Make Sure You Have All Your Documents in Order.

Getting the legal documents checked by a solicitor is a very important task. The first thing your solicitor will do is to get a copy of the land registry entry from the seller's solicitor. These are the legal documents giving evidence of ownership. They are written in legal jargon and need to be carefully examined to make sure there are no unreasonable conditions about how you use the property.

Your solicitor or conveyancer will check the seller has the right to sell the property with the land registry to avoid any problems later on. When the sale goes ahead, he will register your ownership of the property and your agreement with the land registry. You have to pay fees for this, which vary depending on the price of the property and whether the property is already registered or not.

Your solicitor will also ask the seller to provide certain information. This normally includes standard questions about whether there have been any problems with neighbors, such as noise or disagreements about parking.

If the property includes land, your solicitor will also check that there is no disagreement about where the property boundaries are, and who is responsible for maintaining them. If this isn't clear, your solicitor should ask the seller to sort it out before you exchange contracts.

Details about the history of the property and the surrounding area need to be checked with the local council. Once all the necessarily details have been checked, the contract between the buyer and the seller will be negotiated. This stage can often involve considerable delays, as the seller may not agree to everything you want. For example, you may want to pay less than the price you originally offered, or get the seller to carry out repairs. All the conditions of the sale need to be agreed before contracts are exchanged. Solicitors normally do most of the negotiating on your behalf, but they will need to be in regular contact with you to discuss any changes.