Buying A House Or Property Solicitors

Services in: Buying A Property

Buying a house for the first time, moving home or adding a property to your portfolio can all be equally stressful and exciting. It’s a big move with huge financial consequences, and you need to know that you have an experienced solicitor working for you, properly handling all the legal issues.

Our conveyancing experts have helped thousands of people buying a new home. We’re with you every step of the way, from pre-contract right through to completion and it’s our job to make the whole process as smooth as possible. We’ve supported our clients buying everything from rural, urban, leasehold, freehold and new builds to listed properties, and we can make that experience work for you.

We’re also a full service law firm, meaning that our conveyancing specialists can access other expert teams across the firm like Real Estate, Tax and Trusts to make sure that, whatever you need, we can help.

To speak to one of our expert property solicitors, you can either call us on 0330 123 0068 or fill in our contact form and we will call you back.

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Helen Hutchison Partner & Chartered Legal Executive Meet The Team

Conveyancing Fees Calculator

Our handy online conveyancing calculator will give you an instant quote for our legal fees and an estimate of the other fees you’ll need to pay. Just enter the value of the property you're buying to get started.

Please note: the quote provided is for individual purchasers only. If you are buying in the name of a company, please call us for a quotation.

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Buying A Property - More Information

The Conveyancing team was absolutely brilliant: professional, knowledgeable, and courteous throughout. I can't fault the service I received."

Mrs M, Client

Frequently Asked Questions

What's The Legal Process For Buying A Property?

Regardless of whether you’re buying your next home or adding to your portfolio, the process for buying property is exactly the same from a legal point of view. Once you’ve made an offer and had it accepted, your next step should then be to instruct a solicitor.

Pre-Exchange

We will carry out all the due diligence to give you a full picture of the property before you legally commit yourself to the purchase. We will request contract papers for the transaction and undertake surveys, searches and enquiries on the property. This is also the time to make sure that all finances are arranged.

We will send you all the information once it’s ready and we’ll ask you to sign the contract if you are happy with the details. You will need to send us the agreed deposit at this stage (usually 10% of the purchase price).

You will also need to agree a completion date with the seller. This is when payment must be made and you will legally become the new owner of the property.

Exchange of Contracts

The transaction becomes legally binding when buyer and seller exchange contracts. Once the exchange has been made, you will be committed to completing the transaction on the date agreed.

Between exchange and completion we will send you a completion statement, showing the total payment we will require in order to complete the transaction. We will also request your mortgage advance (if any) from your lender.

Completion

On the agreed completion date, we will send the funds to the seller’s solicitor. When the seller’s solicitor has received them and the seller has vacated the property, the keys will be released to you by the estate agents. We will then attend to any post-completion registration formalities such as the payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax and the registration at the Land Registry.

Download our Home Buyer's Guide for more information on the process for buying a home.

What Is Stamp Duty Land Tax And How Much Do I Have To Pay?

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is a tax payable to HM Revenue and Customs in certain property transactions. SDLT is payable on increasing portions of the property price above £125,000.

From 22nd November 2017, if you are a first time buyer and you are buying a property for £300,000 or less in England or Wales, you will not need to pay Stamp Duty. If the property price is between £300,000 and £500,000, you will only pay stamp duty on the amount between £300,001 and £500,000, at a rate of 5%.

Since April 2016, an additional 3% liability must be paid on top of standard rates for second homes. It is payable on completion of the purchase and we will include the amount payable in our completion statement.

In Scotland, Stamp Duty Land Tax is known as the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax but, in practice, very little has changed other than the thresholds it uses are at different rates. Read more about the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax on our Conveyancing in Scotland page.

To help you work out how much Stamp Duty Land Tax you need to pay, the government have set up an online calculator which you can access here.

See our Stamp Duty Land Tax guide for more information.

What Is A Property Chain And What Happens If It Breaks?

A chain happens when your purchase has to be financed from the sale of your current home. This means that the transactions must be organised to complete on the same day so that you aren’t left with either two houses or none.

Chains of transactions can be long or short. The buyer of your current home or the seller of your new home might also have their own transactions to organise on the same day – this means several separate transactions all get chained together.

This is entirely normal.

Since each person in the chain will want to exchange contracts simultaneously there can often be a frustrating delay if one person isn’t ready to proceed. It is a common misconception that solicitors are to blame for these delays but there is usually a reasonable explanation. For example, one person in the chain might not have received their mortgage offer or is waiting for the result of a search.

Although chains are common, they can cause problems for everyone involved. For example, if one person withdraws from their transaction due to a survey or legal issue, then the chain breaks and neither transaction can complete.

Situations like this can be resolved. One person in the chain might agree to go into rented accommodation instead of proceeding with their purchase so that the rest of the chain stays intact. Whether or not a chain can be salvaged largely depends on where the break in the chain happens and whether people in the chain are able to adapt to it.

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Buying A House Or Property Solicitors

Conveyancing Fees Calculator

Buying A Property - More Information

Why Do I Need Legal Assistance To Help Me Buy A Property?

What costs are involved with buying a property?

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