Our specialist property lawyers can help you through the process of buying a property. Call us if you are planning to buy so that we can talk things through with you even before you find a property. We do not charge for enquiries.
Buying a property is a big commitment. Regardless of whether you are a first time buyer, or are moving home or are investing in a buy-to-let property, it can be an exciting time but equally it can be a stressful experience as the process is complex and takes too long. There are also various legal pitfalls you should be aware of and instructing a specialist property lawyer who has expertise will ensure the transaction and any legal issues are handled correctly. You should get in contact with us now so that can help speed up the buying process for you. As stated above, we do not charge for enquiries.
We at Russell & Russell Solicitors help thousands of people every year with their property purchases. Our ethos is to ensure we make the process as smooth and as stress free as possible, deliver a quality service and at a fair price. From initial enquiry through to post completion, we are on hand to provide expert guidance that meets the needs of our clients.
We deliver a quality service Nationwide
Russell & Russell have a wealth of experience and knowledge of all aspects of property transactions. The firm is accredited under the Law Society Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) and our conveyancing team all benefit from continuing professional development to maintain their status as specialist experts. Our local knowledge is second to none if you are buying a property in either Greater Manchester or Cheshire but our expertise is such that we routinely act for clients based in or selling in any location throughout England and Wales.
Our long-established law firm means we have the local knowledge you need when buying a property in Bolton, Cheshire and across the North West, but our expertise and reputation has meant we have helped clients purchase properties throughout England and Wales.
There are lots of things to consider when buying a property so from the onset you should seek our advice – even before you start looking for a suitable property to buy. We can give you advice on likely costs so that you can budget and can also advise on surveys, valuations and lenders.
Contact one of our expert property lawyers on 0800 103 2600 or complete an enquiry form and we will call you back. Our specialist team will be able to guide you through the entire process but here are some of the questions we are often asked:
Buying a property, why choose Russell & Russell?
You should choose us because our specialist property lawyers are best placed to help you through the process of buying a property. We have a wealth of experience and knowledge of all property types whether freehold or leasehold, whether a flat, a house or just land. We deal with existing properties, new builds and self builds. We are accredited under the Law Society Conveyancing Quality Scheme and have been from its very inception. All the staff that will touch your case are specialists in property work, have had training in that area and receive on-going training to keep them up to date with changes. We are a long established practice but have a modern approach. You can instruct us by calling into our office, by telephone, by post, by email or through our Portal.
When should I instruct you?
We would strongly recommend that you get in contact with us at the very beginning when you are thinking of buying. We can give you advice on the process which is particularly important if you have not bought before or if you are both buying and selling and have to do a juggling act to pull the two transactions together. If you are an investor who regularly buys and sells you know how important it is to forewarn us of what you are planning. Get in front of the curve. Call our team at the outset so that we can talk things through with you before you find a property to buy. Call 0800 103 2600
Does my location, or that of the property, matter?
No, your own location is irrelevant– we can act for you whether or not you are local to our offices. Verification of Identity can be dealt with electronically and you can also on-board (instruct us) by completing documents on our Portal. If face to face is needed we also have the facility to use Zoom and/or Teams video conferencing if you cannot get to any one of our offices.
The location of the property you are buying is also irrelevant as the same principles apply to the purchase of properties across all of England and Wales.
Can you also act for my lender?
If you have not bought before that might sound a somewhat strange question but it is actually an important one. If you are taking out a mortgage your lender also requires legal representation and some are very selective. The good news is that we are on the conveyancing panels of all the high street lenders and also the open panels of the specialist lenders.
We are also on the closed panels of both Aldermore Bank and Pepper Money – they limit who can act for them which speaks volumes. If you chose a conveyancer who cannot act for your lender for some reason you will face paying an unexpected bill for the lenders legal fees. If you chose to instruct us before you have chosen your lender you will reduce the risk of a second firm being involved.
I am thinking of purchasing, what should I do?
Contact us on 0800 103 2600, an initial enquiry costs nothing and we can advise you how to prepare for a suitable property coming along. You may then need to act quickly. Get in front of the curve.
How much will it cost me to buy my new property?
General information about cost can be found here. You can also ask us for a no obligation bespoke written fee estimate for your particular transaction.
Will Russell & Russell provide a written conveyancing fee estimate for my purchase?
We always provide a written estimate at the outset of a transaction. This will be based on the information provided by you to us at that time. This reflects the fact that we know that you need to budget and also to ensure that there is no misunderstanding between us at a later time. We hope you will be delighted with our services and will then use us again and appreciate that will not necessarily be the case if you feel that we have let you down over costs. We can write to you with the fee estimate or email it to you.
In the case of residential property transactions, we usually offer a fixed fee. We quote a fixed fee for the work normally undertaken in a standard case and will provide you with a list of additional fixed fees that we would charge if you require additional work to be undertaken. An example of additional fees for our time would be advising on an unexpected defect in the ownership of the property you are buying or the preparation of a Declaration of Trust for you.
We will always honour the fixed fee quoted unless the information relied upon by us at the time of the estimate was incorrect or it subsequently becomes apparent that there is an aspect of the transaction that will significantly affect the amount of time that has to be spent by us. In either case we will notify you of any such development before we proceed further so that you can decide whether to incur additional expense. Examples of circumstances that might change the cost would be if the property is a flat, not a house as you initially informed us by mistake. For a free quote and breakdown of related third party costs (disbursements) known at this time, please use our quote enquiry form.
In addition to receiving instructions direct from buyers and sellers, we also work alongside brokers, referrers and property agents who refer clients to us. If we've agreed to pay to them a referral fee for recommending us to act for you then we will disclose the amount to you and we will pay the amount involved to the referrer out of our fee.
What is Stamp Duty Land Tax?
Stamp Duty Land Tax – SDLT – is a tax on property in England that is payable to HM Revenue and Customs. You can find out how much stamp duty is to be paid on a property by visiting the government website.
Our fees for a purchase, and other related costs (such as SDLT or LTT) are payable in full prior to completion, but searches must be paid for by you up front when you are ready for us to request them. The results of searches can take time to be returned so you might wish to ask us to obtain them sooner rather than later unless there are other aspects that you are unsure of and prefer to get in place first – for example, such as survey or mortgage offer. However if you are satisfied that both survey and mortgage will be obtained without issue then you might wish to crack on with the searches sooner rather than later.
If I do not proceed with the purchase o a property, is there a fee?
The money you have paid for searches is not refundable once we request them. Otherwise the answer is that we will not charge you anything more unless you have exchanged contracts. However we do reserve the right to charge for abortive work if you withdraw from a purchase on a second or subsequent occasion.
How long does the conveyancing process take?
Unfortunately nobody can say for sure how long the process will take – every transaction has its own different circumstances. The length of the chain of properties and the speed at which other parties involved in the transaction work will all be relevant. Of course you might all have different timescales in mind. Furthermore, if a new mortgage is required by one or more parties involved that can also cause delay as, generally speaking, mortgages appear to be taking longer than people expect.
For a straightforward purchase, completion should take place within 8 – 12 weeks of all parties instructing their conveyancers provided it is not subject to any major hold ups, however, the longer a chain the more likely there'll be delay as if one party or property causes delay it will affect all of the transactions in the chain. Generally speaking, where a flat is involved – rather than a house – the transaction is likely to take longer because of the additional legal work involved.
On our part we deal with all our clients’ transactions in a timely manner. If you have a preferred completion date we will do our best to help you achieve it. What we can also say to you is that there are statistics in the public domain based on Land Registry and other data which show that in January 2025 our average transaction times were two weeks quicker than the average time of the top 25 conveyancing firms in the country. Apart from less delay that means less chance of a transaction falling through.
What is exchange?
This is reference to the stage when contracts are exchanged and the parties are then legally bound to proceed with the property transaction. You will be asked to sign a hard copy of the contract in advance of the exchange and lodge it with us. We will then undertake the exchange by telephone call with the conveyancer acting for the other party. You would not normally be present at that time. We will let you know once the exchange has been carried out. If you have a related sale transaction that has to proceed contemporaneously we will link the two to effect contemporaneous exchanges. We would emphasise that signing the contract does not in itself create the legal obligation. The conveyancers must effect the exchange to do that.
The agreed completion date – when ownership actually changes hand – is inserted in the contract at the time of the exchange. The exchange can take place days or weeks before completion but sometimes the two events are simultaneous.
What are the key stages of the conveyancing purchase process?
Once you have had an offer accepted, made a mortgage application (if necessary) and instructed us there are several steps which must be completed before you can get the keys and move into your new property. The main stages are:
You instruct us and the usual Identity and Anti Money Laundering checks are undertaken;
A Contract pack is provided to us by the sellers conveyancer. It is then checked by us and any pre-contract enquiries are raised. If you have any specific questions that you wish us to ask you should give them to so that we can include them with our own enquiries however there will still be time and further opportunity to ask questions later;
The required searches and ownership checks are submitted by us once we have a plan from the contract pack and payment of the search fees is received from you. If you wish to buy quickly the searches can be undertaken whilst you are waiting for your survey to be carried out and whilst you are progressing your mortgage application. You need to pay our fee for obtaining and advising on the searches before they are undertaken as we have to pay for the information. Once paid for they cannot usually be cancelled;
Pre-contract enquiries are answered by the seller’s conveyancer;
You receive a written offer of mortgage and your lender sends a copy to us with details of its own legal requirements;
We review the answers to the pre-contact enquiries, the results of the searches and the mortgage documents and then report to you in writing on the Contract and property generally so that you can raise any further questions that you might have;
We send you a full financial statement for your approval;
Once you are happy with everything you should pay your deposit to us through your bank in anticipation for the exchange of contracts. The deposit is non-refundable once the contract exchange. You sign the Contract and send it to us;
A completion date is agreed between you and the seller through your respective conveyancers;
The contracts are deemed exchanged by the conveyancers during a telephone conversation and the agreed completion date is fixed and entered into the contract. Once contracts are exchanged, you are legally obliged to go through with the sale on the agreed completion date. The deposit paid at exchange of contracts by you will usually be under the control of the sellers conveyancer but if the seller has a related purchase they are permitted to use it as a deposit for that transaction;
Your conveyancer will carry out final pre-completion searches to check there have been no changes to the sellers ownership at the land registry and obtain the balance of any monies due from you together with any mortgage funds from your lender;
On the day of completion we send the balance purchase monies to the bank of the sellers’ conveyancer. Once the funds are received the transaction is completed and you will officially be the owners of your new property and will be able to collect the keys at a time and place as agreed with the seller or the sellers Estate Agent;
Once the purchase is complete your conveyancer will register the property in your name and once that has been done we will send you a copy of the title and proof of your ownership from the Land Registry. Be patient as unfortunately they have significant delays and registrations are currently taking months.
What is completion?
The completion date is the day when ownership of the property is transferred from the seller to you. The completion day can take place on any working day (Monday to Friday) and it is also the day the keys should be handed over and you are entitled to possession. Your lender will disapprove of any arrangement whereby you allow the seller to retain possession for even a few days after the mortgage monies are paid over.
Will I have a direct contact number and email for my conveyancer?
Yes, we will let you know the name and direct contact details of the person who is primarily dealing with your case when you become our client. That person will have support and also a Supervisor.
What happens if I need to speak to someone out of normal office hours or at a weekend?
We operate an out of hours, seven days a week service so you can speak to us in the evening or at weekend if you need to. The number to call is 07884 067 920.
“Having come back to work for a rest, I just wanted to thank you both again for your help and support throughout. As mentioned to you last week Michelle, Adina has been absolutely superb and has worked hard to maintain good communication between all parties, including the NatWest. Her helpful attitude and willingness to go that extra mile was very much appreciated and although I didn’t deal with you very much Michelle, I understand Adina can only work as fast as you did, so a BIG thank you to you too for your efficiency throughout the process.
“It’s very often the case that you’ll hear how solicitors can be slow in turning these things around so I was very pleased to have had such a good experience with Russell and Russell and would highly recommended your services in future to friends and family.”
Conveyancing
"May I take this opportunity to thank you so very much for the efficient professional and courteous manner with which you have conducted this matter. Your patience and helpfulness have made our dealings run so smoothly. I am grateful to you"
Conveyancing
"Thank you very much. I was extremely happy with the way you handled this sale. I would highly recommend Russell and Russell and will be in touch as soon as I find a property to buy."
Conveyancing
"If ever I move again I will endeavour to instruct you. THE most efficient service from any legal practice I ever worked with."
Conveyancing
"Thanks for all you've done and for making the whole process so much easier than it could've been, I really appreciate it. End of a huge era for all of us and your professionalism and empathic approach really was amazing."
Suffered an injury?
New home?
Get a quote now
