A conveyancer is a specialist lawyer who specialises in the legal aspects surrounding the sale and purchase of a property.

This is the branch of law that deals with the legal aspects of buying and selling a property.

When you own a freehold, you solely own both the building and land it stands upon.

When you own a leasehold, you will be subject to a lease and only have the right to live in the property for the set number of years stated within the Lease. Even though you own the property, you will not own the land it stands upon and will need to seek the freeholder’s consent before making any alterations. You would also need to pay ground rent and service charges to the freeholder/management company.

A Leaseholder will need to pay rent for the property to the freeholder or management company each year, this is known as ‘ground rent’.

A Leaseholder will need to pay rent for the property to the freeholder or management company each year, this is known as ‘ground rent’.

Every case is difference and therefore it’s hard to give an exact timescale. However, on average, Buying or selling a home normally takes between 2 to 3 months. Please note that if the property is a leasehold or is a part of a chain it may take longer.

When there are several houses and people buying and selling at the same time, this is called a chain. People will normally try to sell and purchase a house simultaneously to avoid additional costs of owning multiple properties. When there is a chain, all properties involved will need to exchange simultaneously. Due to this, the process can only go as fast as the slowest link in that chain.

To comply with the money laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations Act 2017, proof of ID is required in conveyancing matters.

Solicitors and conveyancers are obligated to check the identity of any prospective clients to prevent and protect themselves against money laundering or fraud.

Two sets of in date ID will be required, being photographic ID and residential ID.

If you are purchasing a property with a mortgage, you will be required to have searches conducted. As part of the Mortgage Lenders requirements, searches must be carried out to ensure that the property has no hidden issues.

If you are a cash buyer, you can proceed without searches, however, this is risky, and we would always recommend that searches are carried out to ensure that there are no hidden defects or issues that you need to be aware of.

There are three main searches that will be ordered when purchasing a property. They are:

- Environmental search,

- Water & Drainage search, and

- A local Search

However, depending on the location of the property, some additional searches may be required. For example, a coal search.

Your conveyancer or solicitor will also do an official search on the property by way of an OS1 or OS2.