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.
At the point of signing to remortgage with a different lender we were told that as part of the joint mortgage was to consolidate individual debts we would have to appoint a solicitor and provide the correct documentation to show we understand the implications of this. The initial quote for which was over £900. Having been together for 18 years, owning property together for over 13 and married for 8 whilst the debt may be on individual credit cards it is joint anyway. Is there any way around incurring these extra charges?
Not if your lender has specifically asked for this. The reason you are being asked to do this is because of a famous (in conveyancing circles) case of Royal Bank of Scotland PLC v Ettridge. In brief, Mr and Mrs Ettridge took a mortgage on the matrimonial home with RBS. The remortgage funds were invested in a business which Mr Ettridge owned but Mrs did not. When the business failed and RBS sought to repossess Mrs Ettridge argued that she should not be bound by the mortgage since she did not in any way benefit from it, that when she signed the mortgage deed she was under undue influence from her husband and it should have been obvious to RBS that the nature of the relationship between husband wife was likely to lead to undue influence. The court agreed and said that in future when lending money to two or more borrowers a bank had a duty to ensure that any borrower who did not directly benefit from the mortgage advance should be given independent legal advice.
Your situation is a little different of course in that reducing your household debts would in practice benefit you both. You should ask therefore if the lender has expressly requested this or whether your lender has decided it is necessary based on his professional judgement. If it is the former then you are stuck. If it is the latter then whilst I don't mean to question your lawyer's judgement it might be worth asking him/her to present the facts to your lender and ask for its instructions on whether it wants you to get the advice. If it is does then you'll have tyo but shop around as £900 seems steep and you could probably get it cheaper.