Residential Property

If you have recently made the decision to buy or sell property, it’s likely you have a long list of questions regarding the legal process ahead.

Rather than diving into decisions alone and uninformed, get in touch with the experienced conveyancing team at Thornton Jones for clear legal guidance in plain English. To help you understand the process a little bit better, have a read of our guide to selling and buying your home.

Renowned for our expertise and efficiency, you can rely on our conveyancing solicitors to ensure a smooth move, no matter how complex your circumstances. So, whether you’re putting your first step on the property ladder or selling your former home, our friendly team are here to support you from start to finish.

We can also assist with the legal side of remortgaging, equity release, shared ownership and dealing with leasehold property.

Should you have any issues following your property sale or purchase, simply ask your dedicated solicitor and we will be happy to help.

You can speak to our residential conveyancing solicitors in Wakefield, Ossett, Garforth, Sherburn in Elmet or Mapplewell, West Yorkshire today or ask a question using our online enquiry form.

Click here to see our Residential Conveyancing Fees

Why choose Thornton Jones for your Property Conveyancing?

Buying or selling your home may be one of the biggest purchases you will ever make, and getting the right advice to ensure your interests are properly protected is crucial. We can handle the legal aspects of your house move from start to finish.

Many firms offer fixed price conveyancing services, but have teams of people dealing with each part of the transaction so you never have a dedicated point of contact.

We’re different.

Our conveyancing solicitors do offer a fixed fee service but also ensure that a single member of our team looks after your transaction; handling the entire process with a personal service that larger firms are unable to offer.

Accredited by the Law Society for our first-class service and expertise in property law, you can count on our conveyancing solicitors to protect your interests throughout the transaction. We know that this can be a particularly stressful time, especially if you’re a first time buyer. That’s why at Thornton Jones, we promise to keep things as simple and straightforward as possible. Instead of drowning you in legal jargon or keeping you in the dark, we will provide you with regular updates regarding developments on your case as soon as they develop.

How can our conveyancing solicitors in Wakefield, Garforth, Ossett & Sherburn in Elmet help you?

When you instruct a member of our team, you will benefit from our extensive knowledge in residential property law.

As well as tackling the legal work of the conveyancing process, we also advise clients on equity release and re-mortgages; as well as issues surrounding shared ownership of a property – such as preparing Declarations of Trust to protect unequal investments in property or transfer of ownership between two people.

Buying a Home

Our Yorkshire conveyancing solicitors can guide you through the entire process of buying a home, including:

Reviewing the contacts of sale
Carrying out conveyancing checks
Exchange of contacts
Transfer of funds
Registering the sale with the Land Registry
Handling payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax

With our skills and experience, we can help your property purchase to go ahead faster and more smoothly, keeping the conveyancing process on track while saving you time and unnecessary stress.

Selling Your Home

If you are selling your home, we can handle the entire legal side of the process for you, helping the sale to go ahead safely and on schedule. Our conveyancers can assist with matters including:

Drafting contracts of sale
Negotiating any required amendments with the buyer
Exchange of contracts
Transfer of funds

Click here to read our Guide to Selling Your Home

Remortgaging

When remortgaging your home, it is a good idea to take independent legal advice to ensure the new mortgage terms are in your interest and that the remortgaging process is handled correctly. Our remortgaging solicitors in West Yorkshire can help with matters including:

Requesting a mortgage redemption statement from your current lender
Reviewing mortgage terms
Transfer of funds from your new mortgage provider to your previous provider
Updating the Land Registry with the details of your new lender

Find out how our remortgage conveyancing solicitors can help you.

Equity Release Solicitors

Equity release options, such as a lifetime mortgages and home reversion plans, can offer good value to older homeowners, but it’s important to fully understand the terms and their implications for you and your estate. Our conveyancing team can help with all aspects of equity release, including:

Reviewing the terms of a lifetime mortgage or home reversion plan
Exchange of contracts
Transfer of funds
Updating the Land Registry

Joint Ownership Specialists

If you are buying a home with another person where you are contributing unequal amounts to the deposit and/or mortgage payments, we can advise you on your legal options, including creating a Declaration of Trust. This can allow you to clarify the terms of your ownership and allow you to avoid the potential for future disputes. Our team can help with:

Drafting a Declaration of Trust
Reviewing a Declaration of Trust prepared by another firm
Understanding the difference between owning a property as joint tenants or tenants-in-common
Dealing with joint ownership disputes

Leasehold Property Conveyancing Experts

Most flats and a significant number of houses are sold on a leasehold basis, meaning you only own the right to occupy a property for the time remaining on the lease, rather than owning the property outright. Many people buying leasehold property do not understand this or what being a leaseholder involves, but our expert conveyancing solicitors in West Yorkshire can assist with all leasehold property matters, including:

Buying leasehold property
Selling leasehold property
Lease renewals
Acquiring the freehold on leasehold property
Ground rent & service charge disputes
Right to Manage

What is the conveyancing process?

When a property is bought or sold, legal ownership must be transferred from one individual to another. While this may seem fairly straightforward, there are many legal and financial considerations to be made in order to ensure the interests of both the buyer and seller are protected. Generally speaking, there are three stages to the conveyancing process:

Pre-exchange of Contract

If you are purchasing property, having your offer accepted and a mortgage in place are the first steps in completing your transaction. This marks the beginning of the conveyancing process.

Our solicitors will request the contract pack from the seller’s solicitor and, once received, we will ensure that all the information is correct. From here, we will obtain and check the results of any relevant property searches: a local authority search, a water and drainage search, coal mining search and any other searches necessary.

We will then examine the contract and documents supplied to ensure there are no issues that could potentially affect your decision to purchase. If there are any issues, we will raise queries or ‘requisitions’ regarding the property until we are satisfied with the results.

Exchange of Contracts

Once we are all happy with the details of the transaction, the signed contracts are exchanged. At this stage everyone is legally bound to complete the purchase. A non refundable deposit is paid and a completion date set when the property will be handed to the buyer.

Funds are requested from your mortgage lender if you are using a mortgage to buy the property in readiness for completion. You will also need to have sufficient funds in place with us to complete for the balance.

Completion

The final stage of the conveyancing process is known as ‘completion’, and just as it sounds, this marks the end of your transaction and the start of your new life in your new home.

On the day of completion, funds are transferred to the seller’s solicitors. The sellers leave the property and hand over the keys to the buyers (usually through the estate agents).

We will ensure any applicable Stamp Duty is paid. If you are the seller we will redeem your mortgage from the completion money if you have one and send the title deeds to the buyers solicitor and any balance funds to you.

Post Completion

We will register your legal title on the property with the Land Registry, finalising the transfer of ownership. Congratulations, you are now a homeowner!

Here at Thornton Jones, our aim is to help you through this process smoothly and efficiently. To get started, simply get in touch with our specialist team of conveyancing solicitors today.

All that is left is for you to pack your boxes, arrange to collect the keys and start making plans for your new home.

Get in touch with our conveyancing lawyers in West Yorkshire

Speak to our property conveyancing solicitors in Wakefield, Ossett, Garforth, Sherburn in Elmet or Mapplewell, West Yorkshire today by calling 01924 290 029 or ask a question using our online enquiry form.

FAQs about Housing Disrepair Claims

What qualifies for housing disrepair?

When a landlord is aware of a maintenance issue at a rented property, and they fail to repair this issue, this is an example of housing disrepair. A tenant would be eligible to make a housing disrepair claim for any of the following issues, though this is not an exhaustive list:

Mould and damp issues
Broken central heating
Water or gas leaks
Vermin infestations
Broken drainage systems

If you are unsure as to whether you have a case for housing disrepair, please contact our housing disrepair solicitors for advice.

How do housing disrepair claims work?

If you are having an issue with housing disrepair, you are first advised to raise the issue with your landlord.

Where the landlord fails to complete the necessary repairs within a reasonable time frame, you may wish to contact your local housing authority, or department of health for support.

In these situations, you are likely eligible to raise a housing disrepair claim. To do so, you will need to contact a specialist solicitor, who can build and raise the claim on your behalf.

Your solicitor will first attempt to resolve the claim using negotiation or mediation. If it is not possible to resolve your issue out of Court, your solicitor will pursue your claim in Court.

How much compensation would I receive from a housing disrepair claim?

It is hard to gauge exactly how much compensation you could receive from a housing disrepair claim, the amount of compensation will depend on the circumstances and the type of claim. At Thornton Jones, we will ensure to build the strongest case possible, working diligently to secure the highest level of compensation. For more information about our housing disrepair claims service, please get in touch with our experts at Thornton Jones.

How long does a housing disrepair claim take?

A typical housing disrepair claim takes somewhere between 3 and 6 months, though, this is only an approximation, and a claim may take longer depending on the extent of disrepair to the property. When you work with us at Thornton Jones, we will attempt to settle your housing disrepair claim as quickly as possible.