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Practical guidance on residential conveyancing, buying, selling, and everything that happens in between, written in plain English, for home movers in England and Wales.
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Residential Conveyancing Basics
Selling an inherited or probate property involves some extra steps compared with a typical sale, including obtaining probate before you can legally sell, and often managing the process alongside grief and family circumstances. This guide walks through what's different about selling a probate property, so you know roughly what to expect at a difficult time.
Residential Conveyancing Basics
Selling a house in a chain means your sale is legally and practically linked to other transactions above and below you, so delays or problems elsewhere can affect your own timeline. Understanding how selling in a chain works can help you set realistic expectations, communicate better with everyone involved, and stay calmer when things move more slowly than you'd like.
Residential Conveyancing Basics
Residential conveyancing services cover everything needed to legally transfer ownership of a home — contract review, property searches, raising and answering enquiries, handling identity checks, coordinating with mortgage lenders, dealing with Stamp Duty and Land Registry, and managing the exchange and completion of the transaction.
Residential Conveyancing Basics
Conveyancing is full of terms that sound complicated but usually describe fairly simple ideas — this jargon buster explains the most common ones (exchange, completion, disbursements, title, searches and more) in plain English, so you can follow what your solicitor or conveyancer is telling you.
Residential Conveyancing Basics
Residential conveyancing fees usually run from around £500 to £1,500+ in legal fees alone, depending on your property value and whether you're buying, selling, or both — plus separate disbursements (searches, ID checks, bank transfer fees) and, for buyers, government fees like Stamp Duty and Land Registry charges.
Residential Conveyancing Basics
Property searches carried out during conveyancing typically include a local authority search, a water and drainage search, and an environmental search as standard, with extra searches such as mining, flood or coastal erosion added depending on where the property is. Together they're designed to uncover things about the property and area that a straightforward look around the house would never reveal.
Residential Conveyancing Basics
The Property Information Form (TA6) is a standard questionnaire sellers complete about their home, covering everything from boundaries and disputes to alterations and utilities. Getting the Property Information Form (TA6) right matters because your answers form part of the legal record of the sale, so honesty and thoroughness count for more than speed.
Residential Conveyancing Basics
Preparing for a smooth conveyancing experience as a buyer mostly comes down to getting your finances and paperwork ready early, responding to requests quickly, and understanding roughly what to expect at each stage. None of it removes all uncertainty from buying a home, but good preparation tends to reduce unnecessary delays.
Finding a Reputable Conveyancer
Comparing online conveyancing vs local conveyancing usually comes down to how you prefer to communicate and how standardised or unusual your transaction is — online services often suit straightforward, price-sensitive moves, while local firms can suit people who value face-to-face contact or have a more complex situation.
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