Top Conveyancing Solicitors for Home Movers in Surrey

Choosing an efficient and experienced conveyancer will help to ensure that property transactions go through as smoothly as possible. Buying a house is likely to be your biggest financial purchase in your lifetime, so it makes sense that you would only trust the best in the business to complete the legal work.

If you are moving home in Surrey areas including Oxshott, Bookham and Cobham, we have compiled a list of some of the top conveyancing firms covering these locations.

What is a conveyancing solicitor?

A conveyancing solicitor completes the legal work involved in buying or selling a property. Solicitors tend to have specialisms in the type of legal services they offer, and conveyancers specialise in property transactions.

Your conveyancing service will include processes that ensure that everything is legally valid and they will conduct legal checks to protect clients from future legal issues and risks that could cause problems with the property. They prepare and check the legal documents involved in the sale or purchase, such as the contract of sale and transfer deed.

The conveyancing process when buying a property includes performing property searches such as mining or flooding risk, local authority searches, environmental searches, and water and drainage searches. A conveyancer also handles the legal work involved in buying or selling a leasehold property and checking whether the correct planning permission was obtained for works that require planning permission.

Your conveyancing solicitor is also responsible for arranging money transfers, including paying stamp duty land tax, transferring money to the seller and paying the mortgage company when redeeming a mortgage.

How to choose a conveyancing solicitor

When choosing your conveyancing solicitor, the main factors to consider include their reputation, experience in working on the type of property transaction you require support with, and how good their communication is.

You can check for online ratings and feedback on sites like Trustpilot and Google reviews to get an idea of their quality of service and any strengths and weaknesses to be aware of. When you contact the conveyancer, ask them about their experience in handling similar property transactions to yours. For example, if you are buying a new build, a leasehold property or a first time buyer property, you will want reassurance that they are experienced in these areas.

You should also get a feel for how comfortable they are to work with and whether they are easy to get in touch with. If they are highly responsive when you send them an enquiry, then this will hopefully mean that they will be efficient at communicating with you throughout the process.

Checking whether the conveyancer is a member of the Law Society of England and Wales confirms whether they are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The other authority for property law is the Council for Licensed Surveyors (CLC), and membership will verify that that they are regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers.

Want to find out more? Read about selling a house after splitting up and how to avoid a broken property chain.

Top conveyancers in Surrey listed

Here are some of the most highly rated conveyancers covering Surrey:

TWM Solicitors

TWM Solicitors has offices across Surrey and London with specialism in both residential and commercial property law. TWM Solicitors is one of the largest legal practices in Surrey and has several decades of experience in the local area.

They are highly rated on Trustpilot (4.7/5) and they provide transparent fees on their website, with fees for a freehold sale up to £500,000 starting from £1,750 + VAT.

They have multiple offices across Surrey including at 65 Woodbridge Road in Guildford, 40 West Street in Reigate and 123 High Street in Epsom.

Website: twmsolicitors.com

Cunningham Eves Solicitors

Cunningham Eves Solicitors is a smaller legal practice that offers a designated solicitor with a personalised service. Based on Leatherhead High Street, with another office in Dorking, the firm has a 4.9/5 rating on Google reviews and specialises in residential property law.

Although the firm was established fairly recently in 2020, the team has many previous years of experience in providing conveyancing services to home movers in Surrey. They advertise that their average time taken to reach completion is 6 weeks, compared to the national average of 16 weeks. You can request a conveyancing quote directly from their website.

Address: 33-35 High Street, Leatherhead

Website: cunninghameves.com

Surrey Property Lawyers

With a rating of 4.9/5 on Google reviews, Surrey Property Lawyers offer residential conveyancing services in the Surrey area for buying, selling and remortgaging. They also specialise in new build and auction transactions.

The average timescale for transactions is between 8 to 12 weeks and the firm was established in 2017. Previous clients praised their professionalism and efficient communications in their online reviews.

Address: The Old Estate Office, Wilderness Road, Onslow Village, Guildford.

Website: surreypropertylawyers.co.uk

Peacock & Co Solicitors

Peacock & Co Solicitors offers a range of legal services, including for residential property transactions. They prioritise providing a service that is free from complicated legal jargon and they have a rating of 4.9/5 on Google reviews.

They provide legal support for both residential and commercial sale or purchase and were founded in 1991. Peacock & Co Solicitors has an office in Wimbledon Village and opened a further office in Epsom in 2017 to expand their area coverage. They describe their approach as friendly and proactive, and their online reviews are testament to this.

Address: Park Place House, 24 Church Street, Epsom.

Website: peacock-law.co.uk

Lyons and Company

Lyons and Company is a highly rated and well-established solicitors in Surrey, providing legal support for buying and selling property.

This firm offers a no sale no fee service, which gives clients peace of mind that should their property transaction fall through, they won’t have to pay conveyancing fees apart from the upfront fee of £132 plus VAT and estimate fees. They provide quotes based on the specific details of your requirements.

Established in 2009, the firm has two fully qualified conveyancers with many years of experience working with buyers and sellers in the Surrey area.

Address: 6 Anchor Crescent, Knaphill, Woking, Surrey.

Website: lyonsandcompany.co.uk

Do I need a conveyancer or solicitor?

While it is not a legal requirement to use a conveyancer, mortgage lenders will insist that you use one. Using an experienced conveyancer ensures that the transaction is completed in compliance with all the relevant laws and they reduce legal risks that could result in making it difficult or even impossible to sell a property in future.

Most homebuyers and sellers choose a conveyancer over a general solicitor, as they offer property specialism and lower fees compared to solicitor firms.

How much does a conveyancing solicitor cost?

Conveyancing fees vary depending on the amount of legal work involved in the property transaction but for straightforward sales, the fee is usually around £1,000 to £1,500. Conveyancing fees for buying a property are higher at around £1,500 to £2,500, because they perform property searches, and you will usually pay more in London for a conveyancing firm.

When you are buying and selling at the same time, expect to pay around £2,000 to £3,500 in conveyancing fees. There are additional conveyancing costs for leasehold transactions for the extra paperwork involved. There are, of course, many further considerations beyond costs. For example, you might be looking to locate your family near to the best schools in Surrey, or looking for a home with significant garden space.

If you are looking to buy or sell property in Effingham, Esher or Thames Dutton, we can help. Book a valuation or contact our team to find out more about our property services.