Looking to sell or buy property in the UK or Canada? Conveyancing is the term that should come to your mind first. In order to make a successful purchase or sale of a property, the ownership or title of the property needs to be transferred from the seller to the buyer. Conveyancing is the official term for this process.

What is conveyancing

Conveyancing is the process of transferring ownership of a property (house, land etc.) from one person to another. The process requires extensive paperwork and a minimum time of three months. The whole process needs to be supervised by solicitors. The process has three stages- the pre contract stage, the post contract stage and the post completion stage. In the pre-contract stage, the seller’s solicitor’s prepares a contract with details of both parties, prices and the seller’s title deeds. Meanwhile, the buyer’s solicitor will carry out various searches against the property such as drainage and mining search, environmental search, local authority search, land registry search and chancel repair liability search. When provided with the contract, the buyer’s solicitor must go through the documents meticulously and raise requisition with the solicitor for resolving the problems (if found) with the property. The next step is the signing of contracts. In the post contract stage, the buyer’s solicitor has to make a draft purchase deed which is later signed by both parties and send it to the seller’s solicitor and set up a mortgage loan to pay for the property. In the final step of this stage known as the completion, the seller’s solicitor receives the money from the buyer and sends the deeds to the buyer’s solicitor. In the post contract stage, the buyer’s solicitor needs to pay the land taxes due on the property and apply for land registrartion.

Coneyancing costs

If you hire a solicitor to carry out all the tasks related with conveyacing, these are the types of costs you will face-

1. Solicitor’s fees- Logically, if you hire a solicitor you have to pay them. Solicitors have fixed fee rates and you have to pay them accordingly. Solicitors will charge you additional money for carrying out all the relevant searches.
2. Search fees- The searches won’t cost you much but this is a cost that you can avoid by no means
3. Mortgage fees- If you’re buying the property with mortgage loans, you will have to pay the lender a fixed amount for lending you the money.
4. Stamp duty land tax- It is paid to the government and is calculated on the value of the property.
5. Land registration fees- You will have to pay land registration fees to the Land Registry for registering the property in your name.
6. Telegraphic transfer fees- These are the fees you pay to the bank for making monetary transactions.
7. VAT- It is payable on the solicitor’s fees at a rate that changes with time.
8. Hidden costs- Hidden costs are often given the name of disbursements. Check with your solicitors and read the documents submitted by your service provider carefully so that you don’t end up paying what is not required.

Compare conveyancing quotes

You should never forget about getting quotations online before contacting a solicitor. There are practically thousands of websites that provide you with the golden opportunity of getting quotes instantly and that too free of cost. Once you get the quotes, you will get an idea of what you’re getting into. CompareConveyancers.com is one such website where you can get affordable and competitive quotes for coneveyancing costs that you will come across at different stages of conveyancing.

Find a good solicitor/conveyancer

Finding a good solicitor will ensure quality service, fewer expenses and most importantly the successful completion of the job i.e. conveyancing. You can hire solicitors on different websites. You can also ask your family and friends and even the local agents. Whichever way you take for hiring a solicitor, these are the things you should consider before you actually make the leap-

1. Costs
2. Qualification and experience
3. Locality