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 Making your home your own September 2004 Conveyancing seems to take forever but is an essential part of the homebuying process. Kathleen Hennessy explains the process and looks at why it is so important Buying a property throws up all sorts of variables – first-time buyers, cash buyers, mortgage borrowers, owners in common – but the one factor consistent to every property transaction is the conveyancing process. That’s because convey-ancing is the legal transfer of title (or property ownership) from one name into another, so you can’t legally own a property without it. Describing it in this way makes it sound very simple, like crossing out one name on a document and writing on another. But there’s a lot more to it than that. What’s involved? Conveyancing kicks off once an offer for a property is accepted, when the buyer and vendor exchange solicitors’ details. What your solicitor then does is check into the property’s background, starting with the most important detail of all: ensuring the vendor is the legal owner of the property he or she is selling. This is verified through a Land Registry search, which lists the legal owners of all registered property and land in the UK. The solicitor also makes other local searches, which check for other issues that might affect your purchase of the property, such as whether any major building works are planned in the surrounding area (local au-thority search), or the property is built on a toxic-waste dump (environmental search). These searches also ascertain whether the property is in a conservation area – which might restrict any future building works you want to undertake. The point of all these searches is to ensure the property you buy has no hidden nasties that wouldn’t otherwise be visible – not even the most gifted property surveyor will be able to spot a planned motorway-widening three years down the road, after all. The solicitor also checks the sale contract to ensure that all the agreed terms of sale – price, whether any contents are included in the sale, vendor’s identity, completion date – are as agreed between you and the vendor. For leasehold properties, the solicitor additionally checks the leasehold contract and any existing agreements between the leasehold vendor and the freehold landlord, such as ground rent and insurance arrangements. Who’s involved? Most people tend to use a solicitor for conveyancing, if only because that’s what all their friends and family have done previously. Michael Thompson of the Law Society says: “We would suggest you get a personal recommendation from a friend, relative or colleague – that’s the best way to find somebody good.” The other alternative is to use a licensed conveyancer. These are qualified specialist property lawyers who have to pass a series of exams – covering conveyancing practice, contract law, land law, book-keeping/accounting, and landlord and tenant issues – set by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) in order to obtain a licence. There are almost 900 of them throughout England and Wales; the CLC doesn’t regulate Scotland. You can find a local licensed conveyancer through the CLC website at www.conveyancer.org.uk. You can do your own conveyancing, though you should be prepared for a lot of work. “You don’t need any special qualifications,” explains Thompson. “You’d need to read up on the process so you knew what you were doing, but there’s no law against it. However, it’s time-consuming rather than difficult, so you might end up delaying the transaction.” Which? has just published Do Your Own Conveyancing: a step-by-step guide for buyers in England and Wales. The book covers all aspects of the process, explains all the legal jargon and provides illustrations of any forms needed. Copies are available on 0800 252100 or can be ordered from www.which.net, for £11.99 each. How much does it cost? The actual costs depend on several factors, which in turn affect the amount of work involved for the solicitor: the location of the property, whether it is listed or in a conservation area, the property value, and so on. Thompson suggests getting three written, no-obligation quotes for the work. “And if you use a solicitor, he or she is under a professional duty of care and so will have to inform you if those costs are going to be higher than the quote, and why,” he adds. A recent report from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister suggests the average cost of conveyancing (excluding stamp duty) is £560 in England and Wales, and £595 in Scotland . How long does it take? Ask any property owner and he or she is bound to say: too long. Again, the process is affected by lots of variables – the property chain, everyone’s mortgage arrange-ments, the health of the housing market – so it could take anywhere from three weeks to six months. “In a buoyant market people are more inclined to want to move quickly, and that can speed things up,” notes Thompson. “Electronic conveyancing (see below) is also speeding things up a lot these days; previously, everything was done in writing and sent by post, which could stretch proceedings out considerably. With more and more business being done online, things are getting faster.”
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