Conveyancing when you buy

What your conveyancer does when you buy

Your offer being accepted changes nothing legally. It is not binding on either side, and it will not become binding until contracts are exchanged. Everything between those two points is conveyancing, and almost all of it is your conveyancer investigating whether the property is actually worth what you have agreed to pay for it.

The work runs on several tracks at once rather than in a neat sequence. Searches are ordered early because they take the longest to come back. The title is examined as soon as the seller's solicitor sends the contract pack. Enquiries are raised as questions arise. Your lender's requirements are dealt with when the mortgage offer lands.

Investigating the title

Your conveyancer obtains the register and title plan from HM Land Registry and checks that the seller owns what they are selling, that the boundaries match what you were shown, and that nothing on the title restricts what you intend to do with the property.

What they are looking for is anything that binds a future owner: rights of way across the garden, covenants preventing an extension or a business use, obligations to contribute to a shared driveway, or a mortgage that must be discharged before you can be registered. See [what a title deed contains](/blog/what-is-a-title-deed/) and [what HM Land Registry holds](/blog/what-is-hm-land-registry/).

If the title is leasehold, the lease itself has to be read and reported on — its length, the ground rent, the service charge regime and any restrictions on letting or altering. [Freehold vs leasehold](/blog/freehold-vs-leasehold/) sets out why this matters more than most buyers expect.

Searches and enquiries

Searches ask third parties what they know about the property that the seller may not have mentioned, or may not know themselves.

• The local authority search covers planning history, building regulations approvals, road adoption, tree preservation orders and whether the property sits in a conservation area. [What a local authority search reveals](/blog/what-is-a-local-authority-search/).
• The environmental search assesses contaminated land, flood risk, ground stability and nearby landfill.
• The water and drainage search confirms how the property connects to mains water and sewerage, and whether a public sewer runs under it.
• Further searches may follow depending on location — mining, chancel repair liability, or a specific local risk.

Alongside the searches, your conveyancer raises enquiries on the seller's TA6 Property Information Form and on anything the title or searches throw up. [What the TA6 covers](/blog/what-is-a-ta6-form/) — disputes, alterations, boundaries, guarantees. Slow or evasive replies to enquiries are the most common cause of a purchase stalling.

Your mortgage and your lender

Where you are borrowing, your conveyancer usually acts for your lender as well as for you. That means checking the mortgage offer against the title and reporting anything the lender would consider a problem — a short lease, a restrictive covenant, an absent building regulations certificate, or a valuation condition not yet met.

Most lenders will only accept conveyancers on their approved panel. If your chosen firm is not on it, the lender may instruct its own solicitor and charge you for it. [How lender panels work](/blog/what-is-a-lender/).

Exchange, completion and registration

At exchange, the contract becomes binding and the completion date is fixed. Your deposit is sent, and from that point neither side can withdraw without serious financial consequence. [What exchange of contracts means](/blog/what-is-exchange-of-contracts/).

On completion, your conveyancer sends the balance of the purchase money, the seller's solicitor confirms receipt, and the keys are released. Afterwards there is still work to do: submitting the Stamp Duty return and paying the tax, then registering you at HM Land Registry as the new owner. [How SDLT works](/blog/what-is-sdlt-stamp-duty/) covers thresholds and first-time buyer relief.

What affects the cost

• Leasehold rather than freehold — the lease has to be reviewed, a management pack obtained, and notices served after completion.
• New build — the developer's contract, tighter deadlines, a plot transfer and a structural warranty to check.
• Shared ownership or a lender scheme — adds a housing association or scheme administrator to the transaction.
• A gifted deposit — additional source-of-funds checks on whoever is gifting. [What a gifted deposit involves](/blog/what-is-a-gifted-deposit/).
• Unregistered title — ownership has to be proved from paper deeds rather than the register.