What Does a Solicitor Do When You Buy a House?

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Buying your first home is an exciting time, but in order to make sure that the property officially belongs to you, you will need to make sure that you get the legal side of the purchase dealt with correctly.

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This is known as property conveyancing, and it is important that before you buy a property that you find a solicitor like this conveyancing solicitors Cheltenham based company www.deeandgriffin.co.uk/services/conveyancing who will be able to help you with all of the legalities of buying your first home.

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How do I go About Finding a Conveyancing Solicitor?

Firstly, you need to find a solicitor who can take on the purchase of your home. Looking online for solicitors in your area who deal with property law is a good place to start. If you know someone who has recently bought a property, you could also ask them which solicitor they used as they may be able to recommend one to you.

It is a good idea to find a solicitor before you agree to purchase a property, that way you can do your research, compare quotes, and find the right one for you.

What are the Stages of The Process?

The conveyancing process is done in several stages. Firstly, once you have agreed to buy a property, your solicitor will need to take copies of your ID for the anti-money laundering checks, and they will also contact the seller’s solicitor to confirm that they will be working on the legal process of the purchase.

Contracts will then be drafted, and the solicitor will explain them to you and check that you are happy with them. Once everyone has agreed to the contract, then you should get your survey done. This will help to uncover any problems that you might not have known about in the property – this is particularly important with older properties that can have problems that are expensive to put right.

If there are problems found by the survey, you might want to offer a lower price or even pull out of the purchase. Your solicitor will be able to advise you on this. A solicitor will also do searches at this point – local authority searches and flood risks are two examples of the searches that they will do, and this means that you are informed and aware of any problems before you proceed with the purchase.