The on-line legal process 

Online Conveyancing is the legal process that transfers property from one owner to another. Your conveyancing will be carried out by a conveyancing specialist employed by one of the CMS panel solicitors/ licensed conveyancers.  All of our panel firms are approved and regularly checked by CMS.  All firms are members of the Law Society or Council for Licensed Conveyancers (you will find their contact details in our Links section) and all carry at least £1,000,000 worth of indemnity insurance for the protection of their clients. You can relax knowing that CMS have done all the hard work of checking the conveyancing process and solicitor credentials and service provision leaving you to get on with the business of moving house.

 Buying a house 

• The first thing you must do is to instruct your solicitor to begin work; you should do this as soon as you decide to buy a house to avoid delays later on. CMS makes this easy for you, simply obtain your choice of the lowest online conveyancing quotes from the CMS web site and choose which one works best for you then simply click to instruct. Alternatively, telephone our customer services department on 0845 060 3355 and they will do everything for you.

• As soon as you accept a CMS quote you will be given direct contact details for your conveyancer including name, address, telephone, fax and e mail. This information is also sent to you in a confirmatory e mail. You need to give this information to your estate agent. The estate agent will then write to everyone confirming the sale and giving contact details for solicitors. The conveyancing process then commences.

• The solicitor will telephone you and will send you a client care letter and confirmatory estimate. Some solicitors send the initial letter by e mail so make sure you check your e mail account. You will be asked to provide proof of identity (a legal requirement). You may be asked to sign and return one copy of the client care letter to confirm that you want to go ahead with the conveyancing process. You will be asked to pay a sum of money up front; this will be used to pay for necessary searches. If your purchase cannot proceed for whatever reason (and the conveyancing process is aborted) this money will be returned to you unless the searches have already been done.

• Once your solicitor has received the signed client care letter and search cheque they can start work. They will contact the solicitor acting for your Seller and ask them to send a contract package in order to begin the conveyancing process. They will order the necessary searches.

• Once the contract package is received they will check the details carefully and raise any necessary enquiries. These are called preliminary enquiries. At this stage you may be sent a copy of the Property Information Form and a Fixtures and Fittings form. The conveyancing process will all be completed online.

• As soon as the searches are received and the solicitor has replies to the preliminary enquiries they will begin to prepare a report to send to you.  They usually wait until you receive your mortgage offer (if you need one) before sending the report.

• When your mortgage offer is received the solicitor will check it carefully to ensure the details are correct.  They will then send you the Contract report together with the Contract and the Mortgage Documents to sign.  At this stage you may be asked to pay the property deposit (the difference between your mortgage and the purchase price – usually 10% of the purchase price).

• When the solicitor is holding the contract and mortgage documents and cleared funds (see jargon buster) for your deposit they will notify your seller’s solicitor that they are ready to exchange.  At this stage you will be asked to suggest a moving date that is convenient to you and is acceptable to your seller.

• When your seller is ready and the moving date is agreed your solicitor will “exchange contracts” (See jargon buster). At this point the sale is legally confirmed.

• Between exchange of contracts and “completion” (See jargon buster) your solicitor will carry out final searches, send you a financial statement, request you to pay any balance due and apply for your mortgage money.

• On completion day your solicitor will send the completion money to your seller’s solicitor.  When this arrives the seller’s solicitor will authorise the seller or his estate agent to release the keys to you. This concludes the conveyancing process.

 Selling a house 

• The first thing you must do is to instruct your solicitor to begin work; you should do this as soon as you decide to sell to avoid delays later on. CMS makes this easy for you, simply obtain your choice of quotes from the CMS web site and choose which one works best for you then simply click to instruct. Alternatively, telephone our customer services department on 0845 060 33 55 and they will do everything for you.

• As soon as you accept a CMS quote you will be given direct contact details for your conveyancer including name, address, telephone, fax and e mail. This information is also sent to you in a confirmatory e mail. You need to give this information to your estate agent. The estate agent will then write to everyone confirming the sale and giving contact details for solicitors.

• The solicitor will telephone you and will send you a client care letter and confirmatory estimate. Some solicitors send the initial letter by e mail so make sure you check your e mail account. You may be asked to sign and return one copy of the client care letter to confirm that you want to go ahead. You will be asked for proof of identity (a legal requirement). You will be asked to pay a sum of money up front; this will be used to pay for necessary disbursements (See jargon buster). If your sale cannot proceed for whatever reason this money will be returned to you, unless the solicitor has spent it on disbursements.

• Your solicitor will send you a Property Information Form and a Fixtures and Fittings form to complete and return.  They may also send you a questionnaire about the property including whether you have a mortgage.  It is important that you complete these forms honestly and accurately and that you return them as quickly as possible.

• Your solicitor will write to your buyer’s solicitor confirming their instruction to act for you.

• Once your solicitor has received all the necessary information from you they will obtain the deeds and if your property is registered, Official Copy Entries from the Land Registry. With this information the solicitor can then prepare the Contract for sale.

• The solicitor then sends the Contract package to your buyer’s solicitor.

• The buyer’s solicitor checks the contract package and may send additional enquiries to your solicitor.  You will be sent a copy of any additional enquiries and you may be asked for answers to non legal enquiries (such as queries about neighbour disputes, guarantees for central heating, double glazing etc.)

• Your solicitor will reply to any enquiries and once the buyer’s solicitor is happy with them he will “approve” the contract. Your solicitor will then send you the contract to sign and return.

• When your solicitor is holding your signed contract they will contact the buyer’s solicitor to let them know you are ready to exchange.  At this stage you may be asked to suggest a completion date that is convenient to you and the buyer.

• When your buyers are ready to exchange your solicitor will exchange contracts. At this point the sale is legally confirmed.

• Between exchange of contracts and completion your solicitor will obtain a repayment figure for your mortgage (if you have one) and will obtain the estate agent’s account (if you have one) and will send you a financial statement. The final Transfer deed will be sent to you for your signature.

• On the completion day your solicitor will wait for the buyer’s money to arrive and will then notify you and your estate agent (if any) that completion has been finalised. You will be authorised to release the keys to the buyer.