Residential conveyancing

This section applies to your sale or purchase, or re-mortgage, of a residential property located in the UK.

Our experienced Residential Conveyancing team has the know-how and technical capability to provide a fast and effective response. The team wins and retains valued clients through commitment, dedication and an unrivalled personal service which is tailored to the needs of the individual client.

We have set out below the fees that we would typically charge for handling your transaction:

Freehold properties

*If we also act for your mortgage lender on your purchase
** If the property that you are buying is newly-built
***If details of the property do not appear at the Land Registry, but must be extracted from historic documents
****When we submit a form in order to pay stamp duty land tax
*****Whenever we transfer funds on your behalf, for example to complete your purchase

Leasehold properties

If you are buying a leasehold interest, you may either be taking a “grant” (if there is currently no lease in place) or an “assignment” (if the lease already exists). If you are selling, you will be assigning (in other words, transferring) your existing interest. Our price will depend on the amount that you will be paying or expecting to receive.

See table above for explanation of terminology used

Mortgages and re-mortgages

Transfers of Equity

Please note that the fees stated above are indicative of a typical transaction, and may vary depending on the circumstances of your transaction.

Why might our fee vary?

Factors that may result in a change from the fee indicated above include:

• Where the complexity of the title requires additional investigation, re-drafting of deeds or reporting to interested parties so as to ensure that the property is good and marketable and/or we are able to give a clear Certificate of Title to a proposed mortgage lender
• Where the mortgage lender instructs its own solicitors and we are required to attend to additional enquiries raised by that firm
• Where we are required to expedite matters.

Before you commit to paying, we will explain to you any variance from the indicative fee if this is apparent from the outset. We will also keep you updated at all times if any of these, or other, factors are likely to result in an increase in our fee.

What other costs may arise?

You may have to pay certain expenses, taxes and other costs, in addition to those set out above. To the extent that such costs relate to amounts that we must pay to third parties, they are known as “disbursements”. The costs and expenses most likely to arise are as follows:

Sale

Purchase

Timescale and key stages of the process

These are the key stages of the conveyancing process in a sale:

1. Taking your instructions
2. Obtaining details from your mortgage lender
3. Completion by you of Property Information Forms
4. Obtaining a copy of the registered title from the Land Registry
5. Sending draft contract and supporting documents to the buyers’ conveyancer
6. Responding to enquiries
7. Agreeing a completion date and exchanging contracts
8. Completion.

These are the key stages of the conveyancing process in a purchase:

1. Taking your instructions
2. Receiving a draft contract and supporting documents
3. Receiving a mortgage offer
4. Carrying out searches and title investigation
5. Preparing a property report for you
6. Executing documents and provision by you of a deposit
7. Agreeing completion date and exchanging contracts
8. Completion.

A transaction of this sort will typically take 8-10 weeks to complete, but this may vary. Typical factors which may influence the duration include:

1. If the property is leasehold and/or additional enquiries need to be raised of third parties
2. If the property has not previously been registered at the Land Registry
3. Where the title is found to be defective and not acceptable for lending purposes in its current state.

If you wish to re-mortgage your property, the key stages are:

1. Taking your instructions
2. Carrying out searches and title investigation
3. Receiving a mortgage offer
4. Executing documents
5. Agreeing completion date and requesting mortgage funds
6. Completion.

A re-mortgaging transaction will typically take 6-8 weeks to complete, but this may vary. Typical factors which may influence the duration include:

1. If the property is leasehold and/or additional enquiries need to be raised of third parties
2. If the property has not previously been registered at the Land Registry
3. Where the title is found to be defective and not acceptable for lending purposes in its current state.

Whatever your transaction, we will keep you updated at all times if any of these, or other, factors are likely to result in delay.

Who will be dealing with your transaction?

The transaction will typically be handled by a fee-earner who is a solicitor, legal executive or experienced residential conveyancer in our Real Estate team, supported as necessary by our trainees/paralegals. A solicitor acting for you may be described in correspondence as a “Partner”, a “Principal Associate”, an “Associate” or a “Solicitor”. An Associate is, generally, more experienced than a Solicitor, but not as experienced as a Principal Associate. Our trainees/paralegals are not (yet) solicitors, and usually have no other formal legal qualification.

We will always ensure that the fee-earner acting for you has the requisite level of experience to handle your transaction competently. In any event, all work will be supervised by a Partner, being the most senior member of the team allocated to you.

Once you know who will be in the team allocated to your transaction, you will be able to find out more information about the team by visiting the Residential Conveyancing section on our website.

If you have any queries, please contact Anthony Howarth in the first instance, at anthony.howarth@weightmans.com.