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Conveyancing Service - Information

 

If you intend to buy, sell or remortgage a property, you will be looking for specialist conveyancing assistance from an experienced and reputable firm.

The Legal Line conveyancing service is provided by the Thompsons Partnership. They are able to offer a high quality, low cost service, details of which can be found below:

First Steps of our Conveyancing Procedures
Our Contact With You
Conveyancing Fees
The Conveyancing Process
Buying a Property
Selling a Property
Remortgaging a Property
Complaints Procedure
Further Information

First Steps of our Conveyancing Procedures

Following your initial contact with us, you will receive correspondence outlining certain details as follows:

• The procedure that will be followed, together with some helpful guidelines.

• Details of the fixed fee and an estimated amount of any other expenses, such as search fees.

• The name of the executive assigned to handle the matter for you.

• The details of the complaints procedure.

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Our Contact With You

Part of the procedure is to keep you informed of any progress on a regular basis. You will receive correspondence at least once every fortnight during the transaction.

The letters will be in plain English, with any technical or legal terminology fully explained.

You will receive a prompt response to any contact, the following timescales can be used as a guide:

• Telephone Calls / Faxes / Emails: A response will be made on the same working day or the next working day.

• Letters: A reply will be forwarded to you within three working days of receipt of your correspondence.

Any documents such as completion statements, bills and certificates will be sent to you promptly and you will be informed in advance of any unexpected or unusual expenses. Any money that is due to you will be sent on either the same day as completion or the following working day.

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Conveyancing Fees

We offer competitive rates for house sales and purchases and discounted rates for union members.  If you would like a quotation please contact:

England and Wales: 01752 660700, or sm@thompsonspartnership.com

Northern Ireland: 02890 890400

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The Conveyancing Process

The following procedures will be followed when dealing with the conveyancing transaction:

• When all the relevant information has been received, the deeds will be requested within three working days.

• Within four working days of receipt of the deeds, the buyers’ representatives will be issued with draft sale contracts.

• A purchase contract for signature and full report will be sent within three working days when all of the necessary information has been received.

• Communications from all parties involved will receive a swift response and any pre-contract enquiries will be made promptly.

• Following receipt of the necessary information and payment from you, any searches will be made within three working days.

• When registration of title has been completed, copies of the land/charge certificate issued will be sent within three days.

• Within fourteen days of the completion of registration, deeds will be forwarded to your lender (i.e. building society/bank).

• On the day of completion/successful exchange of contracts, you will be informed by telephone, or by post if this is not possible.

• Applications to register mortgages will be made to the Land Registry within twenty one days after completion or, if earlier, within the search priority period.

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Buying a Property

The general procedure that we will undertake on your behalf when purchasing a property is as follows:

1. When we receive your instructions, we will contact the vendor’s solicitors to request a draft contract and papers.

2. Upon receipt of these papers, any relevant searches will be made and enquiries raised about the contract and the property itself.

3. Enquiries will then be made as to whether there are any covenants that apply to the property and we will check that the vendor owns and has ‘good title’ to it.

4. If we believe that the terms of the contract are fair to you, contracts will be exchanged with the vendor’s solicitors.

5. In the case that you are taking out a mortgage to help with your purchase, we will ensure that the instructions have been received, a suitable offer made and that any attached conditions can be met before proceeding to completion.

6. Any further enquiries about the ownership of the property and all relevant title searches will be made prior to completion.

7. An application will be made to your lender for the mortgage money in plenty of time. It may be necessary to provide them with a ‘report on title’ to show that you have sufficient title on the property for the mortgage to be secure.

8. When the purchase reaches completion (the day that you are entitled to move in), arrangements will be made for the payment of the purchase price to be made to the vendor’s solicitors. We will also obtain documents to prove title to the property.

9. Following completion, the relevant registration and stamping at H.M. Land Registry will be carried out.

10. To finalise the process, the deeds will be sent either to yourself or your mortgage company, as appropriate. If they are sent to the mortgage company, you will be provided with copies for your own records.

During the purchasing process, we will deal with all enquiries from estate agents on your behalf.

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Selling a Property

The general procedure that we will undertake on your behalf when purchasing a property is as follows:

1. After we receive instructions from you, we will first obtain your deeds.

2. Following receipt of the deeds, a draft contract will be prepared and submitted to the buyer’s solicitors for consideration, together with evidence of your ownership of the property. Details will also be included of any ‘covenants’ or that affect the property (for example an obligation to maintain a common area).

3. Enquiries will be raised by the buyer’s solicitors about the property and contract. A property has to be fully represented, meaning that all information affecting it should be disclosed. We will take your instructions on any queries raised in order to answer them correctly and avoid your being liable for any mis-representation claims after completion of the sale.

4. The terms of the contract will then be agreed and, when you and the buyer are ready to be committed to the sale, contracts will be exchanged. Before this happens, the buyer will want to have completed all of their enquiries, arranged their mortgage and in some cases lined up the sale of their own property.

5. After contracts have been exchanged, we will approve the final documentation on your behalf and, if relevant, obtain the details of anyone holding a mortgage over the property so that they can be paid upon completion.

6. The arrangements will be made for completion and on the day of completion, by which you must vacate the property, we will receive the funds from the buyer’s solicitors. The deeds will then be passed over, any mortgage settled and arrangements made for it’s formal discharge. The documents will then be passed to the buyer’s solicitors.

7. Commission due to any estate agents will be paid out of the net proceeds of the sale.

During the purchasing process, we will deal with all enquiries from estate agents on your behalf.

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Remortgaging a Property

1. When we have received instructions from you, we will send away for your deeds.

2. The deeds will then be reviewed, any enquiries about the property and contract will be made and the relevant searches will be carried out.

3. Any necessary enquiries will be made to ensure that you do have ownership of the property and have ‘good title’

4. Because you will be obtaining a new mortgage, we will check that the instructions have been received, a suitable offer has been made and that any conditions of the mortgage can be complied with before completing.

5. Any further enquiries and title searches will be made.

6. An application will be made to your mortgage company for a redemption figure. They will be provided with a ‘report on title’ at this time to show that your title to the property is sufficient to secure the mortgage.

7. Following completion, all of the necessary registration at H.M. Land Registry will be completed.

8. The deeds will be passed to the mortgage company, with a copy to you for your own records.

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Complaints Procedure

The Thompsons Partnership is dedicated to providing a quality legal service to all of its clients. If, therefore, any client feels that they have cause to complain, it is of utmost importance to us that there is an effective procedure in place to ensure that the problem is resolved as simply as possible.

By having a complaints procedure, we are able to maintain our standards, listen to what our clients tell us and continue to improve our service.

How to begin a complaint:

To begin with, it is helpful if you are able to outline your concerns to us in writing. Your letter should be addressed to the Managing Partner at:

The Thompsons Partnership Solicitors
125 North Hill
Plymouth
PL4 8JY

The Managing Partner will oversee the handling of your complaint and will be responsible for it overall, however may designate another individual to undertake some steps of the process.

The Next Steps:

Your complaint will be acknowledged and you will receive confirmation of who will handle the matter within three working days of receipt. Our understanding of your concerns will be outlined and we may ask you to confirm or clarify the details. The following procedure will then be followed:

• A separate file will be opened and your complaint registered in the Central Register so that it can be monitored.

• When we receive your confirmation letter (or telephone call), this will be acknowledged and we will agree a suitable timetable for dealing with the matter.

• The complaint will be investigated. The person that acted for you may first be asked to respond to your complaint and this will be examined along with your file. If further information is required from the person that acted for you at this point, it will be obtained.

• A meeting may then be arranged so that you have the opportunity to discuss, and hopefully resolve, the issue.

• If it is the case that you are unable to attend a meeting or do not wish to, you will receive a detailed written response to your complaint. This will outline the results of the investigation and provide any suggestions for resolving the problem. If a meeting is held, you will still receive a written report of the outcome.

• In the unlikely event that you remain dissatisfied with our response to your complaint or the proposed method of resolving it, we can arrange for the decision to be reviewed.

The Review Process:

When we receive your request for a review to be carried out, you will receive an acknowledgement and details of the time scale within which the review will be carried out.

If your complaint is escalated to this stage, either the person dealing with your complaint will review their handling of the matter and the decision made, or another partner will do so. You should receive details of the outcome within 14 days of the initial acknowledgement.

If, after the review you are still unhappy with the handling of your complaint, we will supply you with the contact details of the Law Society’s Consumer Complaints Service. The Law Society is a regulatory body for solicitors and you may refer your complaint to them once we have concluded our professional obligation to resolve the matter.

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Further Information

For further information, please call 01752 660700 or email:

sm@thompsonspartnership.com (please note that this email address cannot be used to obtain legal advice or reach any individual solicitors.

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