UK PROPERTY CONVEYANCING ONLINE

Our solicitors are based out of London and can keep overheads low allowing them to give extremely competitive quotes whilst still ensuring that your legal work is carried out by an experienced conveyancing solicitor. Property conveyancing online is no longer the future and our solicitors can deal with all property transactions using the post, phone, fax and email. The Land Registry has announced that they anticipate e-conveyancing will be available throughout the country by 2010.

Buying property is considerably more complicated than selling property as the buyer has to be sure that the person who is selling actually owns the property and is entitled to sell. The buyer also has to be sure that there are no unacceptable covenants restricting the use of the property. Notwithstanding the complexities of acting for a buyer our solicitors are able to deal with all property conveyancing online without the need for a clients attendance at a solicitor's office. The seller of property is not at all concerned with these issues as the only important matter to him is to transfer the sale proceeds into his bank account as soon as possible.

The first thing that the buyer's solicitor does is to instigate Local Authority searches. The main points revealed by a Local Authority search include the following :-

• are the roads leading to the house maintained at public cost
• is there an outstanding property improvement grant loan
• is the property compliant with planning control
• are there any plans to build roads in the immediate vicinity
• is the property situated in any type of conservation area

Before exchanging contracts the solicitor may advise the prospective buyer to have a survey carried out by a chartered surveyor or a civil engineer, particularly for older property, to ensure that the structure of the property is adequate. In addition it may also advisable to do other searches including :-

• drainage search
• environmental search
• mining search

The prospective purchaser can withdraw from the transaction at any time prior to exchange of contracts without any penalty. Only when the buyer is satisfied that he wants to proceed with the purchase and the finances to complete the transaction are in place will the solicitor move to deal with the property conveyancing online.

The seller must also, prior to exchange of contracts, provide information to the buyer by answering a questionnaire about boundaries, guarantees, disputes and fixtures and fittings

The contract for sale is drawn up by the seller’s solicitor and one copy is signed by the seller and one copy is signed by the buyer which are then exchanged with the buyer usually paying a 10% deposit. At this point both parties are committed to completion of the sale to transfer title from the seller to the buyer.

Once contracts are exchanged the buyer's solicitor prepares the documentation to formally transfer the property from the seller to the buyer and upon payment of the balance money outstanding the property transaction is completed and is subsequently registered in the name of the new owner at the Land Registry.