When you are buying a new property, the conveyancing process can seem daunting, especially if you haven’t been through it before. To help, here is our handy summary of what happens during the conveyancing process.

The conveyancing team at HRJ Foreman Laws Solicitors are here to help and will guide you through each stage. Our firm holds the Lexcel accreditation, the Law Society’s quality mark for excellence. We are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and we operate to the highest standards of practice and integrity required by the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS).

A step by step guide to the conveyancing process when buying a new property

1. Your offer is accepted

2. You instruct us to open a file (we’ll ask you for 2 items of ID and a sum on account in respect of the search fees to get you on board)

3. We obtain the contract and related documents from the seller’s conveyancer

4. You will need to arrange your mortgage and any survey that you wish to have carried out as your lender’s valuation is only for their mortgage purposes and is not a structural survey

5. We review the documentation closely and will raise any enquires with the seller’s conveyancer

6. We will carry out searches on your new property; these include a local authority search water and drainage search, environmental search and chancel repair liability search.

7. If additional searches are required, depending on your location, we’ll carry these out too.

8. We’ll review all the results from the searches and flag any issues which need to be addressed before the transaction can exchange.

9. We’ll create a pre-exchange report for you with a summary of the enquiries and search results. Any documents that we need you to sign will be sent with the report and we will request you transfer the deposit funds when returning the signed documents which is usually 10% of the purchase price.

10. When you’ve reviewed the report and discussed any enquiries you may have with us we will proceed to exchange of contracts which will fix the completion date.

11. Following exchange we will send you a completion statement requesting the balance of the funds from you and your lender in good time before completion including any costs and disbursements such as Stamp Duty Land Tax.

12. It’s moving day! We will transfer the completion funds to the seller’s conveyancer. When they confirm receipt, you will be able to collect the keys to your new home.

13. We will then file your Stamp Duty Land Tax and process the payment for you.

14. We will then submit an application to the Land Registry to register you as the owner of the property.

15. We will send the completion of registration and any other original documents to you for safekeeping.

The time taken to complete the process will be dependent on your situation. If you are in a property chain, there will be a number of buyers and sellers, all dependent on the other. We will be working with the solicitors in the chain to co-ordinate the process. However, we won’t have contact with all the other parties in the chain; so open communication in a chain will help things to move more quickly. Let us know about key dates that will impact your completion, for example, rental notice periods, holidays or personal circumstances. Prepare for a minimum 8-12 week process to allow for; surveys to be completed, finances to be confirmed, documents checked and any hiccups ironed out before completion.

For legal advice email info@hrjforemanlaws.co.uk or call Hitchin 01462 458711, Welwyn Garden City 01707 887700, Letchworth Garden City 01462 488333

Read ‘What is the legal process for selling a house?’ here:

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