Having been in business for in excess of 10 years, one of the most commonly asked questions we get here at Express Conveyancing is what affects the speed of conveyancing and how can I speed things up? In this article, our conveyancing experts explain what factors impact how quickly, or slowly a conveyancing transaction takes.
What are the factors that affect the speed of conveyancing?
Most people have either bought a property, or know someone who have bought a property and have heard, or worst still experienced first-hand, horror stories of solicitors taking months and months with very little progress.
The process of conveyancing, when buying, selling or transferring property, involves a number of important steps and it is important that you have a skilled conveyancing solicitor working for you, to ensure that the process is completed thoroughly and accurately, but this needs to be balanced with a proactive approach and an attitude of keeping the transaction moving.
From experience, it helps to know what should take time and what should be done quickly. Factors that take time in a property transaction include:
- Lender Requirements: If you are buying with a mortgage, bridging loan or any other type of finance that involves a charge being secured against the property, then your mortgage lender will place reliance on your conveyancing solicitor and expect them to meet a number of requirements both about you and the property you wish to purchase. Ultimately, they need to ensure their investment is secured and will rely on your conveyancing solicitor to give them that reassurance. The same can be said if you are selling to someone who is reliant on lender funds for their purchase. You can read more about lender requirements in our article here.
- Leasehold Factors: When buying a leasehold property, it differs from a freehold in that you are only purchasing a proportion of a wider property and your conveyancing solicitor needs to raise legal enquiries to establish information about what responsibility you will have over the wider property and the costs associated with this. They will also need information from the Freeholder and Management Company about any planned works or maintenance arrangements and insurance factors. For example, imagine being told by the estate agent that the service charge for a flat you are buying is £500 a year, to then find out a year later they are planning major structural work with costs being passed back to leaseholders, and service charge raising to in excess of £1,000 for the next several years, not to mention the disruption of works. Read more about leasehold properties in our article here.
- Title Defects: If your conveyancing solicitor spots a possible defect or problem with your property, they need time to establish what the issue is, what, if anything, has been done about it already, the impact of the issue and what can be done to rectify the issue. Whilst it is perfectly understandable to be anxious about such things and want more information at the time, the conveyancing solicitor is the expert in advising you of the best course of action, even if that action is to walk away from the property.
- Property Searches: Property searches is a collective term which refers to a number of different searches with Local Authorities to obtain key information about a property. Information revealed include publicly held information about a property, such as planning, building regulations, specialist consent requirements, local schemes, traffic and highway information, but also information about drainage and water supplies, and environmental factors that affect properties. This information is usually requested from the relevant authorities close to the start of a transaction, and upon receipt of draft contracts from a seller’s solicitor. The earlier this is done the better as some of the Authorities can take time to provide the requisite information.
What can you do to help?
Buying and selling houses is notoriously one of the most stressful times in a person’s life and it is understandable as to why that is the case, so much is at stake and often pressures from estate agents, mortgage offer expiry dates and reservation deadlines all add to this level of stress.
It is tempting to apply the same level of pressure to your conveyancing solicitor, in the hope that this will make the transaction go quicker, however it is important to remember that this is a fine balance as sometimes applying too much pressure can actually slow a transaction down. Having said that there absolutely are things you can do to help move a transaction on.
- Complete your requirements: Throughout the transaction, there will be things required from you. This might be completion of paperwork, supporting documents or evidence, answers to questions or simply just reading information given to you by your conveyancing solicitor. Therefore, as much as it is important for the conveyancing solicitor to be proactive, it is also important that you are proactive too and complete what is required from you as quickly as possible.
- Communication: In most cases, solicitors communicate with clients via email and telephone. We also have portals and case management systems to help here too. When communicating with your solicitor, think about what the most effective form of communication at the particular time might be. Be mindful that solicitor might need to do some research or review something before answering your question also, so it can be more effective to send one email with a full list of questions rather than several emails asking questions piecemeal for instance. We also completely understand that it can be a worrying time and sometimes you need to speak with someone, or need something clarifying. It can be helpful to request a callback from your solicitor by email giving a list of available times and a summary of what you would like to discuss, making yourself as available as possible for their call back and giving them the chance to do any research or gather information together prior to your call.
- Arrange Timely Surveys and Mortgage Applications: If you plan to have a structural survey carried out on a property then the earlier you can get this in place, the better. The same with any mortgage applications. If any issues are found with either and requires any form of negotiation, the earlier in the process this happens the better and ensure the best efficiency.
- Keep Informed: It can be tempting to “cut corners” especially if pressured by one party or another, but it is important that you think carefully about decisions you make, in a bid to shorten the process, to ensure you are happy with the property and something that has not been revealed ends up affecting your ability to enjoy that property.
In Summary
Conveyancing is a complex process involving a number of steps. Whilst each property and each set of circumstances differ, there are a number of common steps that can delay the process if not handled carefully by an experienced conveyancing solicitor. There are also a number of important things you can do as a client to help to process progress as efficiently as possible.
If you want to chat about the way in which we approach conveyancing here at Express Conveyancing and how we can get you moved in as short a timeframe as possible, please get in touch with our team on 0800 799 9892 or hello@express-conveyancing.co.uk
