In the United Kingdom, buying a home can cause a great deal of stress and concern. One of the nerve-wracking issues is how long the process will take.
The conveyancing process can be complex, but you will proceed smoothly with the right legal team. This post explains how long this process usually takes and how a conveyancing solicitor can help.
We’ve outlined some typical timescales below to help you understand how long conveyancing will take and other factors that can prolong it.
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Factors that affect Conveyance Time
Buying or selling a house is one of the most exciting times and can be stressful. The time taken to complete the conveyancing process can vary greatly depending on whether you are buying or selling.
Still, you can keep your stress levels down and make sure everything runs smoothly with some careful planning.
The average online conveyancing process for buying a property in the UK is between 8 and 12 weeks. Various factors can determine the time it takes to complete, such as:
Getting a Conveyancer
A conveyancer is a qualified solicitor or licensed conveyancer specializing in property law. They work closely with the concerned buyers and sellers during transactions so that everything goes smoothly and legally.
Reputed conveyancing solicitors in London such as AVRillo can help you avoid costly mistakes while ensuring meeting all deadlines throughout your transaction, making them worth every penny!
The conveyancer you choose will play a large part in how long your transaction takes. An experienced conveyancer, on top of their administrative duties, will ensure your transaction proceeds as smoothly as possible. It doesn’t matter where you stay in the UK. You can get in touch with AVRillo, they are the top-rated Romford Conveyancing solicitors and the best conveyancing solicitors in Cambridge.
The Searching Process
A crucial part of conveyancing is the search process, which is necessary to ensure that prospective buyers do not encounter any nasty surprises when it comes to their new property.
Local authorities and other bodies complete searches designed to ensure that they cover all legal aspects of a purchase.
Two searches are usually required—a local authority search and a drainage and water search—and you can also carry out further searches if you have any specific concerns about your property.
Searches can take up to four weeks, although most get completed far more quickly than this. If you need to get your searches completed as promptly as possible, you will find that a specialist conveyancer is better placed than a high street firm to do this for you.
Inquiries and Replies
The period it takes to complete conveyancing varies on several factors. For example, if a mortgage or remortgage is involved, this can affect how matters end. Similarly, if your property is leasehold rather than freehold, additional inquiries may arise.
In the absence of a mortgage involved in the transaction, the conveyancing process should take approximately one month from when you instruct your solicitors until completion.
Title Transfer
First off, if you are purchasing your home with cash or getting approved for a mortgage, then this part of the process will go very quickly.
Once an independent assessor has appraised your property and had your mortgage approved or paid cash, you must sign the title and purchase agreement with your solicitor. It is a relatively quick task that will only take a couple of hours.
Contract Signing
It is where both parties sign the contracts and become legally bound to the sale. Only when this happens will the buyer’s solicitor ask for a transfer fee and stamp duty before completion.
Until both parties sign contracts, there is no legal commitment. Once exchanging contracts happen, both sides have legal commitment, and neither party can pull out of the sale without incurring penalties.
It takes anywhere between 3 weeks and 3 months to exchange contracts in normal circumstances. However, in some instances, it may take significantly longer than this.
Completion, Payment, and Moving In
Completion is when you become responsible for paying monthly mortgage payments and all other related costs of owning a home (utility bills, property taxes, repairs, etc.).
The completion date should be set after both parties agree on particular needs exchanging on the day of completion.
Paying for your new home includes:
- Paying off any outstanding debts on your current property.
- Transfer funds from your savings account to your mortgage lender.
- Paying for moving costs.
After this, you can now move in.
In Conclusion
There is no particular answer for how long the conveyancing process takes.
Many factors influence the time it takes to complete a sale, including whether you are buying or selling the house, planning permission, and land registry searches. If everything runs smoothly, the whole process should take a few weeks.
It is worth remembering that the conveyancing process will take as long as it takes to ensure that all parties involved have time to ask questions, be sure of the answers, and feel confident about the transaction.
