Buying a house is a significant step, and we're here to guide you through every stage of the journey.
From the moment your offer is accepted to receiving your keys, our panel of expert conveyancing solicitors will ensure a smooth process.
We handle all the legal details, ensuring your purchase progresses efficiently while keeping you informed at every stage.
Why choose Homeward Legal for your house purchase?
We've established an excellent reputation you can trust and helped over 30,000 customers in the past 13 years.
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Fixed Legal Fee policy
No hidden costs - the legal fee you get quoted is definitive.
No-Completion, No-Fee policy
You won't pay any legal fees if your move falls through for any reason.
Search & survey protection
You won't pay for your next search and survey if your transaction falls through.
Complete support
Dedicated customer service from start to finish. We are open 6 days a week.
Local knowledge
Solicitors with offices across England and Wales.
Simple & straightforward
No confusion with legal jargon - just plain and simple English.
Our conveyancing solicitors are regulated under the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC).
What is the conveyancing process when buying a house?
We illustrate the conveyancing buying process on the following infographic:
If you're wondering what solicitors do when you're buying a house, here we explain the key keys stages of the purchase conveyancing process once an offer has been accepted:
- ID documents and instruction forms are completed by the client
- The purchaser's conveyancing solicitor receives contracts from the seller's solicitor for review
- The purchaser's conveyancing solicitor raises enquiries of the seller's solicitor
- Searches are ordered from local authorities, the Environment Agency etc
- Terms are agreed and a date is set for completion
- Exchange contracts
- Completion - the day you move in!
Post-completion formalities - this is the finalising of the stamp duty payment to HMRC, registering of the title at the Land Registry and dealing with the final documents to the client.
What a conveyancing solicitor does for you when buying a house
When you instruct a conveyancing solicitor or licensed conveyancer through Homeward Legal, we endeavour to meet any requirements you have, including providing you with a property purchase solicitor who knows the area in which you are buying. Once instructed, your conveyancing solicitor ensures the seller has the legal right to sell the property, that the land itself is free from issues and that all financing is in order.
They will ask the seller's solicitor a number of questions (known as enquiries) about the property's use and history and carry out important property searches.
Your solicitor for the house purchase must also check the mortgage arrangements, as well as looking after the lender's interest where a mortgage is being taken out.
There is more work and risk involved when representing a buyer because of the legal principle known as caveat emptor or ‘buyer beware'. This means it is the responsibility of the buyer's solicitors to raise all pertinent questions about the property. Buyers must be aware there is no obligation on the seller to disclose anything unless asked directly.
Using a solicitor for the house purchase will make the process easier. All you need to do is complete any forms and sign any documents as soon as possible to ensure there are no hold-ups to the conveyancing process.
When to instruct a solicitor when buying a house
Ideally you'll want to appoint a solicitor for buying a house as soon as you have put in an offer on a property and before you have finalised the mortgage for it. But you don't need a conveyancer before you make an offer.
How much does a solicitor cost for buying a house?
How much does a solicitor cost for buying a house?
The cost for conveyancing solicitors when buying a house can vary widely depending on the value of the property, as well as if the property is leasehold or freehold.
At Homeward Legal, the solicitor fees you are quoted for conveyancing will be exactly what you pay, with no hidden costs.
When do I pay my solicitor's fees when buying a house?
When do I pay my solicitor's fees when buying a house?
When you receive a quote from a conveyancing solicitor, it will contain a number of additional items called disbursements. These relate to the fees and taxes the solicitor has to pay other organisations as part of the house-buying process, such as local search fees, drainage and water search fees and flood risk reports.
You may be asked for some payment up front to cover these various searches. With Homeward Legal, our friendly, professional team will explain the disbursements and fees in detail and tell you which ones you will need to pay up front. You will pay the remaining fees, along with your solicitor's fees upon completion.
Get in touch for your buying conveyancing quote
If you're looking to buy a property, get in touch with the team today about our buying conveyancing services.
Alternatively, you can always give us a ring on and we'll be happy to speak to you.
Frequently asked questions...
Your conveyancing solicitor should be able to advise if there are any other government schemes in place (such as ‘Help to Buy') to assist with your purchase and whether you are eligible to take advantage of any that are running. In particular, for first-time buyers, the stamp duty threshold has been raised to £300,000.
If you are looking for ways of cutting costs, there is no better way of doing it than choosing one of the best conveyancing solicitors in the country with Homeward Legal. Get an online calculator, or call us now on , so we can match you with the best conveyancing solicitor based on your conveyancing needs.Many contaminants can impact a residential property. These need not be restricted to chemical or mineral pollutants either, since investigations into contamination also include proposed erection of mobile masts, or the proximity of electricity pylons.
Where the property has been built on former industrial or agricultural land, consideration will be given to any known pollution that exists in the topsoil or in the vicinity. All aspects of the environmental impact to the property will be considered as part of the environmental searches and reported in the conveyancer's report on title for the property.
When acting for a purchaser, a conveyancing lawyer will carry out an environmental search, which will identify if the property is on a known floodplain.
Whether the house or flat is in one of these locations or not doesn't necessarily mean that it has flooded in the past, or will be flooded in the future, because the basic environmental search only assesses the general risk. Furthermore, the information returned in the search cannot factor in the existence and effectiveness of flood defences, such as the Thames Barrier.
If a potential risk is identified and is deemed significant, your conveyancing lawyer may recommend a further, more detailed search (from a specialist company such as Searches UK or Landmark), which will be charged as a third-party fee. Please speak to your solicitor if you have any concerns about the flood risk with respect to your property.
See a sample Homecheck Flood Report.
Now's the time to get your move moving with the best conveyancing solicitors from Homeward Legal. Complete an instant online quote tool for your fixed legal fee* conveyancing quote, safeguarded by our No-Completion No Fee†, or, if you want to talk to one of our friendly, expert team, call us on or by using our eligibility checker.
