Whether you're a layman looking to understand your own transaction or a lawyer needing assistance with a client's conveyancing our step by step sale and purchase guides will lead you through the process while our mini guides will break the whole thing into manageable chunks and give a deep insight into the key issues and stages. Leasehold, freehold, unregistered, registered – we've got it all covered.
Need help with a remortgage or transfer of equity / deed of gift? Our guides will walk you through the process and highlight some of the common pitfalls. Mortgages and transfers can be very simple procedures but complex issues can sometimes arise and mistakes are easily made. These guides will help you deal with them.
So you want to have a go at your own conveyancing? First you should read about the risks, then if you're still happy to proceed, our guides will take you through each stage of the process telling you what to look out for and helping you avoid falling into expensive traps. Our subscription service will give you access to all of the documents you should need for your conveyancing and we can even supply you with the Land Registry Official Copies you'll need. Our general guides will cover all the obstacles you are likely to face and offer a practical solution. Have a look at our sale and purchase guides too.
A big part of the conveyancing process is the conveyancing searches. This section tells you all about them. What they are, how and when to order them and how to interpret the results. Each search has its own guide and you'll see they are separated into Standard (should be done in every case), Regional (area specific) and Optional (not essential but often useful tools for the would be purchaser). All buyers should beware that when you buy a property, the law assumes that you have seen the information that would have been revealed by searches whether or not you have actually carried them out, so you buy the property subject to the results.
Using a conveyancer to handle your conveyancing will greatly reduce the risk to you and sometimes, particularly if you are taking out a new mortgage, you will have no choice but to instruct a conveyancer. The good news is it doesn't have to break the bank. Get a free, instant quote here. We can also help with quick easy quotes for other moving related services.
Are you looking for the documents you'll need for your conveyancing transaction? Or official copies of the title or other documents from Land Registry. We can help you. Follow the links below.
I'm going to be buying a second home with my partner and we've just found out about the additional 3% stamp duty on second jones applied to the WHOLE purchase price. I'm only going to own a 20% share which comes in at £32k. I've read that it doesn't apply to purchases under £40k but can't get clarity on whether that's the property value or my share. Can someone help?
Sorry, that should say second HOMES!
If the consideration paid for the transaction as a whole (irrespective of individual contributions) is £40,000 or more than the higher rate applies to whole purchase price. If you both only own one other property and each individual share is worth less than £40,000 then you shouldn't pay the higher rate on your new purchase. That's because according to s128 (3) 3 (4) of the Finance Act 2016 an existing dwelling is only taken into consideration if "(a)the purchaser has a major interest in a dwelling other than the purchased dwelling and (b)that interest has a market value of £40,000 or more" This test is to be applied to each purchaser of the new dwelling individually. So for example if you jointly own one property worth less than £80,000 then neither of you have an interest in another dwelling worth £40,000 or more. If you have multiple dwellings each worth less than £80,000 then it's a grey area as it's unclear what the position would be if the aggregate value of your interests in other dwellings was more than £40,000 but no single interest was worth more than £40,000.
One possible loophole (though I don't recommend trying it without getting specialist advice from a tax lawyer and it does create other risks) where you owned a property jointly with someone else and wanted to buy a second home would be to enter into a trust arrangement which said you hold the existing property in unequal shares so as to reduce the value of your interest below £40,000. For example so you own a property worth £200,000, you could agree that you were entitled to 19% of the equity and the joint owner the other 81%. You could then buy the second home in your sole name. This wouldn't work however if you were married or in a civil partnership with the joint owner of your current property.