Property Conveyancing

When you sell a property in the UK finding a buyer is just the start of the process. In order to actually transfer the ownership of the property we must embark on the legal procedure known as the conveyance. Conveyancing is the process of drawing up an agreement between the buyer and the seller (this is called the Contract) and then carrying out all the required formalities leading to the actual transfer of ownership which is achieved using either a "Conveyance" document or, more commonly nowadays, a "Land Registry Transfer" document.

The legal conveyancing process is a well established procedure which has remained largely unchanged in hundreds of years. The legal transfer of property, i.e., the conveyancing process has traditionally been in the domain of solicitors, but more recently licensed coveyancers have emerged who are not solicitors, but who have trained to carry out the process and specialise in just this one type of legal matter.

Because solicitors have been carrying out conveyancing for centuries many people think that it is impossible to buy or sell a house without consulting one. But this is not true. Whilst it is not allowed for someone who is not a solicitor or licensed conveyancer to charge to do conveyancing for other people, there is no law against and anyone carrying out a conveyance on their ownbehalf and indeed there is no practical reason for them not to. Becauae the process is just that; an established process which set steps to carry out and set things to do at each step, and there are standard forms which solicitors use for each step which are available to anyone wanting to do their own conveyancing, in all but the most complicated cases anyone can easily achieve this objective quite easily.

Of course, it is necessary to learn the steps of the procedure, but there are many very good books on the subject which can literally save you hundreds, if not thousands of pounds in the long run. Here are some good ones:

Do Your Own Conveyancing

House Buying, Selling and Conveyancing

A Practical Approach to Conveyancing

A practical Guide to Residential Conveyancing

As well as saving money by doing the conveyancing yourself, as you are in control of the situation, you also save yourself time and stress! No more worrying about whether anyone is actually doing something which should be done, and no more waiting for someone to come off the golf course! You control the pace, things can happen much more quickly and you will be fully aware of every aspect of the sale or purchase; quite often you can get "left in the dark" by a solicitor acting on your behalf who fails to contact you or keep you up to date with developments; indeed sometimes you find yourself chasing them to get things done. Remember that a solicitor or licensed conveyancer will likely b e dealing with many conveyances at the same time, whereas you will have just your own to concentrate on, meaning that overall you are likely to do the job more efficiently!

There will be cases when it is prudent to use a solicitor when the conveyance isn't straight forward, however, if you follow the advice of a good book on the subject you will know exactly when this is and isn't necessary.

Do Your Own Conveyancing

House Buying, Selling and Conveyancing

A Practical Approach to Conveyancing

A practical Guide to Residential Conveyancing

Doing your own conveyancing isn't difficult, however there will obviously always be some people who, for whatever reason, do not want to attempt it themselves. For those of you, if you are currently in the process of buying and/or selling a property and would like to find a good solicitor, please complete the form found here and you will be provided with three very competitive quotations.