Conveyancing Solicitors in Cheltenham

We are a highly specialist team of lawyers with a wealth of knowledge and expertise in all aspects of property law. Whether you are buying or selling your home or investment property in Cheltenham we would be delighted to help you.

We strive to provide a first class service in all transactions. Our aim is to find solutions to problems to ensure that your transaction can proceed as quickly and smoothly as possible.

Property transactions can be stressful. Our goal is to make sure that you have the support and guidance you need. We will work closely with you throughout the transaction and are on hand to answer questions or talk through any concerns you may have.

We offer a full range of conveyancing services in Cheltenham, including:

If you would like to speak to one of our conveyancing colleagues in Cheltenham, please call us on 01242 303 769 or complete our online enquiry form

We also have legal offices in London and Cirencester.

Buying a home or investment property

We offer a comprehensive service for homebuyers and investors. The process may seem daunting but we will always make sure that you know what steps will be next. The main stages in a residential property purchase are as follows:

  • Instruct a solicitor to act for you
  • Approach a mortgage broker or mortgage lender to obtain a mortgage offer in principle
  • Offer accepted
  • Apply for mortgage
  • Arrange for a survey to be carried out
  • Draft contract papers are sent to your solicitor
  • Searches and enquiries are undertaken
  • Mortgage offer, search results and replies to enquiries received by your solicitor
  • Solicitor will report to you on the Property title, searches and enquiries
  • Contract and mortgage offer signed and deposit paid to your solicitor
  • Contracts exchanged and completion date set
  • Balance of purchase money sent to your solicitor
  • Mortgage advance ordered and final pre-completion checks made by your solicitor
  • Completion takes place
  • Your ownership and mortgage is registered at HM Land Registry

Before you find a property to buy

We recommend you instruct a solicitor and have a mortgage offer in principle in place early on. This means that once you find somewhere to buy, work can begin. This can reduce the time taken to reach exchange of contracts, which can be important if you want to move quickly.

If we are instructed early, we will start the preparatory work such as verifying your identity and source of funds. We can also give you an indication of likely fees, including searches, Land Registry fees and stamp duty land tax.

Once you have found the right mortgage product, you can ask the mortgage lender to provide a mortgage offer in principle. This will give you an indication of the amount they are prepared to lend you. Estate agents may require this information before your offer is accepted.

Once you have had an offer accepted

Once a seller has accepted your offer, the estate agent will pass our details to the seller’s solicitor who will arrange to send us the contract package. This will include a range of information about the property, including a copy of the legal title and plan as well as the seller’s property information forms and fixtures and fittings form.

You can apply for your mortgage offer at this point and arrange for your survey to be carried out.

Searches, enquiries and signing the contract

Once we have received the contract package, we will apply for the necessary searches, such as a local search, drainage search and environmental and flood risk report. We will also review the information provided and raise pre-contract enquiries with the seller’s solicitor.

On receipt of your mortgage offer, search results and satisfactory replies to enquiries, we will go through everything with you and arrange for you to sign the contract and mortgage deed.

Once contracts are ready to be exchanged, we will ask you to send us the deposit. This is usually 10% of the purchase price. If you are tying in a sale, we can normally use all or part of the deposit from this transaction. You will need to agree a completion date with the seller.

Exchange of contracts

Exchange of contracts is the point at which the transaction becomes legally binding and the date for completion is set. We will also pay your deposit to the seller’s solicitor.

Completion

Following exchange, we will order your mortgage advance and let you know how much money we will need from you, if any, to complete the purchase. We will carry out the final pre-completion checks and on the day of completion, we will send the money to the seller’s solicitor. Once they have acknowledged receipt, they will let us know and tell the estate agent that the keys can be released to you.

Once completion has taken place, we will apply to the Land Registry for your purchase to be registered.

Selling a home or investment property

If you are selling your property we recommend you instruct your lawyer at the same time as marketing with your chosen estate agent. We can help to make sure the draft paperwork is completed and the title is in a form acceptable to a prospective buyer. Early preparation can reduce the time taken to reach an exchange of contracts, which can be crucial if there is an exchange deadline or you are in a chain.

We will work proactively to move a sale forward as quickly as possible, checking in regularly with buyer’s solicitors and estate agents to ensure there are no avoidable delays.

Remortgage

The timing of a re-mortgage can be critical to ensure you secure a preferential interest rate or better mortgage product. The new lender will require a solicitor to assist with the re-mortgage process and certify that a property is good and marketable. In most cases, we can act for you and your new mortgage lender.

Contact our Cheltenham conveyancing solicitors

We aim to deliver a prompt and efficient service for all property transactions.

If you would like to speak to one of our Cheltenham conveyancing team about a new property matter please call us on 01242 303 769 or fill in our online enquiry form.