Do I Need Residential Property Solicitors To Buy A House?
If you are buying a house with a mortgage, the short answer is yes – you will almost certainly need residential property solicitors to make it happen.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!
This is because mortgage lenders insist that legal professionals are involved on every side of the table. After all, they are putting a lot of money on the line and – somewhat understandably – do not like taking risks with it.
Reach out to us today on 0191 284 5030 or complete a Free Online Enquiry and we will get right back to you.
“Excellent service from start to finish was kept updated with everything that was going on very efficient Elaine is an asset to the firm always happy to help and very friendly would recommend birch and co to everyone“ GA
If you don’t need to take out a mortgage in order to buy, it is legally possible to do your own conveyancing. However, there are many reasons why this is a potentially fraught way to proceed:
Do You Need A Solicitor To Buy A House?
If you are using a mortgage to buy, then yes. The specific type you will need is properly called a residential conveyancing solicitor.
“Conveyancing” is the process of transferring the ownership of a property from one person to another. In theory, this is something it is possible to do yourself (at least, if you don’t need a mortgage lender).
But taking on the role of conveyancer yourself means you would need to do all of the things a solicitor does for you when buying a house:
1) Provide Legal Expertise
There are set laws and regulations around transferring the ownership of property (you can find some important ones in The Law Society’s – the professional body for solicitors – “Standard Conditions of Sale”).
Understanding how the law applies is particularly important in the case of any disputes or problems with a transaction. At these times, with so much on the line, a solicitor soon shows their worth.
Furthermore, a full property solicitor (as opposed to a licensed conveyancer, a different type of professional who can handle conveyancing but who is not a legal specialist) can offer legal advice, recommendations, and representation in the event of any issues.
2) Efficiency And Understanding Of The Process
It’s ironic that the most common complaint about conveyancers is that “everything takes a long time”. Only people who have attempted DIY conveyancing themselves understand how much slower it could actually be.
In conveyancing, the main reason for delays is usually waiting for various required parties to get back to you. This is a network of organisations and contacts that a professional conveyancing specialist understands all too well.
There are also many legal hoops to jump through. If you are not an expert, it is easy to miss something. This can cause huge delays and even lead to house sales falling through.
Much as it seems like it could be faster from the outside, a professional conveyancer knows how to hurry the system along and make the process as efficient as possible.
3) Acquiring All The Forms
Conveyancing requires many legal forms to be completed. Some of these are readily available. Others need to be specially requested from specific places as they cannot be printed or downloaded (examples of this are the TA6 and TA10 forms).
For those unfamiliar with the system, this can be a time-consuming, nervousness-producing process. Again, a missed or incorrectly filled-out form leads to delays that snowball into further delays that can imperil the entire sale.
4) Exchange Contracts
Though it sounds simple, this isn’t a case of two people handing each other a piece of paper. There are protocols set by The Law Society that require the people involved to be legal professionals who can make specific undertakings.
Even if you fancied doing this yourself, it might not be possible. You’d probably need a professional to be involved at this stage if not any other.
5) Responsibility And Peace Of Mind
Stories of the ways that people who have tried to handle conveyancing themselves have gone wrong are many and varied. Being personally legally responsible for any innocent errors can be immensely costly – and worrying.
In the much less likely event that a professional solicitor who has handled this process dozens of times before makes an error, you and they will both be covered by their legal insurance.
This expertise (and insurance) gives you much more peace of mind than trying to proceed by simply hoping you’ve taken care of everything properly – only to be faced with a huge bill and delays later on.
“Have just used Birch & Co for a house purchase and sale after using them a few years ago for my divorce, they are great, they are very professional at the same time as being welcoming and friendly putting you completely at ease as soon as you walk through the door, If you’re lucky you may even get cuddles from Murphy the dog. I would thoroughly recommend them to anyone looking for a solicitors in the area.” (JA)
Do I Need Residential Property Solicitors To Buy A House?
If you are using a mortgage to buy, then yes your lender is likely to insist that you use a specialist to handle your conveyancing. Even if you are able to buy without a mortgage though, there are many reasons why most people still prefer to use a professional – as we’ve seen above.
Plus, this is by no means all that residential property solicitors do during the conveyancing process. There are still all of the property searches to take care of, dealing with the Land Registry, checking the legal boundaries of the property, and much more.
In the past two decades of serving the people of the North East, Birch & Co has seen just how many issues can be prevented by using an expert. It’s the reason for our 5-star Google reviews and why 99% of our clients would recommend our Law Society-accredited conveyancing to a friend.
Reach out to us today on 0191 284 5030 or complete a Free Online Enquiry and we will get right back to you.
“Dealt with the sale of my late mothers house and were very attentive to all details and keeping us informed of the progress. Would definitely recommend them”(GG)