How property lawyers can help YOU when it comes to buying or selling YOUR home!

Many of us wonder what a solicitor is, and what they actually DO, let alone specific types of solicitors such as property lawyers. After all, it just sounds like a particularly fancy word designed to confuse the common population, and enable these apparent property lawyers to charge large sums of money for an unknown service!
However, in reality when it comes down to it, a property lawyer and indeed solicitors in general are incredibly useful people and can help smooth many things out. For example, a high street solicitor is hired to help out the general public when dealing with stores or outlets, and cannot find the result they are looking for in terms of an outcome; this could be an event such as being sold a product that is faulty or damaged, and the store refusing to cooperate and replace the said product.
In a case like this, a high street solicitor would come in handy by offering the complainant legal advice over the matter, and also providing a barrister, should the complainant need one.

Now, there are many types of solicitors, but we’re going to be focusing on only one: property lawyers. Over the course of this article, we’ll be discussing what a property lawyer IS, what they do, and how they can personally help you in whatever problems you may possess in regards to properties.

What a property lawyer IS and what they do

A property lawyer is a type of solicitor that specialises in laws and soliciting around property.  Looking at this more closely, property lawyers are designed to help people to transfer properties/ real estate. They help to keep this transaction from the seller to the buyer smooth, and without a hitch. This type of transaction is called ‘conveyancing’:

As stated by the definition above, we can see that conveyancing is useful to anyone buying a property or selling one, as the property solicitor will see to all of the preparation of document in regards to the handing over of ownership of properties.

However, a property lawyer does not just specialise in conveyancing; they also see to it that other property is handed over in a legal and lawful way. What this means is, they do not just see to real property (real estate: houses and such), but also to personal property also known as ‘moveable property’, which would included items such as  vehicles (can’t get much more moveable than that!).
Other things that property lawyers have control over is the granting of finances in regards to properties. By this, I mean that it is possible for property lawyers to grant mortgages and liens to property owners. If you’re currently wondering what lien is, it is basically that a person or persons may keep property belonging to someone else until a debt is paid.

In this way, it is similar to a mortgage, but not so permanent as to ensure that the person to whom the property belongs to does not lose their property completely and permanently. It is basically using the property as currency until the debt provided by a lender is paid back; after this is repaid, the ownership of the property is handed back to the original owner.

How a property lawyer can help you

A property lawyer would be able to help you in securing property legally when buying property either privately or through an estate agent. Either way, it would be advisable, even necessary for you to have a property lawyer in order to safely acquire property from a seller.

Buying and selling property can be incredibly stressful, and a property lawyer can help to alleviate some of that stress and pressure on you, whether you’re the buyer or the seller. In regards to being a buyer of property, a property lawyer can help by:

• Handling a lot of the paperwork: As you can imagine, when buying a house there is a ton of paper involved, as the property passes hands and everything else. A property lawyer will ensure everything is accounted for and nothing is left amiss.
• Making sure everything is legal and lawful: Sometimes things can look “shady” or amiss, and a property lawyer will be able to spot something illegal or seemingly unlawful a mile off. In this way, the solicitor will help to keep everything legal, and prevent anything coming to bite you in the ass once you’ve acquired the property.
• Keeping the pressure off of you: A lot of the time, if you’re trying to go it alone when buying property, it can be a huge pressure on you and your family. After all, there is so much to sort out during the whole process. A property lawyer can shoulder a lot of the pressure, by relieving you of the paperwork, and sometimes even a lot of the dealings with the estate agent, and buyer, helping you to sit back a bit and enjoy what should be a happy and pretty straightforward process.

However, keep in mind a few things when looking for a property lawyer. The first thing to bear in mind is their reputation and previous dealings with clients; you need to know what they’re like to work with. Many a time has someone gone with a property lawyer only to find out that they’re troublesome, slow and generally useless in terms of their profession.

The second thing to note is their efficiency. Are they quick in responding to you? Are they quick and efficient in dealing with the whole process? You need to find someone who is going to get the job done, and get it done well. The last thing you want is more pressure when buying a property. A lot of the time, there is a ladder of buyers below and above the property, all wanting to move; you can’t expect them to wait around forever while your lawyer is sorting things out at a meagre pace. Find a lawyer who will keep things running smoothly for you.

Hopefully this has helped to inform you about how a property solicitor could potentially help you when acquiring or selling properties. Happy house hunting, and ensure you get the right person for the job!