Conveyancing and fallen-through property sales

Peter Joseph is CEO of The Moving Hub

Picture this: First-time property buyers find their dream home, get themselves rather excited while waiting for the legal side of things to take its course, only to find out that the transaction has fallen through and they’re not going to be moving into their new property as proud new home owners after all.

The same is true for property sellers, who are equally disappointed when sales don’t come to fruition. They are often relying on the successful, timeous sale of their property to achieve other goals (like buying even more properties or downsizing due to affordability).

Our latest article looks at why United Kingdom residential property sales fall through, if conveyancing might be contributing to the issue, and the role of your conveyancer to minimise the chance of a fallen-through transaction:

Why do sales fall through?

According Quick Move Now, independent home buyers in the United Kingdom, 28% of UK house sales fell through last year - and it’s a wonder that number isn’t higher. Buying a property can become a scary, complicated process.

This is why the largest portion fallen-through property sales involve the buyer changing their mind about the sale (34%). Other reasons for fallen-through home sales include difficulty securing the right mortgage (17%), sellers opting out because of process delays (15%), and problems that have been identified during inspections (11%).

Could conveyancing be contributing?

Many property transaction clients (especially first-time buyers) choose to blame their estate agents and conveyancers when property sales fall through. In most cases, this is due to slow or sub-standard conveyancing. Some councils will take over three months to conduct searches and inspections.

There are service providers who understand their clients and the need to complete property sales as promptly as possible, and then there are those who don’t see it as their problem. Legal roadblocks on the state level are also to blame in many cases of fallen-through sales, and these issues can reflect badly on the conveyancer instructed by their client.

What is the role of the conveyancer

Most issues to do with property sales are out of the conveyancer’s control, but there are things they can do to ensure that what is in their control is handled in a prompt, professional manner.

Conveyancers on both sides of the property transaction should endeavour to be responsive when contacted by clients or other solicitors, and hound other third-party service providers if they are slowing down the transaction.

For this reason, property sellers should instruct solicitors as soon as possible (once the house has been put on the market is best), and buyers should also instruct early, preferably once starting to put in offers on properties.

This gives the appointed conveyancer a head start on things, and could lead to saved time and frustration in the long-run.

Finding the right conveyancer

There are multiple reasons why property sales fall through, as listed above, but there are other potential issues property buyers and sellers could encounter during the transaction – problems that only highly-experienced conveyancers know how to navigate.

-ENDS-