Yelda Rashid — SRA-regulated solicitor
Buying a property: conveyancing from start to finish
Buying a home in England or Wales, with or without a mortgage. Your file is opened the day you instruct, searches are ordered as soon as your ID and source-of-funds checks are done, and we see it through to registration at HM Land Registry — with regular written updates, usually weekly.
How it works
We keep you updated in writing at every step.
Instruction and checks
Your file is opened, identity and source-of-funds checks are completed, and the searches are ordered.
Week 1
Title, searches and enquiries
The contract pack is reviewed, the searches come back, and enquiries are raised with the seller’s solicitor — and chased.
Weeks 2–6
Exchange of contracts
Your mortgage offer is checked, a completion date is agreed with the chain, your deposit is sent and contracts are exchanged. The date becomes binding here.
Weeks 6–10
Completion and registration
Funds are sent, keys are released, the Stamp Duty return is filed and your ownership is registered at HM Land Registry.
Completion day; registration follows
What’s included
- Investigation of title and a written report on the property
- Ordering your searches and reporting to you on the results
- Raising, chasing and reporting on pre-contract enquiries
- Exchanging contracts, completing on the day and registering your ownership at HM Land Registry
- Regular written updates — usually weekly
Stamp Duty Land Tax depends on your circumstances, not only on the price. It is calculated for you in your written quote and confirmed formally before completion. Properties in Wales are subject to Land Transaction Tax instead.
Your Stamp Duty return must be filed and the tax paid within 14 days of completion.
Check it yourself with the HMRC Stamp Duty calculator (opens in a new tab)
Buying from outside the UK?
You can buy a home in England or Wales while you live abroad. Most of the work is done remotely, and your quote confirms anything that depends on your circumstances.
- Your identity is checked online, using a non-UK passport or national ID card.
- Meetings can be by video, in English or Bulgarian.
- Documents can be signed where you are, in front of an independent witness. If you would rather sign through an attorney, we will tell you what formalities apply.
- Money for the purchase should be sent in pounds sterling from an account in your own name (or the company’s name, if a company is buying), well before completion.
- Expect to be asked for source-of-funds and source-of-wealth documents, such as bank statements and evidence of savings, a sale or a gift.
- Non-UK residents usually pay a 2% Stamp Duty surcharge, and companies and buyers of an additional property can pay higher rates. We do not work the tax out on this page: HMRC’s guidance sets out who pays what, and your quote confirms your position.
Leasehold, explained
Most flats are leasehold. You own the flat for a fixed number of years set by the lease, while the freeholder owns the building and the land. You will usually pay a service charge towards running the building, and often a ground rent. Before you commit, we check the lease, how many years are left and the charges, and report to you in writing.
FAQs
When do I need to have my deposit ready?
By exchange, not by completion. The deposit is sent to the seller’s solicitor on the day contracts are exchanged, so it needs to be in your own account and evidenced well before then — which is why source-of-funds evidence is dealt with in week one rather than week eight.
We are buying together. Does it matter how we hold it?
It matters a great deal. It is decided at completion, and a joint tenancy can be changed to a tenancy in common later (severance). Joint tenants own the whole together and the survivor takes it automatically; tenants in common own defined shares that pass under a will, or under the intestacy rules if there is no will. Which suits you depends on where the money came from and what you each want to happen. It is covered in the report on title.
What is the point of the searches if I have had a survey?
They answer different questions. A survey tells you about the building. The searches tell you about everything the building sits in — planning history, road adoption, drainage, contaminated land, and whatever the local authority has recorded against the address. A lender will normally require them; you should want them regardless.
Do I have to use the developer’s recommended solicitor?
No. You are free to choose your own solicitor. Some developers offer an incentive for using the firm they recommend; whether to take it is your choice, and we are happy to talk it through when you ask for a quote.
Can you meet a 28-day exchange deadline?
Sometimes, but it is never certain. It depends on how quickly the searches come back, how quickly your lender issues its mortgage offer and how quickly the developer’s solicitor answers our enquiries. Tell us the deadline as early as you can, ideally when you ask for your quote, and we will tell you honestly whether it looks realistic.
Ready when you are.
Answer a few questions. We'll email your quote, usually within one working day.
No retainer is created by this website or by sending an enquiry. Yelda acts for you only once a client care letter has been signed and returned.