Conveyancing When You Buy a House

What your conveyancer does when you buy

• Checks the legal title and the title plan at HM Land Registry, so you know exactly what you're buying and who owns it.
• Orders searches: usually local authority, drainage and water, and environmental searches, plus others depending on the area.
• Reviews the draft contract and the seller's property information forms, and raises enquiries with the seller's solicitor about anything unclear.
• Checks the lease, service charges and ground rent if the property is leasehold.
• Works with your mortgage lender, and usually acts for the lender as well as for you.
• Reports to you on what they've found before you commit.
• Exchanges contracts once you're ready, at which point the purchase becomes legally binding.
• Completes the purchase: sends the money to the seller's solicitor so you can collect the keys.
• Pays any Stamp Duty Land Tax (or Land Transaction Tax in Wales) on your behalf and files the return.
• Registers you as the new owner at HM Land Registry.

The stages of a purchase

Before any legal work starts, your conveyancer has to carry out a conflict check, verify your identity and the source of your money (anti-money-laundering rules require it), and send you their client care letter. Many firms also ask for money on account to pay for searches.

After that, the work follows a fairly standard order: you're instructed, searches are ordered, enquiries are raised and answered, contracts are exchanged, and the purchase completes. If you instruct a firm through Conveyancing Network, you can watch each of those stages tick off in your online portal and message your solicitor directly, rather than ringing for updates.

How long buying a house takes

Many purchases take roughly two to three months from an accepted offer to completion, but there's no fixed timetable. The things that most often slow a purchase down are a long chain, a leasehold property (the managing agent has to supply information), slow local authority searches, waiting for a mortgage offer, and a new-build property that isn't finished yet.

You can speed things up by instructing a conveyancer as soon as your offer is accepted, sending your ID and proof of funds promptly, and replying quickly to questions.

What buying a house costs in conveyancing

A conveyancing quote for a purchase is made up of two parts:

• The legal fee: what the firm charges for its own work.
• Disbursements: costs the firm pays to other people on your behalf, such as searches, the HM Land Registry fee, identity checks and bank transfer fees.

Stamp Duty Land Tax is separate. It's a tax paid to HMRC, not a conveyancing fee, and the amount depends on the price and your circumstances. Use GOV.UK's Stamp Duty calculator for the current rates.

Every quote on Conveyancing Network shows one all-in fixed fee: the firm's legal fee plus every third-party cost it lists, including VAT. Anything a quote doesn't include, such as Stamp Duty, is flagged before you choose. Our guide to what conveyancing costs goes into more detail.

Things that can add to the work

• A leasehold property, which needs the lease and management information checked.
• A new-build home, which involves the developer's documents and deadlines.
• A Lifetime ISA, where your conveyancer has to request the bonus from your ISA provider.
• A gifted deposit, which means extra checks on where the money came from.
• A property that has never been registered at HM Land Registry.

Some firms charge a supplement for these. On Conveyancing Network, the firm's supplements are built into the quote from what you tell us about the move, so the price you compare is the price you pay.

How to compare conveyancing quotes

• Compare the total, not the legal fee alone. A low headline fee with a long list of extras can cost more overall.
• Check it's a fixed fee, not an estimate that can rise.
• Check the firm is regulated by the SRA or the CLC.
• Make sure you'll be able to reach the person handling your case, not just a call centre.