The Conveyancing Process – Preparing for Completion

You have exchanged contracts on your sale and/or purchase. Completion is next week. What happens now?

Sale

If you have a mortgage, your Solicitor will request a final redemption statement. They will then prepare a final completion statement. This will show how much money is due to you after completion, or (less usually) how much is needed from you to complete. It will include sale proceeds, legal fees and disbursements, mortgage redemption and estate agents’ fees. It will not deal with removal costs.

Purchase

Your Solicitor will request that the mortgage advance be paid to their firm in time for completion. As on a sale, they will prepare a final Completion Statement. This will show how much money is required to complete; if you are also selling, it will show the amount coming from the sale to fund the purchase.  It will include purchase monies, legal fees and disbursements, Stamp Duty Land Tax, and Land Registry Fees. It will not deal with surveyors’ fees or removal costs.

Your Solicitor will also carry out priority searches to ensure that your purchase is protected at the Land Registry. This is a final check on the Land Registry title. If there have been any applications to the Land Registry while the purchase has been ongoing, these will be revealed by the priority search and may need further investigation.

As the name suggests, the priority search also confers a period of priority. This means that if anyone else applies to the Land Registry about the property, their application must wait until your application has been completed. This leaves the way clear for your Solicitor to complete your purchase and apply to register it at the Land Registry, with protection from any changes at the Land Registry.

A priority search can also reveal an earlier priority search. This would require further investigation before completion.

General

While your Solicitor is doing this, you will be busy packing, informing utility companies and other providers, and otherwise preparing for your forthcoming move.

The Conveyancing team deal with completions every week. For more information or an estimate of fees, please contact conveyancingteam@mjplaw.co.uk.