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 have previously asked if an LA Search is compulsory to which you replied that it is not, although strongly advised.
I now read in your Purchase Conveyancing Guide that an OS1 (valid for 6 weeks) must be valid when the application for registration is submitted to the Land Registry. Does this not make an OS1 mandatory or will the Land Registry accept an application for registration without an OS1?
The OS1 is something completely different to the Local Authority search. It is not compulsory - the land registry will accept your AP1 whether or not you have done the search - the point of it is that once done, noone can register anything against the seller's title other than you until the search expires. To give you an example, you could complete the purchase and pay the money to the seller who could then sell the property at the same time to someone else. If the other buyer got his application in to Land Registry first (or did the search) then he would not be bound by your interest. The seller would of course have committed fraud and you could prosecute and possibly get your money back (assuming he doesn't do a runner to South America!) but unless you could prove the other buyer was a party to the fraud you wouldn't get the property.
Another less extreme but no less problematic scenario would be where the seller had bad debts and one of his creditors got a charging order from the court which was registered against the property. If you have not protected yourself with an OS1 you could end up having to pay the debt off in order to register yourself as the owner of the property.