Buying or selling a house is for most people the biggest financial transaction of their lives. It takes a team of professionals, including for example the Estate Agent, Mortgage Broker and Removals Firm. They do important work, and it is usually visible.

Underpinning it all, and key to every house sale and purchase, is the work of the Solicitor. The Solicitor plays a crucial and pivotal role to the entire process and the legal process is almost always complex, detailed and specialised.

However, for the most part the Solicitor’s work is unseen and therefore often misunderstood, and perhaps not even commonly known about.

DID YOU KNOW…?

That when you’re buying a property, these are just some of the jobs your Solicitor is doing behind the scenes?…

• Checking title – this is to ensure that the person selling you the property actually owns the property and is able to sell it to you. This often involves detailed reading of large bundles of title documents, sometimes going back many years. This isn’t just a paperwork exercise – it requires the training, experience and knowledge of a skilled property lawyer.
• Liaising with you and/or your surveyor to check that the legal boundaries of the property match those ‘on the ground’. Mapping discrepancies are a common problem Solicitors encounter and spend a lot of time in resolving.
• Ensuring necessary easements are in place – this means legal rights for example for access, sight lines, water/electricity/sewerage etc.
• Checking the searches and property certificates that the Seller will provide to check nobody else might have potential claims over the property you’re buying
• Checking that all work done to the property has the proper planning permission and Building Control approval where necessary
• Dealing with and resolving any problems arising from the above matters, including liaising with the Seller’s Solicitor, negotiation where necessary, and keeping you up-to-date with all of the most significant developments
• Liaising with your mortgage advisor, checking your mortgage offer for unusual conditions, and dealing with all the regulatory and legal requirements of your mortgage lender
• Advising you about the title to the property, the terms of the purchase contract, and your obligations under your mortgage
• Preparing the transfer deed to ensure all necessary ownership and rights pass to you from the Seller on completion
• Dealing with the offer and acceptance contract formalities and negotiating any necessary special conditions. (It’s very important that this is done properly – it alone could be the subject of an article like this!)
• Setting up the completion date (i.e. the date when ownership and keys are handed over), which can be quite complex in a chain transaction
• Collecting the funds for the purchase and dealing with the finance arrangements on completion. This process relies heavily on the system of Solicitors undertakings (i.e. binding onerous legal promises given by your Solicitor to do x once y happens) and so needs to be very carefully handled by an experienced lawyer.
• Post-completion, completing your Stamp Duty Land Tax return on your behalf to HMRC
• Also post-completion, making your application to Land Registry on your behalf, so that your ownership (and your mortgage) are properly registered.

And, DID YOU KNOW…?

That when you’re selling a property, your Solicitor is looking after all of this and more?…

• Obtaining your title deeds and checking them in the same detail that the Purchaser’s Solicitor will check them once handed over
• Preparing a contract for the sale
• Carrying out various searches and obtaining property certificates to prove to the Purchaser’s Solicitor that no third parties have any adverse rights to your property and that you have the legal title to be able to sell.
• Dealing with any queries that the Buyer’s Solicitor raises. One of the most common is in relation to mapping and boundaries, which may well require liaising with a surveyor and/or the Land Registry.All on top of…
• Similarly to a purchase as listed above, dealing with contract formalities, setting up completion dates, arranging finances, liaising with your mortgage lender (if any), tying the transaction properly into a conveyancing chain (if any) and dealing with the completion date, repaying your mortgage and getting your sale proceeds to you.

 

The above is not by any means an exhaustive list. Each sale or purchase is different and brings its own set of challenges. Conveyancing is not an administrative exercise. Land law is complex and conveyancing requires proper legal qualifications, attention to detail and solution-driven problem-solving.

 

So how do you choose a Solicitor?

Of course, cost is a factor. Buying and selling property is a time when you need to budget carefully, and you should first of all ensure to get a written cost estimate from your Solicitor. The Law Society of Northern Ireland requires that Solicitors give this information using a standard form that includes the Solicitors’ fees, VAT, and any other necessary outlays, so insist upon this. This will make sure you are comparing ‘like with like’.

But as with everything, the best quotation is not necessarily the cheapest one! Given all of the specialist work that goes into conveyancing, and the potential implications of a mistake, isn’t it important that you pay for quality service and expertise? Your house is likely to be one of the biggest purchases of your life!

Make sure the firm you choose gives you direct access to a fully qualified Solicitor (this is different to a paralegal or legal executive), with expertise and experience in property matters. If you are buying with the assistance of a mortgage, check that the Solicitor is on that mortgage lender’s panel of Solicitors. The same applies to Co-Ownership purchases.

Above all remember that you are entitled in every case to instruct an independent Solicitor of your own choice.

Sometimes an agent or broker might recommend a particular Solicitor. If so it’s still important to consider that carefully to ensure that there is nothing surrounding the recommendation which might affect the Solicitor’s duty to act impartially and objectively and only in the client’s interest throughout the transaction and process.

Such independence is vitally important and is one of the Traditional Values our practice is based upon so, if Murlands are recommended by anyone, you can rest assured that it will have been based solely upon our reputation for the quality of our work and service and for no other reason.

Make an independent choice yourself – and don’t be afraid to ask for a telephone introduction or a short face-to-face meeting to make sure you’ve made the right choice.

Murlands Property Department is an experienced team headed by Alan Reid, Senior Partner, and includes Millicent Tate, John O’Prey, Sarah Shannon & Brenda Allen.

Contact us today for a no-obligation fee estimate for your conveyancing.