Conveyancing is a complicated practice, and there’s a lot of nitty gritty aspects of it that regular people don’t have any clue. It is recommended to consider a professional solicitor or licensed conveyancers’ assistance in the process. However, if you have an itch for learning the conveyancing game, it is legal to take up the conveyancing process yourself. The most important thing to keep in mind is there are many risks associated, and you need to be very thorough every step of the way. However, one can find help through many conveyancing support sites and forums online. You can also get DIY conveyancing kit to assist you through the conveyancing steps. It might be slow, but you get the benefit of feeling satisfied with your ability to handle a difficult process.

DIY Conveyancing Kit is available for both buy and sell side of conveyancing. The instructions help you with all the forms you have to deal with during the conveyancing process. If you are selling, you will have to deal with property information form, fixtures, fittings and contents form, and ID1 form. The buyer does not need deal with many forms until the contracts are signed. This article provides the basic outline of every DIY conveyancing kit and assumes you are buying a freehold property without a mortgage as a cash purchase.

As necessary steps for conveyancing, you are going to have to analyse draft contract, perform appropriate surveys on the property, exchange the contract, and go through with the completion. You will have to deal with the sellers’ conveyancer, but do not let them take advantage of your naivety.

Analysing the draft contract

The first step is sending the seller an offer. When the seller accepts an offer, their solicitor will draw up a draft contract containing all the terms of the transaction. The contract deals with the legality of conveyancing and enables legally transferring the property. As a DIY venture, it is upon you to make sure everything is correct. This is the part that requires the knowledge of conveyancing jargon and basics of property law. It is also your responsibility to confirm the validity of the title with the local authority search.

Performing searches

Once you have accepted the draft contracts, you have to conduct relevant searches on the property. It is up to you to decide on these searches. You can avoid them to save some money but if you miss an important aspect, you are stuck with it. You will have to deal with any necessary improvement, repairs and maintenance for problems you missed. You can find the details on applications for searches on the council’s office or their website. You can ask the seller for more information or documents regarding the property to investigate what searches you require.

Exchanging contracts and completion

After all your queries are cleared and satisfied, you can arrange a date to exchange the contract and completion date. You will need to provide a deposit which is usually 10% of the price. The sellers’ lawyer holds it until completion. On the completion date, the payment is completed, and then you get a key and title deed of the property. This day marks the first day of the ownership of your new property.

After completion, you need to pay the necessary taxes like Stamp duty to complete the transfer of the property to your name.

The conveyancing process is not all complicated if the both sides are honest and you follow due procedure. However, that is based on assumption and might land you in troubled waters without proper research and understanding of the process. If you have followed through on conveyancing for a few friends of relatives before, this might be a safe bet. As a first time buyer, it is considered a safe approach an experienced solicitor for help.