We will obviously be in touch with you by letter, email and telephone throughout the transaction but we thought that this brief guide to the Conveyancing process may be of assistance to you and help you to understand what is going on in what can be a rather confusing process.

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Step 1	Buyer and seller reach agreement on the price to be paid for the property either directly or through an estate agent.
Step 2	Buyer obtains quotation from solicitor and instructs solicitor to act.
Step 3	If there is an estate agent the estate agent will generally send out details of confirmation of the transaction to the buyer, the seller and 'both parties' solicitors or conveyancers. The estate agents should also take the property off the market at this stage.
Step 4	The buyer pays his solicitor monies for searches so that these can be submitted as soon as the draft contract is received.
Step 5	The buyer's mortgage survey takes place plus any further survey that the buyer has requested to be carried out.
Step 6	When the draft contract is received the buyer's solicitor will check the copies of the title deeds received, the property information forms, (plus if leasehold, a copy of the lease and leasehold information) and raise any enquiries on the paperwork with the seller's solicitors that appear necessary.
	The enquiries that are raised at this stage may be legal and technical questions relating to the Land Registry documentation and queries relating to planning permission and building regulations in connection with extensions or alterations to the property.
Step 7	The buyer's solicitor will raise searches using the plans attached to the Deeds.
Step 8	The buyer's solicitor will receive the results of the searches that he has carried out against the property and raise any further questions of the seller that the results may require.
Step 9	The buyer and the buyer's solicitor will both receive copies of any mortgage offer being obtained by the buyer.
Step 10	When satisfied with all of the information supplied the buyer's solicitor will confirm to the seller's solicitor that the form of contract is agreed.
Step 11	The buyer's solicitor will prepare a written report to the buyer on the property based on the searches, deeds and replies to enquiries received. This explains in clear non technical language the important legal aspects of the title and other matters relating to the property.
Step 12	The buyer then signs the contract and pays his solicitor the deposit monies, normally 10% of the purchase price although often a lesser deposit will be acceptable, particularly if you are obtaining a mortgage of more than 90% of the purchase price. If you are selling and buying at the same time, usually your seller will accept the same deposit on your purchase as you receive on your sale and you should not, when buying and selling, therefore, need to pay any deposit. Any deposit you do pay is, of course, credited to you when the final accounts are prepared.
Step 13	When both solicitors and the buyer and the seller are all happy to proceed and any other related transactions are in a similar position, (for instance the buyer may have a property to sell and there may be a chain), a completion date can be agreed.
Step 14	The solicitors exchange contracts fixing a moving date and making the sale of the property legally binding on both parties.
Step 15	The buyer's solicitor notifies the buyer's mortgage company (if any) of a completion date.
Step 16	The buyer's solicitor prepares a financial statement showing the monies required from the buyer to be able to complete the purchase of the property.
	Please be aware that if completion is set very soon after exchange of contracts there will be little time for a financial statement to be prepared and the money sent so you should ensure all the monies that you need to complete the transaction are readily available.
Step 17	The seller and the buyer organize practical arrangements such as removals in readiness for completion.
Step 18	The buyer puts his solicitors in funds to be able to pay for the property plus his solicitors fees and disbursements (stamp duty, land registry fees etc)
Step 19	The buyer's monies (and mortgage monies if appropriate) are received by the buyer's solicitor and the balance of the purchase price is remitted electronically to the seller's solicitor.
Step 20	The buyer collects keys and moves into the property.
Step 21	The buyer's solicitor pays the Stamp Duty (if applicable), fills in the Stamp Duty Land Tax form, registers the buyer as the new owner with the Land Registry and deals with any formal requirements that any lease attached to the property may require. He will also ensure that any mortgage companys interests are noted on the deeds.
Step 22	After the Land Registry have updated their records to show the new owner of the property and any new mortgage, copies of the updated Land Registry documentation are sent back to the buyer's solicitor who returns a copy of these to the buyer's mortgage company to confirm their mortgage has been correctly registered. A copy of the documents are also sent to the buyer.

We hope this guide has been useful to you. We hope it also shows that solicitors do earn their money in Conveyancing transactions!