Tips for a smoother conveyancing process
I have written quite a lot of posts on the conveyancing process and thought it would be useful to narrow down our top tips in one post.
If you’re interested in an overview of our conveyancing process and our timelines for when each step took place, see this post.
I feel like the whole conveyancing process for us was just a really long and stressful process and I've looked back to see what went well and what we would do differently next time.
Tips for a smoother conveyancing process
1) Familiarise with the process so you know what to expect.
I like to be informed and by knowing what was coming up next, I felt less anxious and it made it easier for me when following up and chasing.
2) Ask friends and family for recommendations for the solicitor or conveyancer.
I find it helpful to select a provider if someone I know has used the company before. I would still check the online reviews though because a friend recommended the conveyancer they used but then the company didn’t have great online reviews at the time that we looked but there are multiple conveyancers so it might be best to ask for the same conveyancer.
We had a diligent and reliable solicitor and that helped make the whole property buying process less stressful. I’ve written about the steps of how we looked for a solicitor and the queries that we asked in this post!
3) Call the relevant parties regularly for an update.
The whole process felt quite long and slow for us. There was a lot of time spent waiting for information from seller's solicitors. Also, whilst this property transaction was very important to us, I was also conscious that the solicitors weren't just dealing with our transaction so I found it helpful to regularly reach out for an update and ask our solicitor to help us chase.
On some occasions, we called the solicitor several times a week for an update or queries as this was all new to me and I had lots of questions about the contract and lease. I felt much clearer on the risks once the solicitor explained clauses in layman's terms.
4) Understand what to look out for when reviewing the paperwork.
I’ve written a post on tips for understanding the lease here! I found LEASE (The Leasehold Advisory Service) really useful!
I also shared our experience of reviewing the Report on Title in this post.
5) Check the paperwork carefully for errors.
We had some errors in the contract so I’ve shared the things we looked for in this post.
In another post, I’ve also included what we checked in the lease and questions that we asked the solicitor.
6) Use tools to help speed up reviews of new versions of the updated documents.
I still don’t understand how things that were correct in earlier versions get changed in later versions. One example is that in later version of our contract, the deposit amount was wrong with an extra zero!
We were comparing versions by eye (not the most time efficient way!) and didn’t discover the document comparison tool in Google Docs until late into the process. It’s so handy and saved us a lot of time. I wrote a step by step guide here on how to use it!
8) Have a checklist for completion day and make sure you have all the essential house purchase documents!
It was such an exciting day when we completed and in the excitement it was easy to forget about the paperwork that I needed to make sure I had. I’ve included links to the useful resources that found in this post. There is a really handy list from HomeOwners Alliance and I ended up printing it out for completion day so I had it to hand.
9) Ask the solicitor or conveyancer to confirm the time that completion is taking place.
We didn’t think to do this and the level of anxiety when waiting for an update on completion day was so high. It was like nervously waiting for exam results but not knowing what time in the day it would be released.
I’ve included our experience of exchanging and completing on the same day in this post.
10) Make sure you have a phone number to contact the person who will be handing over the keys to you.
The estate agent didn’t give us a phone number to contact the person giving us the keys and so when our completion didn’t happen until later in the afternoon, we weren’t able to make it to the property at the agreed time and could only email to inform the estate agent.
They didn’t see our email so there was some confusion until they finally called us and we were able to let them know we would be late picking up the keys. This issue just made our day even more stressful which is why I think it’s so important to make sure you have the phone number!
To be fair, it was unusual times and I think a lot of the staff were on furlough so all of our earlier estate agent contact emails had out of office emails on which directed us to just one generic email. I’m very grateful that we were able to complete our transaction in the first lockdown!
Hope your transaction goes smoothly!
Jess
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