"Amazing service. Completed on a house sale in 28 days. Great communication and got the job done."
Look no further for your residential conveyancing solicitor in Durham
Whatever your property challenge, we can solve it.
Selling property in Durham
Your expert conveyancing solicitor's role when selling a property in Durham, will include:
- Draft contracts – Your conveyancing solicitor drafts the initial legal contract to be sent to the buyer's solicitor.
- Responding to enquiries – your solicitor responds to any questions the buyer's solicitor may have (this is where you'll find out if you are missing documents, which can cause delays to your sale).
- Investigating issues – your solicitor may need to complete further investigation to try and satisfy them.
- Exchange contracts – once the buyer's solicitor has satisfied their enquiries, contracts are finalised and exchanged
- On the day of completion – your solicitor receives the money for the sale, discharges the mortgage (if required), pays the estate agent, deducts their fee and then sends the net sale proceeds to you.
- Post completion – your solicitor receives the DS1 discharge documents and, when leasehold, settles your liabilities for ground rent and service charges.
Our Durham conveyancing solicitors' cost for selling a property starts from £723 INC VAT.
For Durham buying
- Draft contracts – Your solicitor reviews the draft contract sent by the seller's solicitor.
- Raising enquiries – your solicitor will ask the seller's solicitor questions based on the contract, title, and property documents to protect you from any nasty surprises.
- Exchange contracts – once your solicitor is satisfied with their enquiries, they agree with the seller to finalise and exchange contracts
- Day of completion – on the day of completion, your solicitor transfers the money for the sale.
- Post completion – following completion, your solicitor makes an application to HM Land Registry to register you as the new owner.
Our Durham conveyancing solicitors' cost for buying a property starts from £723 INC VAT.
Add or remove someone from a property title in Durham
With a Transfer of Equity, you can buy someone out of a shared property and remove them from the title, or add someone to the title to transfer ownership of a share of the property, making them a joint owner. This service includes:
- Property solicitors fees including ID checks, office copies
- HM Land Registration fees
- (if party being removed) ID1 Form verification fee
- (if mortgage) Change of mortgage fee
- (if leasehold) Notice fee to freeholder
Our Durham conveyancing solicitors' cost for a Transfer of Equity in Durham starts at £399 INC VAT.
If someone is giving up their share of the property for less than market value, they may be required to get independent legal advice, which will be an additional expense.
Switch your mortgage deal in Durham
Your remortgage solicitor will perform all the necessary checks, review your new mortgage offer, and update HM Land Registry post-completion. The process is similar to when you purchase but should take less time, as the solicitor doesn't need to raise any legal enquiries.
If you own a leasehold property, your solicitor must carry out extra work to investigate the lease terms. Our conveyancing solicitors' cost for a remortgage in Durham starts at £363 INC VAT INC VAT.
Purchase the next chunk of your equity
When you're ready to buy the next chunk of the equity in your shared ownership property, a conveyancer will be required to handle:
- The bank transfer;
- obtaining a mortgage redemption statement from your existing lender;
- receiving your new mortgage offer and confirming the lender terms;
- receiving the memorandum of staircasing;
- handling completion;
- filing SDLT form (if required); and
- registration at the Land Registry.
Our conveyancing solicitors' cost for shared ownership staircasing in Durham starts at £569 INC VAT.
If you need to add someone to the legal title, you will need to pay an additional fee for a transfer of equity.
Paying off your Help to Buy equity loan
You'll need a solicitor to:
- Receive redemption letter;
- review title for ownership and restrictions;
- obtain Authority to Complete;
- draft a deed of postponement for your current lender;
- handling completion;
- bank transfer; and
- if repaid in full, removal of the loan restriction at the Land Registry.
Our conveyancing solicitors' cost for Help to Buy loan redemption in Durham starts at £333 INC VAT.
Price based on a freehold with the loan being repaid in full using savings.
Why buy a home in Durham?
Durham is a city and the county town of County Durham and is known for being rich in historical buildings. It is also a collegiate university town, like Oxford and Cambridge and the university is known worldwide for its academic excellence.
Its cathedral of St Cuthbert is the final resting place of the eponymous saint and dates back to Norman times. The city also had a large trade union movement, which developed originally in the 18th century.
Although the Industrial Revolution largely passed the city by, it was well known for carpet making and weaving. The Industrial Revolution, however, made great use of the extensive coalfields in Durham's vicinity. Durham University developed its colleges considerably in the mid-20th century.
The city has more than 630 listed buildings, including Kepier Hospital and St Giles church, Gilesgate.
University Hospital Of North Tees, Hardwick Road Stockton-on-Tees Cleveland TS19 8PE
Nuffield Health, Tees Hospital, Junction Road Norton Stockton-on-Tees Cleveland TS20 1PX
South View, West Avenue Billingham Cleveland TS23 1DA
The A1(M), the modern incarnation of the ancient Great North Road, passes just east of Durham. Its previous incarnation, now numbered A167, passes just to the west.
Durham Railway Station is on the East Coast Main Line and offers travel to destinations such as London and Edinburgh.
Distance to Airports from Durham
| Airport | Miles by car |
| Durham Tees Valley Airport | 25 miles |
| Newcastle Airport | 26 miles |
| Leeds/Bradford International Airport | 77 miles |
St Michael's Catholic Academy, Beamish Rd, Stockton-on-Tees, Billingham TS23 3DX
Our Lady and St Bede Catholic Academy, Bishopton Rd W, Cleveland, Stockton-on-Tees TS19 0QH
tesside High School, The Avenue, Stockton-on-Tees TS16 9AT
Residential Conveyancing Solicitors in and around Durham
Our Durham conveyancing solicitors can help you with your conveyance locally or in any of the surrounding areas, including Meadowfield, Ushaw Moor, Thornaby, Redmarshall, South Bank, Wolviston and Middlesbrough.
We have many offices throughout England and Wales, so you can find a solicitor near you.
- Victoria Road, Darlington, County Durham, United Kingdom, DL1 5SF
- Chantry Place, West Rainton, County Durham DH4 6PP
- Goodyear Crescent, Durham, County Durham, DH1 2EB
- Silver St, Durham DH1 3RE
- Cheveley Park, Belmont, Durham DH1 2AA
- The Litchfield (house) – Cathedral View, Whinney Hill, Durham, DH1
Marketed by Charles Church.
Durham Property Prices
| Average property price in Durham | £193,746 |
| Population of Durham | 105,682 (2017) |
Local conveyancing solicitor
What are the Pros and Cons of using a licensed conveyancing solicitor in Durham?
The Pros of using property lawyers near me
- You may know your local conveyancing solicitors - this is a huge benefit if you know your solicitor already, especially if it is a small community where you live.
- You can drop your documents and ID off - losing your original ID and documents is always a worry, so being able pop in to your local conveyancing solicitors office helps alleviate this issue (although with scanned ID and online ID checks the worry of loss passport is a thing of the past).
The Cons of using property solicitors near me
- Not on your mortgage lender's panel - local law firms are often smaller with fewer principals which may exclude them from working with certain major high street solicitors.
- Taking time off from work - it isn't always easy to visit your solicitor and having to see them 2 or 3 times during the conveyancing process may add a strain onto your work life, or be unachievable if you live abroad.
- Locally inexperienced - your local solicitor may not specialise in conveyancing and may have more experience in other areas of law.
- Less competition, higher prices - with less competition your local solicitor's legal fees are most likely to cost more, especially if they have to keep premises in premium high-street real estate.
Why choose SAM Conveyancing Solicitors in Durham?
Whether you're buying, selling, remortgaging, dealing with a lease, staircasing shared ownership, or paying offyour help to buy loan, you'll need a conveyancing specialist to handle the legal side of things. With SAM you get the benefit of dedicated conveyancing executive who'll guide you through the process, from start to finish, at no extra cost. Available Monday to Saturday to answer all your questions, we'll bridge the gap between you and your solicitor, with regular updates in plain English.
We have hand selected some of the best conveyancing solicitors Durham has to offer, which are backed by a no sale no fee guarantee and the Durham conveyancing fee we quote is broken down so you can see exactly what your quote includes. What we quote you is the fixed price you will pay for the agreed work. No unpleasant surprises.
You'll also benefit form our state of the art Online Conveyancing Process to track your progress and next steps along the way.
Affordable Housing Schemes
Several affordable housing schemes in Durham help make buying a property more achievable. The work is more complex, and we have specialist conveyancing solicitors to handle the following:
- Shared Ownership Solicitors
- Right to Buy Solicitors Durham - speak to Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council to find out if you are eligible
- Discount Market Sale Durham - check with Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council if they are running a DMS scheme
Durham conveyancing solicitors
You can rest assured that you're in good hands with our Durham Conveyancing Solicitors. They are skilled and experienced with complex property transactions from a simple purchase for a property in Durham to a Sale and Purchase of a shared ownership property, executing a Deed of Trust simultaneously.
Are you buying or selling a short lease in Durham?
We have specialist leasehold conveyancing solicitors in Durham to handle your sale & purchase of a leasehold property, as well as lease extensions and creation, sale, or purchase of a Durham share of freehold property.
Due to the additional legal work surrounding the lease and terms, your quote will be calculated based on the tenure, so as long as you give us the correct details when getting your Durham leasehold inclusive, fixed fee, conveyancing quotes with the simple form above, this will be included in your initial quote, not a surprise addition later on. Property Challenges Solved.
Conveyancing FAQs: Property Lawyers Durham
The average conveyancing cost in London can be slightly higher than in the rest of the country. Depending on the property's price and the transaction's complexity, you could pay several hundred to a couple of thousand pounds. Our conveyancing fees in Durham are based on the purchase price, and start at £723 INC VAT.
Fill in our easy online form for a fixed quote tailored to your requirements.
Durham conveyancing solicitor fees vary between online conveyancing solicitors, high street licensed conveyancers or housing solicitors introduced by your estate agent.
It's unnecessary to have a local property solicitor as the conveyancing process is the same throughout England and Wales. You should prioritise service and efficiency over proximity to Durham, when choosing a good conveyancing solicitor for any property transaction.
Many factors can delay conveyancing in Durham. A simple property transaction can be completed in less than two months, but the average is closer to 12-16 weeks.
CQS Accreditation
All our panel solicitors are CQS accredited. You can trust the Conveyancing Quality Scheme for the highest standards of conveyancing.
Fixed Fee
Don't bother with an 'estimate' fee. You want to make sure that your total fee is fixed (they can't charge you more later) and it includes all the necessary components. We build your quote based on each of the costs involved in a standard transaction based on the information you give us, with no sneaky extra fees. If you have additional requirements, speak with a helpful team member to ensure everything you need is covered within your quote.
No Sale No Fee
Choose conveyancing solicitors in Durham who offer a No Sale No Fee Guarantee, like ours. If your first sale or purchase falls through, the money you've spent with us will go toward your next one. Terms apply.
Reviews
Check out their reviews to be sure they provide a good service and meet their timescales.
Communication
Not knowing what is going on is the most frustrating thing for a client. Many solicitors are too busy doing legal work to answer all their clients call for updates. With SAM Conveyancing, you'll have a dedicated conveyancing executive available Monday to Saturday. They'll keep you in the loop on progress, translate the legal jargon, chase your solicitor when required and email you about milestones.
Value
Get a fully comprehensive quote covering all your needs so you can accurately compare your options to ensure you're paying a good price.
Online conveyancing is just as safe as you protect your data on the internet as you would in any other transaction. Online conveyancing means speedier turnaround times on documents, more convenient meetings and lower running costs for the firm. We pass our savings on to you.
Yes, if you're buying and selling simultaneously, the same conveyancing solicitor can handle both transactions, saving you money, as you'll only have to do the 'new client' admin once.
1. Get a mortgage in principle
Know what you can afford to save wasting time on any false starts.
2. Instruct your conveyancing solicitor before you make your offer
Waiting until your offer is accepted can delay your transaction. As early as possible, inform them of any details, such as gifted deposits. An online service reduces snail mail delays and waiting for physical meetings, which can be conducted by video call.
3. Apply for your mortgage quickly
You can submit your application as soon as your offer is accepted. An independent broker can help speed this along.
4. Order your searches and surveys
Ordering these early can speed up your conveyancing process, especially if local authorities face delays. However, it is usually considered prudent to time this with the rest of your chain if a transaction falls through.
5. Get your building insurance ready
You'll need insurance from the exchange so research & compare insurance quotes, once your solicitor is instructed.
6. Paperwork (When selling)
Ensure you have your paperwork, including energy performance & FENSA certificates.
County Durham is a county located in the north of England and its coastline is on the North Sea. Its county town is Durham, which is a historic city and is host to the beautiful Durham Castle. The county is perhaps most famously known for the Durham Cathedral, otherwise known as The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, first opened in 1018, as well as the collegiate Durham University that was first established in 1832.
The county's major population centres include Darlington, Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees. Surrounding counties are Tyne and Wear and Northumberland to the north, Cumbria to the west and North Yorkshire to the south. The unitary authority for the majority of County Durham is Durham County Council, however Darlington, Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees have their own unitary authorities.
County Durham contains many national parks like the North Pennines, Hamsterley Forest and the High Force Waterfall. North Pennines is a section of the Pennines famous for mining and birdwatching.
The only motorway in the county is the A1(M) but there are many dual carriageways with the main ones being the A68 and the A688.
**Our panel of solicitors are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and conveyancing work is accredited with the Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme.
***No Sale No Fee applies to any sale or purchase quote except auction and right to buy. Read our No Sale No Fee Policy.
What are the conveyancing costs?
Durham Conveyancing Solicitor fees vary between online conveyancing solicitors, high street conveyancers or housing solicitors introduced by your estate agent.
The actual conveyancing costs, outside of the legal work, should be fixed, including:
For buyers: stamp duty, land registration, property searches, ID searches and leasehold charges (if buying a leasehold property).
For sellers: office copies, title plan and management information (if selling a leasehold property).
Make sure to budget for all of the above conveyancing costs and to get a fixed fee conveyancing quote from several firms, to compare value.
Making the right choice of solicitor is key to the whole process:
- Cheap Conveyancing
- Fast Conveyancing
- Best Conveyancing Service
How long does it take to complete after exchange?
The average time between exchange and completion is a week. However, it can be as long as both you and the seller are happy with.
The completion can take place on the same day as exchange. Still, you should only do this in an emergency as timing drawing down mortgage funds, getting ready for completion and moving out all on the same day is incredibly difficult.
Find out more about - How long between exchange of contracts and completion
