mooves

Buying and selling
If you're selling a property your solicitor will draw up a contract for the sale, apply for the title deeds from your lender and deal with enquiries from the seller's solicitor. The seller's solicitor will organise searches, send a list of questions about the property to the buyer's solicitor and liaise with your mortgage lender. If you're buying a property, your solicitor will usually act on behalf of your lender who will insist on certain searches.

Searches
On all properties, lenders require a local authority search. This shows details of any planning permission given on the property you are buying and any plans to build roads within 200 metres of the property. It doesn't, however, tell you about planning permission on neighbouring properties or land. You could be on the verge of getting a very local Sainsbury's but, unless you pay more for a plan search, you won't know until it's too late.

Your lender will insist your solicitor undertake a drainage search, detailing whether waste water goes into a public or private sewer; a land registry search to check the property hasn't changed hands; and a land charges search to ensure you're not a bankrupt.

The water search will be done at the same time as the local authority search, while the other two searches will be done later in the buying process. Regional variations In some areas of the country lenders will insist on other searches - in Cheshire , for example, they might ask that you have a brine search; in Cornwall , they may insist on a tin mining search and in the Midlands on a coal mining search. These will establish whether the property is likely to be affected by any of these things under ground.

Surveys
At around the same time as the searches are undertaken, you should be organising to have a survey done on the property. If this (survey) shows up any work that needs doing you may be able to renegotiate the price you have offered - and your solicitor will be the one to do this. In a case where thousands of pounds worth of work needs to be done, they may well be able to reduce the amount you pay by the same amount. Well, if you don't ask, you don't get�

Exchanging and completion
Once the survey and searches have been done and you have a mortgage offer, the solicitor can organise a date for you to exchange. This is the day when contracts between you and the seller are swapped and the sale becomes certain. After this point, if either party wants to pull out, they must compensate the other.

The contracts will include a date for completion - the day when you finally become the owner of the property. This is usually around two weeks after the exchange date but can be more or less if both parties agree. If there's a chain involved, the completion date may be dictated by sellers further up the chain. On the day you complete you can pick up your keys. Traditionally from an Estate Agent or from the vendor's solicitor. Your solicitor will pass on the deeds to your lender who will look after them until you remortgage or move home.

Fees and disbursements

Solicitors structure their charges in different ways - some charge a fixed fee, others a percentage of the value of the property. Fees start at around £300 and can rise to £1,500 on more expensive homes. On top of the solicitor's fees there are set costs known as disbursements. This term covers everything else a solicitor will charge you for, such as transferring the money from your lender to the account of the person selling you their home, VAT, postage and any other costs incurred in carrying out the work.

Stamp duty is another cost your solicitor will bill you for. This is payable on purchases above £120,000, unless the property qualifies for an exemption - your solicitor will tell you if it does. Properties between £120,001-£250,000 attract duty at 1 per cent; properties between £250,001-£500,000 attract duty of 3 per cent; and those above £500,000 attract duty at 4 per cent. (see separate guide)

Choosing the right solicitor
When you're phoning round deciding which solicitor to employ, fees are not the only thing that should concern you. Do you get on with the person you're talking to? Is this who you'll be dealing with from day to day? Do they take the time to explain things properly, or are they the type to assume you always know what they're talking about? When it comes to choosing your solicitor, there are a number of ways of going about it. The best way is personal recommendation. If you haven't had any recommendations, you could ask your lender or the estate agent if they can suggest someone, or contact the Law Society.

Time and distance
For most people, receiving all the relevant documents by post is perfectly adequate for their purposes, so the solicitor can be based anywhere. If you want to get your purchase through in a hurry, however, it may be better to use a solicitor in your local area or near where you work during the daytime. Bear in mind, too, that there will be quite long stretches of time when you won't hear anything from your solicitor because they may still be waiting for answers to queries or the results of your local search.

But don't be afraid to call for an update. After all, you're paying for it.