Mortgage Conveyancing

Mortgage Conveyancing is the term used to describe the process of transferring the ownership (or title) of the property, from one person to another. The word person here can be subsituted with company or pension scheme. It is not necessary for money to change hands, although this is usually the case.

Those who conduct this process must be either a practising solicitor, or a licenced conveyancer.

How much does mortgage conveyancing cost?

Usually around £750 - at least where I live.

Why is Morgage Conveyancing necesary?

Let's start simply. If I agree to buy a mountain bike from you for £100, we make an exchange. I give you £100, you give me the mountain bike. End of story. I may ask for a receipt to PROVE that I have paid you £100 for the mountain bike and now own it, but it's not usually considered neccessary.

Now if the item being sold is a car, we are more cautious about the exercise. For one, significantly more money will be involved, secondly, there exists an established, official, paperwork system, to confirm change of ownership. Anyone who's ever bought a second hand car for more than a few hundred pounds knows, however, that a certain amount of trust needs to exist for the transaction to take place.

Now if we apply the process to the sale of a property, the money involved becomes greater.  

In the past, it was not unknown for people to sell property that they didn't actually own. To counter this a series of checks were carried out by the legal profession, to covey the title to the property from one party to another.

In short, they check that all the legal stuff is in order, obtain a list of items to be left in the property and those to be removed, obtain any necessary searches, draw up contracts, and collect and distribute the money involved.