With house prices soaring in the UK, the demand for properties continues to outstrip the existing supply of properties nationwide.
If you’re in the fortunate position of being able to buy a home, you’ll have to deal with a conveyancing solicitor at this stage. While choosing a skilled conveyancing solicitor may encourage you to manage large parts of the buying process on your behalf, it’s also important that you understand this process in detail and are able to play an active part.
In this article, we’ve prepared a brief conveyancing checklist so that you know exactly what to expect when buying a home!
#1. Always Read the Small Print
Let’s start with the basics; as you should always read a contract and its associated small print in full before entering into a formal agreement.
This way, you can identify terms and clauses that you don’t fully understand, before raising these directly with your chosen solicitor and asking them to provide clarity and context.
Similarly, you can identify and challenge (where necessary) any additional or hidden costs associated with the house purchase, which is crucial when budgeting for what can be a time-consuming and inherently stressful process.
#2. Create and Clarify Your Moving Deadline
When liaising and negotiating with your conveyancing solicitor, it’s important that you inform them of when you intend to make your move.
This can help to guide and inform the entire process, while creating a clear and open line of communication and imposing expectations on your professional service provider.
Of course, it’s important to be reasonable and understand that house purchases can take longer than expected, but creating a clear date will provide clarity and guidance for all parties involved.
#3. Ask for an Outline of the Conveyancing Process
Before your conveyancing solicitor gets to work, we’d also recommend that you ask them to provide an outline of the process.
One of the main reasons for this is the distribution of responsibilities, as they may be tasks that you’ll have to complete yourself in addition to those that are carried out by the conveyancing solicitor.
This broad outline can help to remind everyone of their responsibilities, while fostering a greater sense of understanding among all parties involved.
This also makes it considerably easier to identify and manage the documents that you need to complete a purchase, which in turn can reduce the time taken to complete a purchase and minimise those pesky (and often unnecessary) delays.
