Choosing a home to buy is one of the biggest and potentially most stressful decisions you make in your lifetime. Amongst all the excitement and anticipation, there’s a lot of legal work that goes on behind the scenes. It’s a lawyers’ job to make sure that all the legal work is completed to the correct standard and that you are kept up to date on the purchase process. A lawyer also oversees the transfer of money and makes you aware of any information that could affect your decision to buy.
As this is a huge financial decision, making sure you’re comfortable with your legal representation is imperative. If you’re well prepared, you should have someone lined up before you start the buying process; that way all you need to do is instruct your lawyer when you put in an offer. Finding the right firm can seem overwhelming, so before we get into what lawyers do when buying a house, let’s clear something up.
What is the Difference Between Conveyancers and Solicitors?
If you’ve begun your search for a home, or you’re still in the process of thinking about it, you’ve probably heard the term conveyancing or conveyancer. In conveyancing, the terms solicitor and conveyancer are sometimes used interchangeably due to their roles being similar. However, there are some key differences.
Both conveyancers and solicitors are lawyers. The term lawyer is a general term for someone who provides a legal service. This means that anyone can call themselves a lawyer, even if they don’t have qualifications as such.
A licensed conveyancer undergoes rigorous training and are regulated by the Council for Licenced Conveyancers. They are highly trained and qualified to deal with all the legalities surrounding property law.
Solicitors, however, are a specific type of lawyer. They are trained in all areas of the law, can deal with a range of legal issues and must be part of The Law Society UK. Both solicitors and conveyancers can come under the umbrella of the term property lawyer.
You might be wondering whether you should instruct a solicitor or a conveyancer. This will usually depend on a few factors including the type of purchase, the complexity, and whether you’ll need other areas of expertise. If you have any specific questions surrounding this, contact us today and we’ll see how we can help.
What do Lawyers do When You’re Buying a House?
Understanding the differences between solicitors, property lawyers and conveyancers might help you to make the decision of which route to go down, but many people are left in the dark about what they do in the process of buying a house. This is because the process is complicated, hence why it’s necessary to hire one in the first place. Your lawyer will be responsible for many legal processes along the way which is why choosing someone you trust is important.
In saying that, it’s always good to have an overview of what goes on in the background, so let’s get into what lawyers do when you’re buying a house.
● Paperwork
As you can imagine, the buying and selling of a property includes a lot of paperwork. You will be filling out and signing some forms, but ensuring the paperwork is accurate is mostly the responsibility of your lawyer. Your lawyer will also request all the paperwork from the seller’s lawyer, and ensure the outlined information is legally sound.
Your lawyer will go through all the paperwork, making sure that you’re aware of any issues that may arise when it comes to buying and owning the property. Included in that paperwork is looking through the legal title, forms completed by the seller and the various searches, and keeping all parties up to date with any information they need to be aware of.
● Title Investigation
Land Registry/Title Searches are compulsory when property ownership is changing hands. Once the ownership has been changed, this must be registered with the Land Registry. The Land Registry search is a way to find out information about the previous owners of the property and information on any existing mortgages or charges. Along with this it includes things like the title plan, which will tell you the location of the property and where its boundaries end, giving you a view of the area of land you own.
● Raise Queries
When you’re making a huge investment like buying a house, you need to have as much information as possible. By gaining as much knowledge as you can about a property, you have the best chance of ensuring it’s the right place to put your money. When it comes to raising queries or enquiries, this could range from making changes to the contract or ascertaining rights of way and checking boundary responsibilities , to making further enquiries following the receipt of the search results. It’s a lot to take in, and sometimes the information that’s uncovered could make you think twice about your purchase.
You don’t want to be left in the dark. A lawyer will be working in the background, making sure they’re getting a full picture of the property and reporting to you on the pertinent points you need to be made aware of.
● Searches
When you’re buying a property, there’s a wealth of information about the land that the property sits on that you should be aware of. As part of the service, lawyers can request information from local authorities to give you a well-rounded view of the property. If you are buying with the aid of a mortgage, these are mandatory. There are three main searches that conveyancers typically do, but they may do more depending on the location and/or your lender’s request. The three main searches include:
– Local Authority Searches
The local authority searches include key information such as things like listed building status, planning history, road adoption and much more.
It will also include information on things that the new owner might be financially liable for in the future. Your conveyancer will review the results, as they know what to look for and what information could affect your purchase.
– Drainage search
When you’re buying a property, it’s important to be aware of any flood risks, leakage or damp that could be caused by the public waterways. It will also provide information on things like whether the property has a water meter, whether the water is connected to a public water supply or sewer and more.
– Environmental Search
Another important search that lawyers usually do is an environmental search. This will give you information about the environment around the house. An environmental search will include information about contaminated land, flood risks, ground stability or more. All these things can affect a new owner financially, pose health risks, or even affect the ability to get appropriate insurance.
Depending on your location, circumstances and preference, your lawyer might suggest conducting several other searches to make sure that you know what you’re getting into when purchasing the property. It is the lawyer’s job to make sure they go through everything make you aware of any potential issues.
Our team are specifically trained to take care of all of this so you can get on with everything else. Get in touch today and see how we can help you.
● Confirm Completion and Exchange Contracts
The exchange of contracts is one of the big milestones in the buying process. This is when the sale of the house is legally binding, making it much more difficult to pull out. This includes agreeing on a completion day, which is when the move will happen. It can be difficult to find an agreed day, especially if the seller needs the day to coincide with the day they are moving into a new property themselves. Your lawyer will liaise with you about a day that suits you and negotiate an agreed date with the seller.
● Completion Day
Completion day is when the ownership of the property is transferred to the buyer, money is paid, and the day you move house. If you’ve ever moved house before, you know how stressful it can be. With the packing, travel, and upheaval of changing homes, there’s barely time to think. On top of the logistics of moving, there’s also the legal work.
On the day of completion, lawyers will be doing several tasks, these include:
- Transferring money – Your lawyer will be responsible for transferring funds to the seller’s solicitor.
- Dating the paperwork to enable registration with HMLR
- After completion your lawyer will be registering ownership – They will also register any mortgage and change ownership of the house to the buyer on the Land Registry, once the paperwork is received from the seller’s solicitors.
How We Can Help
At PM Property Lawyers, we pride ourselves on exceptional service when it comes to buying a new home. We make sure everything on our end is being taken care of and keep you up to date during the entire process.
Whether you’re a first-time buyer, or you’ve done all this before, we can help. Get a quote today and let us take care of the legal work, so you can take care of everything else.
