What is the role of a Conveyancing Solicitor?

The purchase and sale of a home involves a complicated process. It’s very different from many of the other things in life we buy, and not just in terms of the money spent. We need to register that the ownership has been transferred, and that everything is as it was described. An oversight, after all, can be enormously complicated, and there’s no convenient way of reversing a transaction of this kind.

For this reason, conveyancing solicitors Manchester. A skilled conveyancing solicitor will be able to guide a transaction through to completion, while liaising with estate agents, the Land Registry and other interested parties. They’ll also be warm and approachable, and able to address any concerns that their clients might develop over the course of the transaction.

But what does a conveyancing solicitor actually do? Let’s take a look.

Making Sure the Home is Fit for Purpose

When you’re buying property, you should bear in mind the legal principle of caveat emptor, or ‘let the buyer beware’. It’s the responsibility of the buying party to establish whether the asset being purchased is fit for purpose. You can’t change your mind later, unless the seller actually concealed problems with the property from you (which may or may not constitute fraud.)

In this case, your conveyancing solicitor will make the necessary enquiries on your behalf. This means asking questions of a lot of organisations. It might be that there are restrictive covenants on the title – which would prohibit you from doing certain things, like building an extension or even bringing pets into the home.

Guarding against problems

Property transactions are large, and therefore attractive to criminals. A good conveyancer will have a finely-tuned nose for fraud and money-laundering. They’ll be able to spot problems and make sure that their clients aren’t exposed to them.

The conveyancer will need to establish whether the seller actually has the right to sell the property in question. This involves reviewing the title deeds, obtaining proof of ID, and obtaining proof that the buyer actually has the funds necessary to proceed.

Contracts

Much of a conveyancer’s role lies in the preparation and exchange of contracts. Legal expertise is needed to not only compose contracts that will actually be binding, but in scrutinising the contract offered by the other side, and advising the client accordingly. Only once contracts are exchanged can a transaction proceed to completion – and this can’t happen without expert conveyancers!