Conveyancing explained: The role of a Conveyancing Assistant

The word conveyancing is often heard when discussing moving to a new house, but what is it, and what does it mean to you?

Conveyancing is defined as the transfer of the legal title of a house from one person to another. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? However, there is far more to the process than simply the transfer of title.

Conveyancers/solicitors embark on quite a legal journey with one another to allow you, as the client, to move home. Our job is to be there for you, to learn everything about your current home, to pass the information on to your buyers and to discover the same about your potential new property by dissecting title deeds, breaking down the legal jargon, identifying and highlighting any potential hazards or issues to future proof your investment. Moving home can be one of the most stressful times for an individual or a family, and our role is to ease that pressure and guide you along the way.

What is a conveyancing assistant responsible for?

Throughout the client’s journey, they will work alongside their solicitor but will also interact with us, the conveyancing assistant, but who are we? It’s no secret that solicitors are very busy, and that is where we come in. We are there to aid and provide much-needed support to allow them to effectively do their job for the client. At Birkett Long, our journey with the client often starts at the same time as with their solicitor, completing anti-money laundering (AML) checks, ordering searches, and providing updates to all parties as required. Our time to shine, however, comes at the exchange of contracts, where we take over to guide the client through to completion.

It is no secret that moving home comes at a cost, and it is our job to pull together all these costs into a completion statement to give the client a clear breakdown of what is required. It is our responsibility to ensure all monies are received into the client account as required, funds are sent out to other solicitors in a timely manner, and all documents are signed, dated, and lodged. For clients and estate agents, ‘completion’ often marks the end of the road. However, our work continues, ensuring forms are submitted. Monies are paid in a timely manner to HMRC, settling outstanding invoices and applying to the Land Registry to update the all-important title documents into the name of the new owner. We take on all this so our clients can focus on unpacking.

What does a conveyancing assistant need to know?

As a conveyancing assistant, it is essential to have knowledge across all areas of the transaction. To assist this, we attend many training events and courses alongside the team to keep up this knowledge base. It’s key for us to be aware of the stages of a transaction and what’s involved in each step and to stay in touch with the fee earner to know what is happening, as this will enable us to provide updates to all parties. This also enables us to be in the best position to carry out our responsibilities before and during completion. When completing our post completion duties, we must have a good understanding of the transaction to draft and submit applications to the Land Registry and answer requisitions raised by the Land Registry in respect of the registration from beginning to end.

How do conveyancers interact with agents?

Estate agents and conveyancers are involved together during the transaction with the common goal of moving the client from and to their new home. We each have our part to play, and we need to have a good relationship. Estate agents start the journey with the client and, from the very beginning, provide details about the chain of parties and manage the expectations of that chain. Our primary interactions during the transaction are providing updates as to progress throughout, whether via email or phone call.

The Fast Pace – What gets in the way? How do you save your client time?

As with many things, the ideal plan does not always work out that way. Behind the scenes, conveyancing is often fast paced for us as we manage several different files simultaneously. The time between exchange and completion is busy for both the client and us. To save time, we ensure completion statements are drafted early along with any other forms requiring signature to be ready for exchange.  

If you would like to discuss our conveyancing services, please get in touch with Zoe Meredith on 01206 217336 or via email at zoe.meredith@birkettlong.co.uk