The moment you think of selling your house you also need to think about your conveyancing solicitor. Conveyancing is a fundamental process in the selling of your house and it is necessary that it should be conducted by a qualified and experienced lawyer. Many people hire a conveyancing solicitor and sit back at home biting their nails. Moving a home can definitely be a stressful process. You are always eager to know about latest developments and often wonder why it takes too long.

I will briefly describe how a solicitor undertakes conveyancing process. First of all you need to contact your solicitor instructing them to represent you during the entire conveyancing process of selling your home. The lawyer then responds with a letter setting out their duties to you.

Once the letter is returned, the procedure will begin in earnest. You will be asked to fill in fixtures and fittings, property information and/or leasehold information sheets. This will form the basis of the contract to be exchanged between you and the buyer. Once this first step has been completed your lawyer will obtain your title deeds from your mortgage provider and the Land Registry. Often, this can be a slow process and having copies of your documents to hand greatly accelerates the process. It can be useful to ask your mortgage provider for these documents when you decide to put your house on the market.

With the title deeds and land registration details in his possession, the seller’s lawyer can draw up the contract and send it to the buyer’s lawyer. This then will be passed on to the buyer for approval. The buyer’s legal team will then return the contract and ask for answers to any questions that have arisen. At this stage, the contract can be revised. The seller’s solicitors will at this stage request confirmation that the buyer’s mortgage has been approved.

Once the contract issues have been ironed out, the final contracts are sent and a provisional date for exchange is agreed. Once everything is in place and the final versions of the contracts are exchanged between the buyer’s lawyer and the seller’s lawyer, the deposit is paid by the buyer and a moving date is fixed. This is known as the ‘completion date’, and on that date the buyer pays over the balance due and can move into the property.