Blog
Practical guidance on residential conveyancing, buying, selling, and everything that happens in between, written in plain English, for home movers in England and Wales.
89 articles and countingRSS feed →
Residential Conveyancing Basics
Leasehold conveyancing is regular residential conveyancing plus extra checks specific to leasehold ownership — reviewing the lease terms, service charge and ground rent history, management company details, and any landlord consents needed before you can complete.
Residential Conveyancing Basics
An indemnity insurance policy in conveyancing is a one-off insurance policy that protects against the financial consequences of a specific known legal defect or missing document affecting a property, rather than fixing the underlying issue itself. It's typically used when resolving a problem directly would be slower, more expensive, or simply unnecessary given how unlikely a claim actually is.
Residential Conveyancing Basics
You can genuinely speed up residential conveyancing by getting your paperwork and ID checks done early, responding to enquiries quickly, and choosing a proactive solicitor or licensed conveyancer — but some delays, like local authority search turnaround or a slow-moving chain, are largely outside your control. This guide looks at what actually helps, versus what's mostly wishful thinking.
Residential Conveyancing Basics
To extend a lease, a leaseholder generally needs to either negotiate informally with the freeholder or use the formal statutory process available in England and Wales, which gives many qualifying leaseholders the right to add years to their lease and reduce ground rent to a peppercorn, usually in exchange for a premium.
Residential Conveyancing Basics
Residential conveyancing usually takes around 8–16 weeks from accepted offer to completion for a straightforward freehold purchase, though leasehold transactions, chains, and mortgage delays can easily stretch this to several months. There's no single fixed timeline — how long conveyancing takes depends heavily on the specific circumstances of your transaction.
Residential Conveyancing Basics
Hidden costs in residential conveyancing usually aren't hidden on purpose — they tend to come from disbursements that weren't estimated properly at the quote stage, leasehold-specific charges, lender requirements, or extra work triggered by a title or search issue, so the best protection is asking for a fully itemised quote and understanding which situations commonly add to the bill.
Residential Conveyancing Basics
Ground rent and service charges are two separate ongoing costs that come with most leasehold properties — ground rent is a fee paid to the freeholder simply for holding the lease, while service charges cover the actual cost of maintaining the building and shared areas.
Residential Conveyancing Basics
The real difference between freehold and leasehold is ownership itself — freehold means you own the property and the land it sits on outright and indefinitely, while leasehold means you own the right to occupy the property for a fixed number of years, with a separate freeholder owning the underlying building or land.
Residential Conveyancing Basics
The documents usually needed for residential conveyancing include proof of ID and address, mortgage paperwork, and (for sellers) title information, property forms and fittings lists — buyers mainly need financial and identity documents, while sellers need more property-specific paperwork. This guide sets out what's typically asked for on each side, and when.
Get Started
Free, instant and fixed. No pressure and no jargon, just a clear number for your move.
