What is conveyancing?

What is conveyancing? Conveyancing is the legal term given to the process of buying and selling a house or transferring ownership of a property. A conveyancing solicitor can be one of your biggest assets in ensuring that the sale or purchase of a house or property goes without a hitch.

The role of a Conveyancing Solicitor

What does a conveyancing solicitor do? A conveyancing solicitor will not only deal with relevant paperwork, in connection with buying a house or selling a house but will also provide informed advice as to how the sale or purchase of the property is progressing and flagging up potential problems or pitfalls. Another key benefit of employing the professional services of a licensed conveyancer, conveyancing solicitor or conveyancing lawyer is their ability to deal with essential elements such as local searches and also provide advice on more recent additions to the process of selling a house such as HIPs (Home Information Packs).

The More Complicated Property Transfer: Flying Freeholds, Shared Boundaries and Missing Paperwork etc

Depending on the type of property you are buying or selling may influence the type of conveyancing solicitor you choose to instruct to handle the legalities of the property sale or purchase - if a property comprises more complex aspects such as flying freeholds, leasehold elements, shared boundaries etc you may well prefer to appoint a conveyancing solicitor who you can speak to directly rather than a strictly online conveyancing firm where your conveyancing may be handled, in the majority, by an administrator, rather than a trained conveyancing solicitor or licensed conveyancer. In these more complication situations, the more information you can provide at the outset, the better - it could save you weeks in the long run as questions will inevitably be posed by the other party's conveyancing team.

Beware Hidden Conveyancing Charges

You may also wish to treat conveyancing solicitors who are offering very cheap deals with caution - this can sometimes mean that they are dealing with a huge number of clients at any one time, thus slowing down their conveyancing services and ultimately impacting on the speed of the property transfer - all of which can end up costing you more money than you initially thought you could save by opting for a cheap conveyancing deal.

Cheap conveyancing deals are sometimes loaded with hidden charges so the initial fee that you thought you signed up can be far removed from the final bill you pay on completion. Sometimes, when it comes to conveyancing, the old adage is true - you get what you pay for so if your house sale or purchase looks relatively straightforward, or if you are selling your house to somebody you know (a private sale) then you might be happy to go with an online conveyancing service.