We can act on your behalf in relation to any purchase of a residential property in England and Wales, whether it is a house, flat or piece of land.

You may be wondering what it is exactly that we do when acting on a purchase of property. To assist a brief outline of a typical transaction is set out below.

There are 2 important stages in a purchase transaction:

Exchange of Contracts – this commits the Buyer to buy and the Seller to sell the Property at the agreed price. On exchange of Contracts the Buyer is required to pay a deposit which usually amounts to 5% or 10% of the purchase price.

Legal completion – this is when the balance purchase monies are paid to the Seller and the Buyer can move into the property.

What we do…

(A) PRIOR TO EXCHANGE OF CONTRACTS

1. Check the terms of the Contract and the title to the property to ensure these are in order.
2. Carry out a Local Authority Search, Drainage Search, an Environmental Search, if applicable a Mining Search, and other necessary searches to check on various matters including planning, road and sewer liability, road proposals, any outstanding Local Authority notices, etc.
3. Raise enquiries with the Seller’s solicitors/conveyancers which we consider are necessary once we have checked the title and related documents and search results.
4. Check that the Buyer’s mortgage offer is in order.
5. Prepare all other documents for the Buyer to sign including the Mortgage Deed, Transfer Deed and Land Transaction Return.
6. Agree with the Seller’s solicitors/conveyancers a completion date which suits all parties.
7. Report in writing to the Buyer to advise of all relevant matters and obtain the Buyer’s signature to the Contract and other relevant documents in readiness for exchange of Contracts. We also request that the Buyer pays to us the deposit to be paid on exchange of Contracts.

(B) EXCHANGE OF CONTRACTS

1. We exchange one copy of the Contract signed by the Buyer with the copy signed by the Seller. Exchange of Contracts is usually agreed over the telephone with each parties solicitor/conveyancer agreeing to post their respective clients’ signed Contract to the other solicitor/conveyancer in that days post. A fixed date for legal completion is agreed at that time.
2. Ensure that the property is insured by the Buyer.

(C) AFTER EXCHANGE OF CONTRACTS

1. Carry out all final searches.
2. Submit a certificate of title to the mortgage lender on the title to the property and request release of the mortgage advance in time for legal completion.
3. Obtain any further monies required from the Buyer to enable legal completion to take place.

(D) ON COMPLETION

1. Arrange for the balance purchase monies to be paid to the Seller’s solicitors/conveyancers electronically by CHAPS.
2. If the Buyer has not made direct arrangements with the Seller, ensure that the keys are available to the Buyer.

(E) AFTER COMPLETION

1. Submit a Land Transaction Return to HM Revenue & Customs and pay any stamp duty land tax due.

2. Register the Transfer to the Buyer and any Mortgage Deed at the Land Registry and once registered forward the relevant documents to the mortgage lender or Buyer for safe keeping.