Joseph Bradshaw - House Buying, Selling and Conveyancing: How to Save Estate Agent and Solicitor Fees When Buying or Selling Property

Joseph Bradshaw

Revised and updated by
Georgia Bedworth, barrister

House Buying, Selling and Conveyancing by Joseph Bradshaw

Revised and updated by Georgia Bedworth, barrister.

Lawpack Publishing Limited
7689 Alscot Road
London SE1 3AW

www.lawpack.co.uk

First edition 1999
Second edition 2001
Third edition 2003
Fourth edition 2004
Fifth edition 2006
Sixth edition 2010

2010 Lawpack Publishing

Land Registry forms, official copy registry and title plan are Crown copyright and are reproduced with the kind permission of Land Registry.

ISBN: 9781906971809
ebook ISBN: 9781906971458

All rights reserved.

This book is for use in England or Wales; it is not suitable for use in Scotland or Northern Ireland. The information it contains has been carefully compiled, but its accuracy is not guaranteed, as laws and regulations may change or be subject to differing interpretations. The law is stated as at 1 October 2010.

Exclusion of Liability and Disclaimer

While every effort has been made to ensure that this Lawpack publication provides accurate and expert guidance, it is impossible to predict all the circumstances in which it may be used. Accordingly, neither the publisher, author, retailer, nor any other suppliers shall be liable to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused by the information contained in or omitted from this Lawpack publication.

For convenience (and for no other reason) him, he and his have been used throughout and should be read to include her, she and her.

Joseph Bradshaw was an estate agent and mortgage broker who came to prominence in the 1980s when, from their garage and kitchen, he and his wife Margaret published a series of his books on DIY conveyancing.

With his unique sense of humour and tub-thumping message to homeowners about doing things themselves, his books gained wide press coverage and sales were phenomenal. Bradshaws Guide to House Buying Selling and Conveyancing made headlines in newspapers and magazines, ranging from the Financial Times to Gardeners Weekly. Among the many accolades he earned, his favourite was the guru of layperson conveyancing from the Legal Correspondent of The Times. This new Lawpack edition is an updated version of Joe Bradshaws original.

It isnt true that only those who have gone through a long, expensive and involved training can possibly understand the intricacies of house buying, selling and conveyancing.

Traditionally, trained and qualified solicitors have done conveyancing. A nineteenth-century government, grateful for their support in collecting some taxes, gave them a legal monopoly of conveyancing for a fee. This can also be done by licensed conveyancers. That leaves doing a conveyance for no fee, which means that you can do a conveyance for yourself or anyone else for whom you wish to do a favour. The principal skills required are reading, writing and an ability to count your money.

People do far more for themselves than ever before. From painting and decorating to car maintenance, people are having a go themselves. And it isnt only practical things that are tackled.

A few years ago, the technicalities for obtaining a divorce were simplified and a little later the government withdrew the provision of legal aid for parties to divorces that were not defended and where there is no ancillary relief or issues with children. The increasing popularity of divorce and the level of solicitors fees for doing the transaction have between them produced thousands of do-it-yourself divorcees, who have done their own divorces, and saved themselves over 500 by expending a little time and effort. Moreover, during the process of doing their own divorces, people have found that what hitherto they thought was a thoroughly legal process is only judicial in so far as a judge has to give a nod over their papers, and all the rest is an administrative matter.

Often, housing transactions have little to do with the law. Nowadays, transferring a house from one owner to another is done, in most of England and Wales, by filling in simple forms that is the legal side of it. The bit that can be complicated is when you are using money from the sale of one house to pay for the purchase of another. But that is not a legal problem; its a business transaction. You dont hare off to a lawyer when you are trading upmarket from a Bentley to a Rolls; settling the Hire Purchase on one and taking out a new loan on the other. In most straightforward cases, you no more need to know the relevant Acts of Parliament inside out when you buy a house than you need to know the Road Traffic and Consumer Credit Acts when buying or selling a car. Whether its a house or car that is being dealt with, you need to know about honesty and fair dealing and if you meet up with someone who sells you an unroadworthy car or seriously misrepresents a property to you, the laws are there to punish the offender and obtain compensation; its then that you really need a lawyer a good one.

Just because you might have a legal remedy against wrongdoers, this doesnt mean to say you should not be prudent within your competence. If you are considering buying a car that has done a fair mileage, you put it through some stringent tests, and if you are not sure about it, but are still interested, at a price, you get a qualified mechanic to give you a report on it. If you want to make sure there is no Hire Purchase on it, go to the local Citizens Advice Bureau (dont ring, theres a form to fill in) and for little more than the cost of a stamp they will check it out for you. So there you are, the legal owner of a bigger and better car, and you need know no more law at the end of the transaction than at the beginning. But look at what you have accomplished: you have satisfied yourself that the car is what its cracked up to be and checked that the person offering it for sale owns (has good title to) it. Ah! you say, houses are not like cars. Surely its more complicated, and doesnt the rule caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) apply in full force to a housing transaction? Isnt the whole business a splendid opportunity for scoundrels to practise their wicked ways?

My answer is: certainly houses are not like cars. Cars can be stolen, repainted, engine and number plates swapped. You cant very well shift a whole house. As for let the buyer beware, in its application to housing its, in the main, a reference to the purchaser making sure that the vendor has good title (can prove he owns and has the power to sell) and as you will learn from these pages, you obtain this assurance by sending a simple form (no fee payable) to the Land Registry. Other potential flies in the ointment can also be discovered from the Land Registry entries.

Most Land Registry forms mentioned can be found on the Land Registry website, www.landregistry.gov.uk, where they can be filled out and printed off (but, currently, not saved, so check before printing), others from law stationers, still others from HM Revenue & Customs Stamp Office (www.hmrc.gov.uk/so).

If, when you last bought a house, any precautions were taken to make sure that you did get vacant possession before the money was handed over (and vice versa when you sold), the odds are that it was you who did the legwork. Solicitors rely on the general law, together with the basic honesty of the absolute majority of house owners on these practical points. On the legal point of proving ownership, where the ownership is registered, they rely on the state-backed guarantee provided by Her Majestys Land Registry. I invite you to do the same.