The on-line conveyancing 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 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 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. 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 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. 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.

• 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.

• After completion your solicitor will send the Stamp Duty and the Stamp Duty Land Transaction form to Inland Revenue. They will then register your purchase at the Land Registry.  This completes the conveyancing process although your file will be held for a minimum of 6 years.

 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.

• After completion your solicitor will repay your mortgage and will pay the estate agent.  They will then send you any balance due to you. Finally, they will parcel up the deeds and send them to the buyer’s solicitor.  This completes the conveyancing process but your file will be held for a minimum of six years.

Leasehold Properties

Leasehold conveyancing is much more complicated than Freehold conveyancing. If you ticked the Leasehold box when applying for your quote then the additional conveyancing fee for dealing with the leasehold is included in the conveyancing quote. Your solicitor must check that the Lease for the property has been correctly drawn up and that it does not include terms that would be unfair to you or unacceptable to a mortgage lender.  A lease is typically 60 – 100 pages long and will usually include a plan of the estate including the common areas such as garages, driveways etc. and a floor plan of the leasehold property.  All these must be checked carefully.

As most leasehold properties are in a block of several flats or maisonettes they are often run by management companies or tenant’s associations.  The solicitor must check that any management company or tenant’s association is properly formed and that the running of the estate is properly managed.  They do this by sending the management company or association a set of questions asking how the estate is managed and by checking the management accounts.  Most solicitors will require 3 years management accounts, recent service charge statements and confirmation of payment and recent ground rent receipts.

 Your solicitor must also check that the property will be adequately insured.

Note: The lease will require your solicitor to serve a Notice on the Landlord and/or Management Company confirming change of ownership and details of Mortgage Company. Most Landlords’ charge a fee to register this notice and this fee is not included in the CMS quote because it will vary from company to company.  You should budget on a sum of at least £100.00 plus VAT although it may be more or less than this sum depending on the Landlord/Management Company. 

If you are selling a leasehold property the buyer’s solicitor will require information from the Landlord/Management Company. Typically as seen above this is dealt with in the form of a questionnaire. They will also require 3 years Management Accounts, Service Charge information and receipts, Ground rent information and receipts, insurance information and receipts. 

Most Landlords/Management Companies make a charge to the seller for providing this information. This charge is not included in the CMS quote because the sum will vary from company to company. You should budget on a sum of at least £150 plus VAT although it may be more or less than this sum depending upon the Landlord/Management Company.

 All service charge and ground rent must be paid up to the date of completion.  Any sum owed by the seller will be collected by the solicitor and paid to the Landlord/Management Company on completion.  The sum will be shown on the financial statement.

 If the service charge and ground rent have been paid in advance by the seller then the buyer will be asked to repay any overpayment and this sum will be shown on the financial statement.

 With new leasehold properties the buyer is often asked to pay ground rent and service charge in advance.

Shared ownership/ equity schemes

These schemes are usually run by local authorities or housing associations.  The conveyancing is more complex than both leasehold and freehold conveyancing.  This is because your solicitor has to deal with the scheme provider who will send your solicitor a package of their requirements which must be met. Even if the property is a freehold property the scheme often requires the buyer to enter into a lengthy lease. Your solicitor must ensure that the scheme is acceptable to your lender (if you have one) and must carry out the usual contract checks, searches and enquiries.

Right to buy property 

This scheme is usually run by local authorities or housing associations. The tenant of council or housing association property is offered the “Right to Buy” their home. The property may be freehold or leasehold. The conveyancing is usually straight forward but the solicitor must comply with the local authority/ housing association requirements. The council/housing association do not usually answer pre contract enquiries so the buyer receives scant information concerning the property. There is usually no exchange of contracts stage, a set notice period must be given for completion and completion can often only take place on a set day (usually a Monday).

The council will require evidence that all rent/service charge is paid up to the date of completion.

Buy to Let property

With “buy to let” schemes the buyer is purchasing the property with a view to letting it out afterwards.  The on-line conveyancing does not differ from freehold/leasehold purchases (see above). The solicitor will be obliged to ensure that the mortgage lender’s requirements are strictly met and this may mean approving any tenancy agreement.

Remortgages

• The first thing you must do is to instruct your solicitor to begin work; you should do this as soon as you decide to re mortgage 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 the lowest online 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 mortgage lender.

• 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 to pay a sum of money up front; this will be used to pay for necessary disbursements (See jargon buster). If your re-mortgage cannot proceed for whatever reason this money will be returned to you unless the solicitor has spent it on disbursements.

• The solicitor will ask you to complete an online remortgage questionnaire and to provide proof of your identity (a legal requirement). When he receives this information from you he can begin to start work on your behalf.

• Your solicitor will obtain your deeds (if any) and if your property is registered at the Land Registry he will obtain Official Copy Entries.

• Your solicitor will write to your lender (s) to obtain repayment statements.

• Once your mortgage offer is received your solicitor will send you the Mortgage documents to sign and return. You may be asked for confirmation of insurance details.

• When the solicitor is in possession of the signed Mortgage documents and has checked that you have complied with all the mortgage conditions they will arrange to complete the re mortgage. You will be asked to suggest a convenient date (always check whether your existing mortgage has an early repayment penalty before setting the date).

• Once a completion date is set your solicitor will request the mortgage funds, carry out final searches and arrange the local search insurance. On the day of completion your solicitor will receive the mortgage funds, pay off any existing mortgages and prepare and send to you a financial statement together with any balance due to you.

• Following completion your solicitor will register the re-mortgage at the Land Registry.  This completes the online conveyancing process but your file will be stored for a minimum of 6 years.