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Property Law
The process of buying a property will probably bring you into contact with a number of professional people who are specialists in the property business, including solicitors, estate agents, surveyors and mortgage lenders.
Under UK law, the ownership of real property (ie land and buildings) can only be transferred from one person to another by means of a 'conveyance' and this legal process is referred to as 'conveyancing'. At one time Solicitors had an exclusive monopoly on conveyancing, but this is no longer the case and you now have the option of hiring a Licensed Conveyancer, or even doing the conveyancing yourself.
Estate Agents are not required by law to be licensed or qualified or even to be members of a professional organisation, however many estate agents are professionally qualified by examination and do belong to one or other of the main organisations such as the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) or the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA). It is important to remember that an estate agent represents the seller of the property, not the buyer. Although they are bound by the provisions of the Estate Agents Act, you need to remember that an estate agent's primary duty of care is to the seller and their job is to try and obtain the best possible deal for their client. One other point to bear in mind though is that the estate agency has a legal obligation to report any offer to their client.
Surveyors are usually professionally qualified members of the RICS, that has its own code of conduct and also requires its members to have adequate insurance in case of error. The main job of the surveyor is to check that the property is worth what you are paying; depending on the type of survey you are paying for, this may also include a report on the condition of the property and any essential repairs that need carrying out. Your mortgage lender will always require a valuation, but this is mainly to ensure that the amount of the mortgage loan is sufficiently covered by the value of the property itself. Under current legislation, the seller is not legally obliged to point out any problems with the property, although they must answer truthfully any questions they are asked and must not try to conceal any defects that they know about.
Remember, buying or renting a property involves serious legal obligations and if you have the slightest doubt about what you are doing then you should consider taking advice from a solicitor or other suitably qualified property professional. These notes are offered as a general guide only and do not constitute legal or financial advice.
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