The Most Common Delays in Conveyancing

LEEDS, England, December 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Conveyancing is the term used to describe the legal process that takes places when buying or selling a property. The legal advisor who acts on your behalf in the conveyancing process is called your "conveyancer".  

Moving house is said to be one of the most stressful times of many people's lives as there can be many people involved within the transaction chain and everything has to come together in a relatively small timescale.  

There are a number of things that can cause delays in  conveyancing. The most common of these are:

1. Waiting for a mortgage offer - The majority of people require a mortgage to purchase a house and, in recent times, it has become much more difficult to secure borrowing from any bank or building society. There are a number of forms to complete and requirements to be met before the bank will produce a formal mortgage offer and the whole process from initial application to receipt of the final offer can take a number of weeks.
   • Solution  - Make your mortgage application as soon as possible once your offer has been accepted.
2. Buying in a chain - Being in a chain, no matter how small, can often cause delays. Not each transaction progresses at the same speed. Although your house purchase may be straightforward the person next in the chain might have received a bad search result, negative survey or may be struggling to secure a mortgage.
   It is often also the case that people cannot agree on the date they wish to move. A date may have been agreed informally at the beginning but nothing is binding until contracts are exchanged and because of any delays the original date may have passed. This means everybody in the chain has to agree an alternative date which is not easy as people are sometimes on holiday or may have problems arranging removals.  
   In recent times there has been a trend for many people to put their house on the market and tell the estate agents that they are not in a chain as they can move straight out to live with friends or relatives. However once completion draws near they decide it is not convenient for them to do this and so they decide they do wish to buy a house and so the buyer has to wait for this new transaction to catch up. The buyer is then left with a tough choice: do they accept a delay of a number of weeks or do they risk losing the house of their dreams?
   • Solution  - Try to be patient and understand that delays can sometimes be out of our control and always be as open and honest as possible with other parties regarding your situation and availability to move.
3. Waiting for Searches - Searches results are normally received quite quickly but on occasions the local search results can take a number of weeks to come through. This is often the case because the local council have a backlog.
   • Solution  - Provide search fees as early as possible so there are no delays in making search applications.
4. Waiting for enquiries - The main job of a conveyancer is to investigate the legal title of the property in order to make sure there are no legal problems that may affect your enjoyment of your new home. This means that in order to do their job properly your conveyancer will need to raise enquiries with the seller's solicitor once they have checked all the contract paperwork. The seller's solicitor will often need to make further investigations with their clients, the council or the property's managing agents before they can respond and this process can take a few weeks depending on the complexities of any enquiries that may be raised.
   • Solution -  Your conveyancer will keep you updated on the progress of your sale or purchase and will advise you once each stage is reached and on any replies to enquiries.

Contact:
Liam Prescott, Solicitor 
Simpson Millar LLP - Conveyancing
info@simpsonmillar.co.uk
+44(0)808-129-3320