What does a solicitor do for the buyer?

A property solicitor or conveyancer must be instructed when buying a property in England and Wales. The work undertaken by the buyer's solicitor differs from the seller because they must identify risks and report these to the buyer and their mortgage lender. There are very few circumstances wherea solicitor can act for both parties without a conflict of interest; the solicitor acting for the buyer should have nothing to do with the solicitor acting for the seller.

The conveyancing process can be delayed when the buyer's solicitor encounters an enquiry that requires the seller's solicitor to provide adequate answers. This may not always be simple or, in the end, achievable. This can lead to the buyer taking on a risk alongside an indemnity policy to protect their lender from the risk. In worst-case scenarios, the buyer will pull out from buying the property.

What does a solicitor do for the buyer?

• 1Review ID. Confirm who the buyer is.

• 2Review source of funds. Confirm where the source of the buyer's money comes from.

• 3Review contracts, title documents and property searches.

• 4Raise legal enquiries. Read more - What are legal enquiries?.

• 5Provide a Report on Title.

• 6Exchange. Contracts are exchanged, and 10% deposit is paid to the seller.

• 7Complete. Receive your mortgage offer and send completion monies to the seller.

• 8Post completion work. Filing and paying stamp duty, (if applicable) serve notice on freeholder and update the Land Registry.

What checks does a solicitor do when buying a house?

The buyer's solicitor checks the following:

• ID for the buyer. This could be as simple as meeting your solicitor face to face with your passport or supplying your photo ID to them for an online ID check. Read more - What ID does your solicitor need?.
• Proof of address. The solicitor checks where you are resident via a bank statement, driving licence or utility bill.
• Proof of funds. The solicitor checks your bank statements and evidence of the source of your funds. Read more - How to prove source of funds.
• Property Searches. The buyer pays for property searches, and the conveyancing solicitor checks them. The 3 main searches when buying a house are the local authority, water and drainage and environmental search.
• Title/Deeds. The solicitor checks the title and deeds of the property. They look for easements such as rights of way/light, restrictions/charges needing removal, and any changes that may be needed.
• Protocol Forms. The solicitor checks the seller's protocol forms (standard questions) for What fittings and contents are included in the property price, Property Information (its usage and knowledge of the seller about the property) and (if applicable) Leasehold Information. The solicitor compares the answers from the seller to the other legal documents to spot errors, breaches or other enquiries needing clarifying.
• Mortgage Offer. When a buyer gets a mortgage, the lender instructs the buyer's solicitor to act on their behalf. The lender has specific requirements before they agree to lend on the property. If satisfied, the solicitor issues a mortgage report.
• Leasehold Information Pack. For leasehold properties, the solicitor receives a packet of documents from the freeholder/management company, including ground rent, service charges, communal maintenance plans, major works and other freehold management information.

What documents do solicitors need when buying a house?

Documents are sent to the buyer's solicitor from the buyer, and also the seller as follows:

What are the common issues found by a buyer's solicitor?

These are just some of the legal issues commonly found when buying a property and which a buyer's solicitor will raise enquiries about:

• No planning permission. Your solicitor will check this by reviewing the local authority searches.
• No building control sign-off. Your solicitor will check this by reviewing the local authority searches to see if there was any planning permission or building control sign-off.
• Any right of way. Your solicitor checks this by reviewing the property deeds.
• Gas boiler certificate. The sellers should provide evidence that the boiler was installed and registered with Gas Safety and has been maintained annually.
• Property deeds. If the seller has no deeds and the land is unregistered, then your solicitor needs the seller to confirm their client has the right to sell the property to you (in these cases an Epitome of Title may be required). The challenge here is that if the seller doesn't hold the deeds to the property, you must ensure no one else has a beneficial right to your title after you purchase it.
• Restrictions on the title (restrictive covenants). Your solicitor must ensure that the seller’s solicitor removes all restrictions from the title. Restrictions include matrimonial homes rights, creditor debt, mortgage interest, not being allowed to extend, whether you can dry your clothes in the garden or even if you are allowed pets.
• Issues with the ownership of the property. Your solicitor must confirm that the seller has the right to sell the property to you and is who they say they are (the obligation of knowing who the seller is will fall on the due diligence of the seller's solicitors).
• Negative property searches. Your solicitor will obtain property searches to inform you of potential issues with the property, including highlighting flood risk, contaminated land, planning permission granted or denied, and drainage access points to the property. You can read more about which searches you will need here - Property Searches - Which ones do I need when buying a home?
• Vacant possession. Your solicitor will need to ensure the property is sold as vacant possession. This means that no one is living in the property at the time you take ownership unless otherwise agreed (for example, a sitting tenant for a buy-to-let landlord - sometimes landlords take over the tenant from the previous owner).
• Uncertain title. Where the seller has not been forthcoming with information about the property.
• Check the lease (if leasehold). There are many points to check in the lease; however, one of the key points is to understand how long you have left to run in years on your lease. A buyer may struggle if they are getting a mortgage to buy a property if the lease has less than 80 years because mortgage lenders don't like lending on a short lease (a short lease has under 80 years left to run). You can read more about Lease Extensions.
• Mortgage restrictions. If you are getting a mortgage, your solicitor must satisfy the standard conditions provided in the Council for Mortgage Lender's (CML) handbook and any specific conditions, such as confirmation of gifting or the property has a structural survey. It is important to get your mortgage offer to your solicitor as quickly as possible, and this is an article that explains how to do this - The Mortgage Process

Any one of these issues could hinder your ability to purchase the property, and it is for your solicitor to investigate any that arise during the conveyancing process.

What is a solicitor's report when buying a house?

The buyer's solicitor writes a report to their client of all the findings of their checks above. The report is called a Report on Title or an Exchange Contract Report. The objective of the report is to inform the client and allow them to choose whether they want to proceed with to exchange. The buyer's solicitor cannot tell the buyer if they should or shouldn't buy the property, only the potential risks if they were to do so.

The contract report when buying a house can be emailed, but it is often posted along with all the documents needed to be signed and reviewed alongside the report. These documents include:

• Contract of Sale to be signed.
• TR1 Form to be signed and witnessed.
• Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) declaration form to be signed.
• Deeds such as a mortgage deed, deed of variation to be signed and witnessed.
• Title/deed documents and any supporting guarantees/warranties related to the property.

The solicitors report before the exchange takes 1 to 3 days to type from when the final enquiries are satisfied.