LEGAL
Commonly asked questions during the conveyancing process
The conveyancing process can be stressful, and with so much done before you even get to the point of instructing a solicitor, it can be overwhelming. Joel Taylor, Head of Business Development and Marketing at Owen Paulo Legal, answers some of the more common questions people find themselves asking at this stage
WHEN SHOULD I INSTRUCT A SOLICITOR?
When selling a property, instruct a solicitor as soon as you go on the market and your valuation has been done. That way, once a buyer is found, we can begin.Valuations have an expiration date and so if you leave it too long to instruct a solicitor, there is a higher likelihood that an extension (or a new valuation in some cases) will be needed during the process. The same goes for staircasing; as soon as you have had approval from the housing association and your valuation has been carried out, instruct your solicitor. When buying a property, instruct us as soon as you have had your offer accepted. Many buyers wait until their mortgage offer is in place before proceeding, but there is quite a bit of legal work that can be done without the formal offer. Holding off on instructing a solicitor until your mortgage offer is in place can create delays. IF I SELL MY PROPERTY ON THE OPEN MARKET AT 100%, DO I PAY STAMP DUTY? The short answer is no. As a seller, if you only own a share of your property and you then sell 100% on the open market, then the buyer will be liable to pay Stamp Duty on the full 100% of the property. Usually, it is the seller who is responsible for the staircasing element of the transaction, and the seller will buy the additional share and simultaneously sell it to the buyer. As a seller, you will be required to complete a Stamp Duty form, and the Stamp Duty transaction is labelled as a “Pre-completion Transaction”, thus voiding any SDLT fee for the seller. The buyers will complete their own SDLT form.
I’VE GIVEN MY COMPLIANCE DOCUMENTS TO MY BROKER, WHY DO YOU NEED THEM? Each party is required to do their own AML checks and no company can use the checks of another. Solicitors must do much stricter checks than the housing association and financial adviser. This is because your money moves through our bank account. We therefore must be positive that your funds are legitimate and not considered “dirty”, otherwise we will be penalised, per Government guidelines. What does this mean for you? Well, it means you tend to have to provide a lot of the same documents to different parties, so it’s therefore good to keep them aside for ease, but do expect your solicitor to ask for even more documents than other parties (depending on how you are funding your part of the purchase).
MY TRANSACTION IS CHAIN- FREE, DOES THIS MEAN THE PROCESS WILL BE QUICKER? Regardless of whether there is a chain or not, this will have no effect on the legal work that needs to be done for your transaction. Unfortunately, this means that a chain-free transaction (although used a lot as a wonderful selling point) does not mean a quicker transaction. What being chain-free does do, is make the process of agreeing dates and exchanging a lot quicker as there are fewer people who need to agree on the same date, and there are fewer transactions involved with the exchange itself. Owen Paulo specialises in resales and staircasing and we are happy to offer further advice or a quotation. Please call us on 0808 196 7020, email enquiries@owenpaulo.co.uk or visit our website
114 First Time Buyer October/November 2025
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