Information and guide to buying a property

Property Law

The greatest cause of stress when buying a property is the uncertainty!

So it may help you to have an idea of the timescales we work to, and how long each step is likely to take.

These timescales are not set in stone, and some things can delay or frustrate progress, but below is a reasonable, general guide.

If the matter is urgent or a must complete before the general timescale set out below, then you must tell us as soon as possible in writing.

We will let you know whether we think it is achievable and the likely final cost.

Stage 1
After you return your client care pack and anything else we need from you, we will:

– Contact the seller’s solicitors and ask for the contract papers.
– Send you some forms to complete.
– Await the contract.

We expect this process to take between 2 and 4 weeks but this is dependent on when we receive documents and information from the Seller’s solicitors. It does not all necessarily come at once.

Meet Lauren, our Partner responsible for Conveyancing

Lauren Lancaster
Partner and Head of Property and Litigation Services

Stage 2
After we receive the contract and associated documents, we will review them and send copies to you for you to look at.

We will update any selling Agent by email.

We expect to be able to submit the searches on the property and will do so provided we have enough information and funds to do so,

We will also compile any enquiries which we think should be made about the property and any specific questions which you would like us to ask, after you have read the documents.

If you are buying the property through a mortgage, we would expect the offer to arrive during this stage and will review this also.

We will also prepare the necessary transfer document and send you a draft completion statement.

This is probably the longest stage as several things are taking place at the same time. How long it takes depends on several things, but we check for progress every 7-14 days and will send reminders as necessary.

Generally, we find that this stage takes between 4 and 6 weeks from the end of stage 1, but much of it is out of our hands.
We will keep you informed of progress.

Buying a home is one of the most stressful and exciting times

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Stage 3
Once we have:

.- Received replies to our enquiries and reported back to you.
– Received the results of the searches and reported to you.
– Reviewed any mortgage instructions and reported to you.
– Approved the contract.
– Sent you a draft completion statement.

We will ask you to come and see us to sign the relevant documents or send them to you if it is difficult for you to come in.

We will aim to arrange an approximate date for completion that suits you and the sellers. At the end of this stage, we expect to be in a position where all matters are agreed and contracts can be exchanged or a date for exchange and completion can be set.

This stage usually takes a further, 3-4 weeks.

Stage 4
After exchanging contracts, or after a date for exchange and completion has been set, we will undertake the final steps to complete the sale.

This process can happen in several ways so it is difficult to predict the order, but we will need all the required fund from all sources (including any mortgage) in Cleared Funds to complete.

Please note, you must ensure that you get cleared funds to us well in time for completion- BACS and cheques take several days to clear and you should provide for this.

We would expect this final stage to take a further 2-4 weeks, from the end of stage 3.

Stage 5
After completion, and once we have all the necessary documents, we will take steps to register the transfer with the Land Registry. This can take many weeks or months, depending on the type of property and other people/organisations.

Our fees anticipate that registration will not be too detailed, time consuming, or complex. If we are required to go beyond what we think is a normal amount of work to complete registration, we reserve the right to make a further charge, though this is rare.

Once completion has taken place, we will let you know.

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— Conveyancing services are delivered by our Property Team