Conveyancing for First-Time Buyers

The steps, in plain English

• Instruct a conveyancer once your offer is accepted, or before.
• Prove who you are and where your deposit is coming from. Anti-money-laundering rules require this.
• Your conveyancer checks the title, orders searches and asks the seller's solicitor questions.
• Your mortgage offer is issued, and your conveyancer checks the lender's conditions are met.
• You receive a report on the property and sign the contract and mortgage deed.
• Contracts are exchanged and the purchase becomes binding. A completion date is fixed.
• On completion day the money is sent, and you collect the keys.
• Your conveyancer pays any Stamp Duty and registers you as the owner.

Stamp Duty for first-time buyers

In England and Northern Ireland, first-time buyers can get relief that reduces or removes Stamp Duty Land Tax, up to a price limit. The thresholds have changed several times in recent years, so check GOV.UK's Stamp Duty calculator for the current figures rather than relying on an older article.

Wales has its own tax, Land Transaction Tax, with its own rates and no separate first-time buyer relief at the time of writing. Your conveyancer will work out what's due and pay it for you.

Using a Lifetime ISA

If you're using a Lifetime ISA (LISA) towards your first home, your conveyancer has to request the money from your ISA provider, which then pays it to the conveyancer, not to you, before completion. The government sets rules on the property price, how long the account has been open and how the money is used, so check GOV.UK's Lifetime ISA guidance for the current conditions. Allow plenty of time, because providers can take a while to release the funds.

Some firms charge a small fee for handling a LISA. On Conveyancing Network the quote wizard asks whether you have one, and a firm's LISA fee is shown as a line in its quote when it applies, so there are no surprises.

Gifted deposits

If family are helping with your deposit, your conveyancer will need a gifted deposit declaration and will check the identity of the person giving the money and where it came from. That's normal, and required by the rules, but it can take time, so tell your conveyancer about a gift at the start.

A survey isn't part of conveyancing

Conveyancing deals with the legal side. The physical condition of the property is checked by a survey from a RICS surveyor, which you arrange and pay for separately. Your lender's valuation is not a survey. It's done for the lender's benefit, not yours.

Tips for a smoother first purchase

• Get conveyancing quotes before you start viewing seriously, so you're ready to move the moment an offer is accepted.
• Keep your ID, bank statements and deposit evidence together and ready to send.
• Read your conveyancer's report and ask about anything you don't understand.
• Budget for Stamp Duty (if any), the survey, mortgage fees and removals, as well as the conveyancing fee.