A water authority search finds out the source of the water that is supplied to the property you are buying. In case, there are any public drains on the property, it is mentioned in the water search report. This is essential to know as it might affect any building work or an extension done in the future.

Pre-contract enquiries are done before the contracts are exchanged. This is the process that involves raising enquiries related to the title, rights and obligations over the property, and/or underlying land. Many of the enquiries are based on the Law Society’s standard forms.

Following is the list of common pre-contract enquiries that are related to:

• Electricity connection, shared gas, drainage, and water supplies
• Boundary of the property and parking spaces allocation
• Restrictions on land uses, such as rights of way and shared  access
• History of construction and permission of building work
• Restrictions on property alteration
• Building regulations for the gas, electric, or windows construction
• Terms and costs of leasehold 
• The Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) issues

The term local searching is derived from local search, which means asking or researching about some set issues concerning the property you are to purchase. In the research, the conveyancer will be asked for a fee by the local authorities.  The fee is paid for the search of the property. The fee will be requested from you by your conveyancer.

During the search, delicate and vital issues may be brought up about the property to be purchased. It will not reveal details such as your plans in developing the property or its expansion thereof. The search is likely to take up to twenty days at most.

After the searches are complete, your conveyancing lawyer will review the details of each search and then send you a detailed report highlighting any potential issues that require your attention.

The issues may include flood risks, proof of subsidence in the area, any mandatory purchase orders or enforcement notices, and any sort of construction to be undertaken by the local authority, which could affect the property.

If anything comes up in the searches as stated above, you can use this opportunity to renegotiate the price you are paying for the property. For instance, if you have to pay for maintenance of a private drainage system you can ask the seller to reduce that amount in the selling price.

After both, you and your mortgage lender are satisfied with the searches, both the parties in the sale can move to the next stage, i.e. the exchange of contracts.

Title searches are the checks made of the Title Register and Title Plan. Your conveyancing lawyer will ask you to purchase both documents through the Land Registry website.

The title register will tell you the following things about the property:  

• The previous owner of the property
• The price paid previously to buy it
• Charges or debts registered against the property
• Details about any rights of way over the property

The title plan is a map that will give you the following information:

• The location of the property

The general boundaries of the property

These days, most titles are registered electronically at the Land Registry. You can obtain a copy of the register from the Land Registry office directly. The Digital registry has replaced title deeds. 

It will have all details, including the details of the owner of the property or land and any other relevant information along with any charges against the property. A copy of the register is the only document you would need to sell your property. Your lawyer can obtain this document from the Land registry which he would need to prepare the contract.

If in any case, your property is not registered electronically, and you are unable to locate your deeds, you will need to instruct your lawyer to assist in assembling documents to replace the deeds.

The property searches include the following:

• Checking ownership of the property through legal documents like ‘title register’ and ‘title plan’ at the Land Registry. These checks are legally required to sell the property.
• Local authority searches to check if there are any plans for a motorway near your property or commercial construction nearby.
• Environmental Search to get information about contaminated land at or around the property, former and current industry, landfill sites, detailed flooding predictions, radon gas hazard, ground stability issues, and some other information.
• Checking flood risk, which can be done at the Land Registry. In case, you are getting an environmental search already, you would not need this checking separately. This is because the environment search will contain a lot of information through flood information and maps.
• Water authority searches to find out the water supply in the property and if any public drains on the property might affect extensions or renovation works.
• Chancel repair search to check that there are no liabilities left on the property. 
• Location-specific searches to carry out sometimes additional searches that might be required or recommended based on the location, type of property, or because of specific doubts raised by the buyer. These may include:
  • Searches for Tin Mining
  • Searches for Mining searches 
  • Local Authority Queries, such as Pipelines, Public Paths, Common Land, Noise Abatement Zones, etc.

We will suggest you book removals once you have exchanged contracts on either your sale or purchase or both. This is because you as a seller/buyer are not in a binding agreement to proceed with the transaction until contracts have been exchanged. In this condition, either party can pull out, otherwise decide to change the moving date.

Yes, depending on the type of relationship shared by both parties. If the buyer or seller has worked with the solicitor in the past, then there is no problem.  However, being the solicitor does anything, both parties have to agree to their representation. At times there may be limitations to representation in the case it’s a mortgage plan. The lender may insist on separate representation just to avoid conflict of interest.

Conveyancing documents are those that are produced during the course of buying or selling a property for the clients. There are a number of documents that are produced in a property transaction, such as 

• The contract, which mentions the terms on which the property is being transferred.
• The report on title, which contains the brief of all the searches and inquiries carried out for the property. 
• The TR1, which is the Land Registry document required to transfer the property from the seller to the buyer.

Drafting a contract is quite straightforward and is usually done in one to two hours depending on the length of the document. But before drafting a contract, the conveyancer needs time to determine which document needs to be put in the contract. Hence, the time is consumed for collecting, comparing, and reviewing all of the paperwork about the property. The process may take a month or two.