Residential Conveyancing & Remortgage

We at Ralley Solicitors are a streamlined property practice and we will ensure your conveyance moves smoothly and without unnecessary delay on our part. We are happy to see our clients face-to-face to talk about complicated procedures involved and to give you the opportunity to discuss any worries you may have.

We are also able to deal with your remortgage, transfer of equity and buy to let transactions too.

Brief Guide to the Conveyancing Process
What to do between exchange and completion
On the day of completion
After completion

Brief Guide to the Conveyancing Process

You can do the legal work yourself when you buy your home, but we would not advise you to do this as it can be very problematical unless you know exactly what you are doing. Most people will instruct a specialist Solicitor to act for them.

Once you have instructed your Solicitor you will be sent a letter outlining the services you will expect to get from them together with a quote of the legal costs and disbursements and a copy of the Firm’s Terms of Business. These are all things that they are obliged to send to you.

Your solicitor will start by confirming their instructions to act for you to the sellers Solicitor. They will ask the seller's solicitor for the draft Contract and associated paperwork which will include:

A draft contract
A copy of the HIP
A list of fittings and contents showing what will be left, and what taken, by the seller
Any documents relating to amy works that have been undertaken at the property and any Local Authority consents required together with any damp guarantees, indemnities, etc

If the property is leasehold:

A draft Contract
A copy of the lease
If there is a Management Company, a pack that will include three years' management accounts showing, eg how much tenants have had to pay for services, etc and a copy of the block buildings insurance policy.

We will advise you on the legal searches you need. A Local Authority Search result and a Drainage Search result will be included in the HIP and we will usually obtain an Environmental Search and Chancel Search on your behalf.

Apply for the mortgage you want. Your lender will issue a formal offer - a promise to lend you the money you need, subject to valuing the property, and the seller proving they are the legal owner. We will advise you on the main terms of the offer.

Once your Solicitors are in receipt of all the paperwork they will raise any enquiries with the sellers Solicitor. These enquiries may just be requests for clarification or requests for copies of documents and involve investigating the title to the property.

If you are buying with the aid of a mortgage then your Solicitor will also be instructed by the mortgage Lender. They therefore have an obligation to make sure that the security for the borrowing is acceptable. If your Solicitor is not happy about any information they have received they have a duty to refer it to your Lender. Every ender has different requirements in this regard and your Solicitor will have to refer to the CML Lenders Handbook.

Once the seller has replied to all of the enquiries raised and your Solicitor has reported to you on these and your searches, they will send you the Contract, Transfer Deed and Stamp Duty Land Tax form to sign and return to them in readiness for exchange of Contracts.

Exchange of contracts is when your solicitor and the seller's solicitor exchange two identical contracts, one signed by you and one by the seller.

On exchange you are legally bound to buy the property (subject to any special terms in the contact that allow you to withdraw) so it is vital that you understand what you are committing to.

It is usual for you to pay a deposit on exchange of contracts. This is because if you exchange contracts and then pull out of the transaction, the seller is able to forfeit this in compensation for you not proceeding.

You will need to agree a date for completion as this date will be inserted into the Contract on exchange.

The completion date is the date that you will vacate the property and this date is binding on you.

Make sure that the buildings insurance for your new home, and any life cover you are taking out, will be ready at exchange of contracts.

What to do between exchange and completion

On exchange of contracts arrange to insure the property as the risk will now be with you!

Start any life cover.

Book your removals for the completion date.

Arrange for any funds to be made available to your solicitor. In preparation for completion you will have received an invoice and completion statement showing the amount of any funds due from you.

Make arrangements with the estate agent for the collection of keys on the day of completion.

On the day of completion

At least one or two days before completion, your Solicitor will have requested your mortgage advance from your Lender.

Your Solicitor will arrange to telegraphically transfer the purchase monies to your sellers Solicitor.

Once the seller’s Solicitor has confirmed receipt of the money, they will contact the Estate Agent to authorise the release of the keys to you.

Your Solicitor will inform you that the monies have been received and that you can collect the keys to your new home from the Estate Agents.

The seller's solicitor will then forward any title documents over to your solicitor.

After completion

We will:-

Pay any stamp duty and submit your Stamp Duty Land Tax return electronically to the Inland Revenue
Register your ownership at the Land Registry
Send you copies of the title deeds once you are registered. This may take up to three months or more after the purchase.