We appreciate there are already plenty of cogs turning when buying or selling a property and these can easily become confused when instructing your legal professional. We have therefore put together a small guide on who could be involved and what they are there to do to assist you in selling or buying your home.
1. Conveyancer/fee earner
This is a broad term used for individuals who specialise in conveyancing. There are many different types of conveyancer which are listed below:
a. Solicitor – A solicitor is a qualified legal professional who can practice across all areas of law. They will have obtained a law degree and completed further advanced training before undertaking training with a law firm. Once completed, they will be admitted onto the roll of solicitors.
b. Chartered legal executive –.A chartered legal executive is a legally trained and qualified individual who can practice across all areas of law also. The difference between a chartered legal executive and a solicitor is the route of qualification. A chartered legal executive would have worked within the industry for a period of time whilst completing their legal training course known as CILEX.
c. Fee earner – You do not need to be legally qualified in order to practice in an area of law. With time served/experience, individuals can run a case load just as efficiently as an individual who is legally qualified. These are usually known as ‘fee earner’s’ or ‘conveyancer’s’ and can be just as knowledgeable as a legally trained lawyer.
d. Licenced conveyancer – Specialists in property as well as Wills and probate only. They can do everything a solicitor and chartered legal executive can do in a transaction, the difference is they cannot practice in other areas of law.
2. Support staff
a. Paralegal – A legal professional who supports our conveyancers on a day-to-day basis. They have a wealth of knowledge of how the process works and play a crucial role in the transaction. Their role includes assisting with any queries being raised by other conveyancing firms on sale matters, keeping clients updated as well as ensuring all documentation and steps have been concluded at each stage of the transaction.
b. Legal assistant – A further type of legal professional who supports both the conveyancers and paralegals by conducting an administrative role. You will most likely speak with both your team’s legal assistant and paralegal more often than your conveyancer/fee earner as they are better equipped to handle any day to day queries. For any legal queries or complex matters, your conveyancer will be more heavily involved.
c. New business advisor – A new business advisor is an individual who is specifically trained to identify what you, as a client, requires and ensure you are provided with a suitable quote for the work needed. They are also tasked with obtaining initial information from you as a client such as your name, address and contact information so that they can set up the files for your allocated team.
d. Post completion assistant – Once your conveyancing team has finalised your sale and/or purchase. Your file will be passed to one of our post completion assistants. They are tasked with ensuring your new property’s records are successfully updated with the Land Registry. You receive an email from them from time to time informing you of the timescales the Land Registry is working towards, and eventually advising you that the property’s details have been updated to reflect yourself as the current owner. They will also liaise with your lender to let them know their mortgage has been registered.
Stephensons are always happy to help whether you are selling or buying and our conveyancing new business team can offer initial guidance on matters and provide you with a quotation on costs. Call us on 0161 696 6187. Alternatively you can use our online quote calculator to get an idea of your legal fees and one of our conveyancing specialists will call to discuss this with you.
