgage at the Land Registry, who will issue a Title Information Document. Once this is done, it is sent to the mortgage company (with a copy to you) – if there is no mortgage, then we will send the Title Information Document to you together with any other relevant paperwork. There are currently significant delays with the Land Registry, and it can take them up to a year to complete the registration, and even longer in the case of more complex applications.
FAQs
What is conveyancing when buying a property?
Conveyancing is the legal work involved in transferring ownership of a property to you. It typically includes reviewing contracts, carrying out searches, raising enquiries, handling mortgage requirements, exchanging contracts, completing, and registering ownership.
What happens before the exchange of contracts?
Your solicitor will onboard you (including ID checks), request the draft contract pack, order searches (local authority, water, and others), review results, and raise enquiries. Searches often take up to two weeks, depending on the authorities involved.
What searches are done during conveyancing?
Common searches include local authority and water authority searches, plus others depending on the property and location (for example, coal-mining searches where relevant).
How does the mortgage process work with conveyancing?
If you’re using a mortgage, once your offer is issued your lender will usually instruct your conveyancer to act for them too. Your solicitor then deals with the lender’s requirements and mortgage documents alongside your purchase.
How much deposit is paid at the exchange of contracts?
A deposit of up to 10% of the purchase price is commonly paid on exchange, though sometimes the seller may accept less. If you’re also selling, the deposit from your sale is often used towards the purchase deposit.
What does “exchange of contracts” mean?
Once contracts are exchanged, you are legally committed to complete the purchase. You should make sure all questions are resolved before authorising exchange, and you’ll usually need to have building insurance in place from the date of exchange.
What happens on the day of completion?
Your solicitor sends the purchase funds to the seller’s solicitor by bank transfer. When the seller’s solicitor confirms receipt, completion is confirmed and the estate agent (or seller) can release the keys. Timing can vary due to banking delays and any chain.
What happens after completion?
After completion, your solicitor pays any SDLT (Stamp Duty Land Tax) and applies to register you as the owner at HM Land Registry. The Land Registry can take a long time to complete registration (the article notes it can be up to a year, longer for complex applications).
About THP Solicitors
THP Solicitors Residential Property team, one of the largest in the Thames Valley, is focused on service, communication, and applying a common-sense approach to getting the job done with as little stress as possible for everyone involved.
The team comprises experienced Solicitors, Chartered Legal Executives, Conveyancers, and support staff. We pride ourselves on a service that is tailored to you, because no two transactions are the same. We act for a wide range of clients, from first-time buyers to those with large portfolios of buy-to-let properties.
Whilst having a large team ensures we can always provide support and cover for each other during holidays or other absences, you will have your own dedicated person handling your purchase and supporting you through the process.
The majority of our work comes through recommendations from clients and unpaid referrals from local property agents who recognise the experience and professionalism with which we deal with matters and the levels of service that we provide. Our fees are transparent and reflect the service we promise. There are no ‘add-ons’ or hidden fees, so no nasty surprises along the way. We are members of the Law Society Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) and are on the panels of all the major lenders.
Please contact our Residential Property team for a quote on a property purchase and/or sale on Reading: 0118 975 6622 or Henley: 01491 570 900 or email residentialproperty@thpsolicitors.co.uk