Phew! conveyancing - UK's top property conveyancing solicitors
Imagine a company that offers high quality conveyancing at a huge discount compared to traditional high street conveyancers – you've found it…….phew! Phew! conveyancing can provide you with a high-quality, convenient, competitively-priced and ultra-fast conveyancing service from London Solicitiors. With conveyancing costs for a purchase starting from as little as £345 Get a free no obligation quote now and find out how Phew! Conveyancing can make buying, selling or re-mortgaging your house hassle free.
The phew! Conveyancing experience
At phew! we believe our conveyancing solicitors offer the fastest conveyancing service in United Kingdom. And the faster we complete your case, the sooner you can relax. Our revolutionary system enables us to complete cases faster than any of our competitors.
Value-for-money Conveyancers
Since we are used to handling large volumes of cases, we benefit from economies of scale. Unlike most other conveyancers, we pass these savings on to our clients in the form of lower fees. And with no hidden costs whatsoever, which means you can manage your budget with no hidden surprises.
Better House Moving Experience
Phew! offers a highest-quality service at all times - without exception. We have all the checks in place to ensure this. But don't just take our word for it. This is what a few of our clients say:
"As a first time home buyer I found the whole conveyancing process very confusing to start with. However Phew! conveyancers made the conveyancing process simple and easy to understand. Everything was really straightforward – thanks for your help."
You can obtain an immediate online conveyancing quote and instruct our conveyancing solicitors to start work on your case immediately.
Our conveyancing solicitors working for Phew! Conveyancing will not charge you extra for faxing, photocopying, making calls or writing to you.
You can monitor and track your conveyancing case, contact your conveyancing solicitors, property lawyer or anyone else working on your case via the online system. You can therefore access your conveyancing case 24 hours a day any day of the week.
SMS Updates on your Conveyancing Case
From the very beginning of the case our conveyancing solicitors will keep you updated every step of the way with SMS updates, phone calls, online updates and email updates.
No Meetings with your Conveyancer Necessary
Your conveyancer will remain in close contact with you and you will not need to take time off work to visit our office or attend meetings. Using state-of-the-art econveyancing systems we are able to deal with property transactions quickly without causing you stress or inconvenience.
Direct Dial Access to your Property Lawyer
No wasting time with call centers, operators or secretaries. Pick up the phone directly to your property lawyer.
Conveyancing Explained
What is Conveyancing?
Conveyancing is the process by which the legal title is transferred from the seller to the buyer. This is generally a straight forward process but sloppy conveyancing practice makes the process unnecessarily cumbersome and protracted. The process detailed in this report is that followed by solicitors and conveyancers at Phew! Please contact us for further information.
Pre–exchange of contracts
Initial letters sent on instructions
Once we are instructed to proceed on your behalf we generally do the following:-
- Open a file in your name
- Write to the estate agent and financial advisor (where applicable) to confirm our instructions on your behalf.
- Write to the seller's conveyancer with a list of pre-contract enquiries, to confirm our instructions and request them to send the draft contract papers to us. Pre-contract enquiries are a set of standard questions aimed at obtaining more information about the property in question, such as: what furniture (if any) is being left behind, the boundaries of the property, who owns and is responsible for any hedges or fences. If it is a leasehold property, we obtain details of the managing agents, and discover whether the current owner is up to date with things like service charge bills and ground rent.
Local Searches
We usually have to carry out searches regarding the property you propose to purchase. These will almost always include a local authority search and an environmental search.
- Local authority searches usually take around six to nine working days to complete depending on the efficiency of the local authority, time of year and work backlog.
- A local authority search will establish the following: proposals for any public works such as a new motorway, waterworks or alterations to road systems; whether any new developments are planned in the vicinity of the property; any problems with water drainage systems; and any planning restrictions that may affect your plans to renovate or alter the property.
- The local authority search may not reveal everything you would like to know about the property and its surrounding area, such as any parking restrictions affecting the area in which you are buying.
- If you require such information, it would be as well for you to contact the local authority directly, or advise us so that we can raise such matters with the authority at the start of the transaction.
- There may be other searches required, depending on the location of the property, such as a coal-mining search or a search from a local railway network. We will inform you of any such requirement at the earliest.
Mortgage offer
- If you are dependant on a mortgage to complete the transaction we may be required to act for both you and your mortgage lender. This mean there may be specific requirements and conditions that need to be satisfied before mortgage monies are released by your mortgage lender. Your interests broadly coincide with the mortgage lenders in seeing that there are no problems with the condition of the property or any legal concerns. If however, a conflict of interest arise between you and your mortgage lender we will be required to stop acting for you and the mortgage lender.
- Once your mortgage offer has been issued your mortgage lender will normally send us a copy in the post.
Survey
- The usual building society or bank valuation is not a full survey. The level of inspection varies between each building society/bank surveyor.
- Your mortgage lender or the person arranging your mortgage should advise you as to the type of valuations and surveys available. For your own protection, we must advise you to arrange a full structural survey or at the very least a Home Buyers Valuation Report.
- It might be possible, when making initial contact with your mortgage company for them to arrange for their surveyor to carry out a House Buyers' Report or full survey so that only one surveyor need be engaged.
- If the surveyor only prepares a valuation for the mortgage company the contract may only be between the surveyor and the mortgage company. In that case, you may not have any right to sue the surveyor should any negligence on his part be proven. If the surveyor also prepares a report or survey for you then, if he is negligent, you would be able to sue him.
- If you have a copy of your survey/valuation report, please kindly forward a copy to us.
- If the property is leasehold it is advised the surveyor is instructed to survey the whole building and common areas.
Draft Contracts
At phew! the draft contract is sometimes prepared by our UK conveyancing team even when we are acting for the buyers. This is basically to speed up the process.
- Upon receiving the draft contract from the seller's conveyancing solicitors, we will check the documentation and raise any specific queries that arise
- The contract is then amended by mutual agreement between us and the seller's conveyancing solicitors. The contract is a legal document drawn up by the seller's conveyancing solicitors that sets out the terms of the sale process. The contract will reflect details of the following:- property being sold; names of both the home buyer and seller; the property price and details of anything else that has been negotiated to be included with the sale; the date on which the transaction will take place; and the completion date once all parties have agreed on this.
- Once we are satisfied with all the legal documents and replies to enquiries in connection with the property, the contract is approved and sent to both parties for signature.
Exchange of contracts
Deposit
- On exchange of contracts of a purchase it is usual to pay to the sellers' conveyancing solicitors a deposit of up to 10% of the purchase price, but it is sometimes possible to agree to a 5% deposit.
- Once we have your deposit in cleared funds, signed contract and authorisation, we can proceed to the exchange of contracts with the seller and agree a completion date. The deposit will be forwarded to the seller's conveyancing solicitors on exchange of contracts, as security in case you do not proceed with the purchase. (Please read the section below on Money Matters)
Exchanging contracts
- Until the exchange of contracts, there is no legal liability on either the purchaser or seller to proceed and either party may withdraw from the transaction at any time.
- Once contracts have been exchanged (usually by a telephone call between conveyancers) both parties become legally bound by the terms and conditions of the contract and will be required to complete the contract.
- The agreed completion date will be included in the contract; you will not be able to change the completion date once contracts have been exchanged. If you cannot complete on the contractual completion date your deposit may be forfeited and you may be sued for breach of contract.
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)
The completion of the SDLT form is your responsibility and you may complete this form on your own. However, when we act as your agent in completing the SDLT form we may make a reasonable charge; in which case our charge would be reflected in the estimate of costs provided.
Please note that there are strict time limits that must be followed. In the event the SDLT form is not received by the Inland Revenue within 30 days of the date of completion, you will be charged penalties.
Pre-completion
Between exchange and completion the following takes place:-
Transfer
The seller will sign the transfer document. This is the document that we lodge with the Land Registry to prove the existing owner agrees to the transfer of ownership of the property to you.
Mortgage funds
If there is a mortgage lender involved, we will contact them to release your mortgage funds in time for completion. Please note, to avoid late completion we request for mortgage funds two days prior to completion. This may mean that you will be charged interest by the bank for 2 additional days.
Final searches and enquiries
By this stage, Land Registry searches would have been completed. These searches disclose any mortgages that are on the property and any disputes concerning the property.
Financial Statement
We will send you a financial statement showing the amount required to complete the transaction. This statement will detail all expenses incurred on your behalf or about to incur and includes our fees. It also states the stamp duty payable.
Building Insurance
From the point that contracts have been exchanged, you may become responsible for the property, which means you should obtain suitable building insurance to cover the property. Buildings insurance should be for the full reinstatement value (as specified in your valuation report) and your lenders interest should be noted on it.
Completion
- On the day of completion, we will send to the seller's conveyancing solicitors via telegraphic transfer the purchase monies. The seller's conveyancing solicitors will then confirm receipt once they have received the money, and will then authorise the seller to release the keys to you.
- Unless you state otherwise all correspondence from the day of completion will be sent to your new address.
- After completion the following happens :
- The seller's conveyancing solicitors will forward the transfer and title deeds to us.
- We make an application to the Inland Revenue to pay the stamp duty on the property.
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§ We make an application to the Land Registry to register the property in your name.
Exception to the rules: simultaneous exchange & completion
In UK conveyancing, If the property is vacant and all parties are in agreement with this method of completion, we can arrange for contracts to be exchanged and the transaction to be completed on the same day.
Registration
Once the property has been registered in your name, we will send the title deeds to your mortgage lender, who will hold on to these as security until the mortgage has been paid off. You will receive a letter confirming registration of the property in your name with a certified copy of the registration documents showing your ownership of the property.
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