Buying & Selling

At the start of a transaction, an anti-money laundering check will be completed. This is a legal requirement.

Your conveyancer will also need to obtain official copies of your deeds from Land registry.

If you are having a mortgage, your mortgage lender will survey the property to check whether the property is sufficient security for their loan. The survey is not very detailed and in most cases is merely a desktop survey.

Although it is not mandatory, it is usually recommended that a detailed survey of the property is carried out by a qualified surveyor to ensure that there are no issues which may affect the value of the property.

Unless it has been agreed otherwise, you are required to insure the property from the point of exchange of contracts. Your conveyancer will remind you to put in place your buildings insurance once exchange of contracts has taken place.

It is recommended that that you obtain quotes for buildings insurance in the lead up to exchange of contracts.

It is unlikely you will need to arrange building insurance if you are buying a flat.

Following completion, your conveyancer will apply to Land Registry to register you as the new owner of the property.

The time it will take for Land Registry to deal with the application depends on a number of factors including the type of application made. Unfortunately, it is difficult to estimate how long it will take for the updated deeds to be provided.

Once your conveyancer receives the updated deeds, they will send them to you. The deeds are now electronically stored at Land Registry so there is no need to worry if you lose the copies provided!

This is a pack which the seller of a leasehold property is required to produce as part of the transaction. The pack is obtained from the landlord or their agents and covers a number of important points such as service charge, ground rent, buildings insurance and upcoming works.

An indemnity policy is an insurance policy that protects the owner of a property against an issue which has come to light as part of the conveyancing transaction. There are various policies on the market which cover various issues. For example, a policy may be required if a seller has failed to obtain building regulations approval for work they have carried out.
It is usually the seller that pays for the indemnity policy, but they are under no obligation to do so.