Don’t Just Buy It, Own It! 3 Critical Things Property Buyers Should Know About Conveyancing

It feels great when buying your first property, especially when your offer gets accepted. However, the legal process that follows–conveyancing–might not seem exciting to some first-time property buyers. Conveyancing involves transferring property ownership and the relevant documents to the buyer. Whether you are being involved in property conveyancing for the first time or not, you need to understand certain things about the process:

Experts to Work With

Conveyancing transactions can be complicated sometimes, especially if you don't closely work with the right professionals. To avoid this, you need to work with a competent solicitor or certified conveyancer. If a legal issue occurs during conveyancing, the solicitor may not resolve it if they don't understand various conveyancing complexities and how they should be addressed. However, working with a licensed conveyancer would be better because they specialise in conveyancing law, and they are mainly approved by the council that regulates licensed conveyancers.

Solicitor Involvement

The main role of a qualified solicitor in the conveyancing process is to oversee the entire process. Besides handling all critical paperwork and guiding you through the process, a solicitor approaches the relevant authorities and handles whatever needs to be handled on your behalf. A competent solicitor will draw up contracts and help you understand the property searches that need to be done.

They will also handle everything the land registration authorities expect you to do and organise how the funds would be transferred to the property seller. Since you won't avoid some costs, such as Stamp Duty fees, the solicitor will organise the payment to ensure nothing hinders the conveyancing process from being completed.

Conveyancing Terms Used

The terms used during conveyancing aren't what you often hear elsewhere. Some conveyancing terms will confuse you, and you may not understand what they mean if you don't have a professional conveyancer to explain their meaning. For instance, your solicitor will payout some costs for you, expecting you to refund it later. Such costs include land taxes and stamp duty, and they are termed as "disbursements."

Secondly, conveyancing won't proceed without a legal document indicating property details. Without the legal document—Transfer Deed—the seller won't be able to transfer property ownership to the buyer. Other terms involved during conveyancing include property searches, leasehold, land registry, equity, completion and exchange of contracts.

What you don't know can ruin you in a big way. For this reason, you shouldn't get into any conveyancing process before you understand it and what's involved. You need to know when an experienced conveyancer should come in and how long the conveyancing process would take. If you don't seek to know what you expect during conveyancing, you may not know when the hidden costs arise and how to avoid or deal with them.


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