Conveyancing is the legal process of transferring ownership of a property from one person to another.
Whether you’re selling or buying a home, you need a conveyancing solicitor or licensed conveyancer to act for you and ensure the necessary legal work is completed.
The process takes around eight to 12 weeks on average.
Let's go through the timeline of what's involved.
The conveyancing process for selling a home
1. Choosing a conveyancer (1 week)
It’s a good idea to look for a conveyancer as soon as you decide to sell your home, so you can find the right one for you.
You can hire a conveyancer before you accept an offer on your property, so the process can begin as soon as you do.
Read our guide to how to choose a conveyancer or solicitor.
Find out more about what conveyancing is in our guide.
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2. Instructing your conveyancer (1-2 weeks)
While you can wait until you’ve accepted an offer to formally instruct your conveyancer, it’s best to do it when you put your home on the market.
This means you can complete the initial paperwork before you even have a buyer.
The conveyancer sends you a letter of engagement to sign and return plus their terms of business and charges.
In return, you send them your identification documents and proof of address, plus any charges payable upfront.
3. Providing the initial documents (1-2 weeks)
You'll need to complete:
the fittings and contents form
property information form
building regulations forms for any building work you’ve had done
If the property is leasehold, you'll also need to complete:
the leasehold information form
provide a copy of your lease
and the management information pack from the freeholder or managing agent
Find out more about how to sell a leasehold property
4. Obtaining the deeds and preparing the contract (1-2 weeks)
Your conveyancer obtains copies of the title deeds of the property from the Land Registry, proving that you are the legal owner, and the details of any mortgage outstanding on it.
Once you’ve accepted an offer on your property, they draft the contract of sale.
They'll send the contract pack, which includes the draft contract, forms, documents and title deeds, to your buyer’s conveyancer.
Thinking of selling?
Get the ball rolling with an in-person valuation of your home. It’s free and there’s no obligation to sell if you change your mind.
5. Answering pre-contract enquiries (1-6 weeks)
Your conveyancer answers any enquiries from the buyer’s conveyancer.
These can be questions about the contract pack or searches that they've conducted on the property, such as local authority and environmental searches.
Find out more in our guide: what searches are done when buying a house?
There may also be issues that came up in the buyer's survey, which may mean they'll want to renegotiate the purchase price or ask for repairs to be carried out before agreeing to the purchase.
6. Exchanging contracts (1 week)
Once the buyer and their conveyancer are happy with all the information they’ve received, any issues have been resolved and the buyer has received their mortgage offer, the contracts are finalised, signed and ‘exchanged’ by the conveyancers.
This is usually done over the phone and your conveyancer also receives the buyer’s deposit at this point.
The transaction is now legally binding on both parties and the completion date is set.
You'll typically need to move out on that date by 1pm.
If you’re involved in a property chain, everyone in it has to be ready to proceed before the contracts can be exchanged.
7. Completion (1-2 weeks)
Your conveyancer checks over the transfer deed drafted and sent by your buyer’s conveyancer. This transfers the ownership from you to the buyer. The conveyancer then sends it to you to sign.
On completion day, which is usually one or two weeks after exchange, your conveyancer receives the outstanding balance from the buyer’s conveyancer. They then arrange for the keys to be released to the buyer. This is usually done through your estate agent if you used one.
Finally, your conveyancer sends the title and transfer deeds to the buyer’s conveyancer and uses the money from the sale to pay off any outstanding mortgage and pay the estate agent’s fees.
They'll then deduct any money you owe them for conveyancing costs and transfer the remainder to you.
Conveyancing process for buying a home
When you’re buying a property, your conveyancer is the one carrying out searches and making enquiries about the property to protect your interests.
As when selling, the first stage of the process is to choose and instruct a conveyancer. However, if you’re buying and selling at the same time you usually use the same one for both.
Once your conveyancer has requested and received the contract pack from the seller’s conveyancer, searches and survey results, they raise any enquiries with them. They also get a copy of your mortgage offer if you’re buying with a mortgage.
After receiving answers to the enquiries from the seller’s conveyancer, your conveyancer sends you a report on the property. You may then have further queries.
Find out more in how does a solicitor help you to buy a house?
Exchange and completion
When you’re happy to proceed, you sign the contract, agree a completion date and send your deposit to your conveyancer. The contracts are then exchanged.
On completion day, your conveyancer sends the remaining balance, which could come from you, the sale of your existing property, your mortgage or a combination of these, to the seller’s solicitor. You can then get the keys and move in.
Conveyancing requires legal expertise so you should always use a professional when you’re selling or buying a home.
Find out why in our guide to the dangers of DIY conveyancing.
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