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Find answers to some of the most asked questions:

Conveyancing is one of the most time consuming aspects of any home move. We understand the pressured timescales involved in property transactions and we do all we can to progress the transaction as quickly as possible. At the current time, there is unprecedented demand in the marketplace and conveyancers are dealing with large workloads. As a result, transactions are taking longer to process and it is vital that all parties involved maintain a close eye on matters throughout the course of the transaction to resolve issues that arise in a timely manner. At the present moment, it is common for Freehold sales to take in excess of 12 weeks and Leasehold sales to take longer than 16 weeks.

If you are buying a property, our conveyancing service will usually ask you to cover the cost of the search fees that will be paid out on your behalf. The balance of the conveyancer’s cost, as well as any additional charges, will be payable shortly before completion of the deal.

If you are selling then you should not need to pay any money in advance. The costs and agent fees will be paid out from the sale proceeds on completion before any balance is sent to you.

If you are obtaining a mortgage, a valuer will inspect the property on behalf of the lender and carry out a mortgage valuation. Although their report should give you an indication as to whether they think the property is worth the amount that you have asked to borrow, it won’t survey the property in particular depth to identify issues. For an additional fee, you will usually be offered the option to arrange for the same valuer to carry out a more detailed ‘Home Buyers Report’. This can be relied on if, at some later date, you discover a problem not mentioned in the report that you wish to take up with the valuer.

If the property is quite old and you are particularly concerned with its condition, you can always obtain a full structural report which is much more detailed.

If you have any questions regarding the legal aspect of moving, we recommend speaking to your conveyancer. However, your agent will also be aware of how the sale or purchase is proceeding and should be able to cover any general queries you have.

The buyer can collect the keys once the money has been transferred to the bank of the seller and these can be picked up, usually, from the estate agent.

Although your conveyancer will always try to ensure that everything is finalised as early as possible on the day of completion, there can sometimes be a delay if, for example, your conveyancer is still waiting for the mortgage monies to arrive or there is a particularly long chain. If this happens, please don’t panic or become upset because your conveyancer will invariably resolve the problem by early afternoon – if not sooner!

If for any reason the mortgage offer is declined or delayed or it contains any conditions that you cannot comply with, the money may not be available when required so it would be extremely dangerous to exchange contracts without it and conveyancers would strongly advise you not to do so.

Unless the building insurance is being arranged by your lender or it is a leasehold property and the insurance is dealt with by the freeholder, you must arrange buildings insurance from exchange of contracts as the property will be at your risk from that time. The amount of cover should be the estimated cost of re-building the property, which is not necessarily the same as the current market value. If you had a survey or you are obtaining a mortgage, your surveyor or the lender’s valuer will usually have suggested a minimum amount of cover in their report.

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You usually pay Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) on increasing portions of the property price when you buy residential property. SDLT only applies to properties over £250,000. There are three rates of stamp duty for residential property, with a standard rate for people who own one property, a surcharge for those who own multiple properties and a relief element for first time buyers.

For more information visit the .Gov website HERE