Conveyancing is the legal process that transfers a property from one person to another. Buying or selling a home normally takes 2 to 3 months, but can take longer if you’re part of a chain of buyers and sellers. At PD Lawyers we aim to take the mystery and frustration out of conveyancing and always speak to you in plain English.

We offer services in buying, selling, remortgaging or transferring property. We are not tied to any estate agent and can therefore provide you with independent advice catered specifically to your requirements and our fixed tariff of Conveyancing fees giving you peace of mind at this often expensive time.

Sale Conveyancing in a nutshell

You’ve accepted your buyer’s offer and they’ve arranged their mortgage and had their survey carried out so what happens next?

• We’ll send you our client care letter and Property Information forms to complete
• The property forms should be completed by an owner of the property and you must fill them in truthfully. You must disclose all information requested as withholding information is a misrepresentation. You return the forms to us with copies of any planning permissions, licences, warranties etc.
• Once received we’ll prepare the contract pack to send to your buyer’s lawyer
• If your property is leasehold we will need to obtain a Leasehold Information pack from your management company and/or These packs need to be paid for up front and each management company charges their own fee. If this is needed we’ll let you know the cost as soon as we can and arrange for you to pay it.
• Your buyer’s lawyer will check the contract pack and raise enquiries. They will submit their local, drainage and environmental searches and may raise further enquiries once they receive the results.
• We will deal with the enquiries raised by your buyer’s lawyer, some of these we may be able to answer whilst others we will need you to
• Once all enquires are satisfied you’ll come in and sign the contract and transfer deed. At this point we should be able to discuss exchange and completion dates with you if everyone in the chain is ready to do so
• If you have a mortgage we’ll obtain a redemption statement to see how much there is to repay on completion. We’ll check this with you.
• Once your buyer is ready we will exchange This makes the agreement legally binding and if you were to pull out after this time you would be liable to pay damages to your buyer.
• On the day of completion we will ring you when we receive the sale money and confirm From the sale monies we will pay off any mortgages, pay estate agent’s fees and deduct our fees and any disbursements not already paid. We’ll then telephone the Estate Agents to let them know they can give the keys to the buyer.

Purchase Conveyancing in a nutshell

You’ve had your offer accepted, you’ve arranged your mortgage and had your survey carried out so what happens next?

• The contract package is prepared by the seller’s lawyer
• We check the contract and property information, which includes checking the seller owns the property, checking for missing documentation or incorrect details; that all boundaries are correct, that the seller has all the right documentation for the alterations they’ve made amongst many other things. We also check any covenants, which are legal promises that are attached to the land, more common ones include not keeping poultry or pigeons, not carrying out any trade or business or not making alterations or extensions without a certain person’s permission.
• We will raise enquiries on the documents provided and submit local authority, drainage & water and environmental searches
• If the property is leasehold we’ll check through the leasehold pack received from the management company/landlord and let you know about service charge, ground rent and what you can and can’t do in the property.
• Once enquiries have been answered and searches received we will send you a property report together with copies of all the documents.
• We will receive you mortgage offer and send you a copy, together with our mortgage report.
• We’ll then make an appointment for you to come into the office to sign the contract documents and discuss a completion date.
• Once a completion date has been agreed you pay the balance money to us and set up your buildings insurance to start from the date of exchange.
• We’ll then exchange of contracts. This makes the agreement between you and the seller legally binding and if you were to pull out after this time you would lose your 10% deposit.
• We request your mortgage advance from your lender to arrive the day before completion so there are no last minute panics.
• We complete your
• On the completion day we transfer the purchase money to the seller’s lawyer and once they receive it they will telephone the estate agent to release the keys. You can then go and collect your new keys and move in!
• After completion we will pay any stamp duty land tax and register your purchase at the land registry. Once this has been done we will send you an official copy of the land register and any other deeds and documents we are holding.

Searches

Local Search: this is carried out with the Local Council and confirms, amongst other things, whether the property is on a public road, whether any alterations carried out have planning permission or building regulation consent and whether there are any other restrictions on development of the property and any monies outstanding against the property, e.g. for care home fees or enforcement action.

Drainage Search: this confirms whether the property is connected to the public sewer and water main, whether there is a water meter at the property, the location of the public sewer and water main and the water charges for the property

Environmental Search: this confirms whether there are any issues with flooding, contaminated land, radon gas or ground stability on or around the property

Depending on where a property is we may need to carry out additional searches.

Jointly owning property

There are 3 different ways you can co-own property:-

As joint tenants – you each own 50% and if one of you dies their share passes to the survivor (regardless of what is in your will)

Tenants in common equally – you each own 50% but on death this passes to whoever you’ve nominated in your will or under the rules of intestacy.

Tenants in common unequally – you own the property in unequal shares (i.e. 60% / 40%, 25% / 75% etc) and your share passes to whoever you nominate in your will or under the rules of intestacy.

We will discuss these options in detail with you when you come in to sign and this would be written into the Transfer Deed or a separate Deed or Declaration of Trust.

Cost information

Sale and purchase legal fees (for the Lancaster area) an additional fee may be charged if the property is out of the local area, please telephone our office for a detailed fee estimate.

Additional legal fees

Leasehold/Shared ownership fee: £275 + VAT

Freehold property subject to a service charge or rent charge: £275 + VAT Help To Buy ISA/Lifetime ISA: £50 + VAT

Help to Buy Equity Mortgage fee: £275+VAT Gifted deposit: £125 + VAT

Dealing with third party solicitors (if you have a different solicitor/conveyancer acting for you in connection with a

dependent sale): £175 + VAT

Sale / purchase subject to an existing Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement: £275 + VAT

Should the transaction fail to proceed to completion for whatever reason, then our fees will be charged at up to

75% of the original estimate provided together with VAT and any disbursements.

Disbursements

(these are costs payable to third parties that relate to each transaction)

Local, Drainage and Environmental Searches approximately £340.41 (inc VAT) (purchase only in the local area) Please contact us for specific fees if buying out of the area

Land Registry fee from £20 upwards http://landregistry.data.gov.uk/fees-calculator.html

Stamp Duty https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/calculate-stamp-duty-land-tax/#/intro

Bank telegraphic transfer fee £15+VAT = £18 Office copy register and plan £6 per title (sale only) Office copy documents £3 per document

HM Land Registry search fees £2 per person OS1 or OS2 search fees £3 per title

Stamp Duty Land Tax Application fee £4.80 Land Registry Application fee £4.80

Our estimated fees are based on your transaction proceeding in a straight forward manner in accordance with normal conveyancing practice. If however, there are any unusual or difficult circumstances or requirements by you, we reserve the right to revise our estimated fees. If this proves necessary we will discuss matters fully with you before committing you to the additional expense. In most cases no additional fees arise.

Should the transaction fail to proceed to completion for whatever reason, then our fees will be charged at up to 75% of the original estimate provided together with VAT and any disbursements.

It’s difficult to predict how long a transaction will take as it depends on many

factors. The national average for buying or selling a home normally takes 2 to 3 months though the process can take longer if you’re part of a chain.

Read more

• home buying process
• Home Selling Process
• The Law Society: Buying a Home
• Buying or Selling Your Home: uk